Timeline for Perfect Continuous Aspect
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 24, 2023 at 9:21 | comment | added | TimR on some device | In your citizenship example, there is no strong implication in the verb tense itself that you continued to live in the UK after applying for citizenship. That implication may exist in the context (it would be normal) but it is not entailed in the tense. Just as in my comment directly above regarding the meeting. He may continue to exercise during your meeting, though it would be very unusual. I had been living in the UK for several years before I applied for citizenship; but there was a glitch in the database and they confused me with another person and immediately deported me. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 9:16 | comment | added | TimR on some device | In your original example you were going to "meet" someone. A meeting with someone would (normally) put an end to what they were doing before you arrived. However, if you go to observe someone, they may be continuing to do what they were doing. When you go to see her swimming, bear in mind that she will have been swimming for several hours and she may seem a little slow. | |
| Sep 24, 2023 at 6:04 | comment | added | BumbleBee | As I said, "Why I am asking is that the Perfect Continuous aspect (any tense) is the stopping of an ongoing action." I understand the sentence does not say anything about continuing or stopping after evening. Now if I write "I had been living in the UK for many years before I applied for citizenship," it strongly implies I continued to live there afterward. In that case, where is the stopping of continuing action as per the definition of the Perfect continuous aspect? Now, this getting a little embarrassing with so many comments. It is fine. I would try some other place. Thanks. | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 16:27 | comment | added | TimR on some device | He thought to himself, I have been mowing for hours and I'm so tired, but there's still more mowing to do. We don't know whether he finished the job of mowing or quit because he was tired. The perfect continuous is silent in that regard. The phrase for hours is measured from the time he began mowing (which he knows) up to the time of the utterance. | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 16:21 | comment | added | TimR on some device | The first one says nothing whatsoever, explicit or implicit, about continuing to practice into the evening or ceasing practice when evening arrives. It is simply a statement about how long you will have been practicing measured up to that point in time. Same with the second. It says nothing about continuing to mow or ceasing to mow. | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 15:50 | comment | added | BumbleBee | Does the first one mean I may continue practicing after the evening, and the second one means I may continue cutting the grass after your arrival? Why I am asking is that Perfect Continuous is the stopping of an ongoing action. | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 15:44 | comment | added | TimR on some device | Both sentences are idiomatic, although "evening" is not a precise time, so it's a little iffy on the semantic level. Substitute "dinner time" or "bed time" or any other time that is more definite than "evening" and "for two hours" will be more plausible. | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 15:40 | comment | added | BumbleBee | I did not know that you didn't have access to the initial answers and comments. Here we go... 1) By evening, I will have been practicing for two hours. 2) I will have been cutting the grass in my yard for a while when you arrive. | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 15:17 | comment | added | TimR on some device | @brp7 I don't know what you're referring to with "the other two examples". | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 14:21 | comment | added | BumbleBee | Absolutely agree with you regarding that example. What would you say about the other two examples? Thanks! | |
| Sep 23, 2023 at 13:30 | history | edited | TimR on some device | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 345 characters in body
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| Sep 23, 2023 at 13:13 | history | answered | TimR on some device | CC BY-SA 4.0 |