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Message |
Michael
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 9:00 am
Post subject: Continuous tense |
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Hi,
With the phrase "I can see it coming", is 'coming' continuous tense? If so,
when should the "is", "are" etc. be omitted before a word in continuous
tense?
Regards,
Michael
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John Lawler
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Continuous tense |
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Michael <dayzman@hotmail.com> writes:
| Quote: | With the phrase "I can see it coming", is 'coming' continuous tense? If so,
when should the "is", "are" etc. be omitted before a word in continuous
tense?
|
First, it's not a phrase, it's a sentence.
Second, "continuous" is not a tense.
People sometimes use "continuous" to mean "progressive",
which is a construction that can occur in either present or past tense.
Third, in this sentence, 'coming' has no tense at all,
since it's a non-finite (i.e, non-tensed) verb form, a participle.
A present active participle, to be precise, used in construction
with a sense verb, which participate in some rather odd constructions.
This particular construction,
Subject - Sense-verb - Object - Participle
He is watching me running
We heard her crying
I can see it coming
etc.
is quite common, as is a similar, but slightly different construction,
Subject - Sense-verb - Object - Infinitive
He is watching me run
We heard her cry
I can see it come
which, like many infinitives in construction with special verbs, doesn't use
'to', any more than most participles use the 'be' of the progressive.
'Coming', in this sentence, is not even progressive. There are actually at
least five distinct uses for the present active participle (-ing) form of
the verb, of which the progressive construction is only one. For the full
list, see
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gerund.html
As for what happened to the subject, expression of subjects is optional with
non-finite verb forms like participles and infinitives, and in any event,
you don't really need to look far for it. In the sentence you cite, sitting
right in front of 'coming', in the place where its subject ought to be, is
the word 'it', which clearly is what is coming, and therefore is the subject
of 'coming'. It is also the object of 'see'. So why say it twice?
This is the normal situation with subjects in subordinate infinitive or
participial clauses; since they usually comment on something in the main
clause, it is common for their subjects to be already present as subject or
object in the main clause, so that the infinitive or participle can have its
subject inferred by the listener by regular rules.
A great deal of the syntax of complements is devoted to those rules, of
which two of the most important go under the generic names of "Equi" and
"Raising". An exercise (with answers) on Equi and Raising from my college
grammar course can be seen at http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/equi.pdf.
-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler U Michigan Linguistics Dept
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"Language is the most massive and inclusive art we know, a - Edward Sapir
mountainous and anonymous work of unconscious generations." 'Language' |
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Michael
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 2:02 am
Post subject: Re: Continuous tense |
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|
Thanks for your detailed response. So, "I can see it coming" and "I
can see it come" have the same meaning?
Cheers,
Michael
jlawler@umich.edu (John Lawler) wrote in message news:<MoJld.376$i6.269@news.itd.umich.edu>...
| Quote: | Michael <dayzman@hotmail.com> writes:
With the phrase "I can see it coming", is 'coming' continuous tense? If so,
when should the "is", "are" etc. be omitted before a word in continuous
tense?
First, it's not a phrase, it's a sentence.
Second, "continuous" is not a tense.
People sometimes use "continuous" to mean "progressive",
which is a construction that can occur in either present or past tense.
Third, in this sentence, 'coming' has no tense at all,
since it's a non-finite (i.e, non-tensed) verb form, a participle.
A present active participle, to be precise, used in construction
with a sense verb, which participate in some rather odd constructions.
This particular construction,
Subject - Sense-verb - Object - Participle
He is watching me running
We heard her crying
I can see it coming
etc.
is quite common, as is a similar, but slightly different construction,
Subject - Sense-verb - Object - Infinitive
He is watching me run
We heard her cry
I can see it come
which, like many infinitives in construction with special verbs, doesn't use
'to', any more than most participles use the 'be' of the progressive.
'Coming', in this sentence, is not even progressive. There are actually at
least five distinct uses for the present active participle (-ing) form of
the verb, of which the progressive construction is only one. For the full
list, see
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gerund.html
As for what happened to the subject, expression of subjects is optional with
non-finite verb forms like participles and infinitives, and in any event,
you don't really need to look far for it. In the sentence you cite, sitting
right in front of 'coming', in the place where its subject ought to be, is
the word 'it', which clearly is what is coming, and therefore is the subject
of 'coming'. It is also the object of 'see'. So why say it twice?
This is the normal situation with subjects in subordinate infinitive or
participial clauses; since they usually comment on something in the main
clause, it is common for their subjects to be already present as subject or
object in the main clause, so that the infinitive or participle can have its
subject inferred by the listener by regular rules.
A great deal of the syntax of complements is devoted to those rules, of
which two of the most important go under the generic names of "Equi" and
"Raising". An exercise (with answers) on Equi and Raising from my college
grammar course can be seen at http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/equi.pdf.
-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler U Michigan Linguistics Dept
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Language is the most massive and inclusive art we know, a - Edward Sapir
mountainous and anonymous work of unconscious generations." 'Language' |
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John Lawler
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 2:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Continuous tense |
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Michael <dayzman@hotmail.com> writes:
| Quote: | Thanks for your detailed response. So, "I can see it coming" and "I
can see it come" have the same meaning?
|
Almost. The one with the infinitive usually means that the whole
event can be seen, while the one with the participle means that
at least a part of it can be seen. Of course, 'see' and 'come'
are both more commonly used metaphorically in this construction.
-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler U Michigan Linguistics Dept
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Because in our brief lives, we catch so little of the vastness of
history, we tend too much to think of language as being solid as a
dictionary, with granite-like permanence, rather than as the rampant
restless sea of metaphor that it is." -- Julian Jaynes
| Quote: | jlawler@umich.edu (John Lawler) writes
Michael <dayzman@hotmail.com> writes:
With the phrase "I can see it coming", is 'coming' continuous tense? If so,
when should the "is", "are" etc. be omitted before a word in continuous
tense?
First, it's not a phrase, it's a sentence.
Second, "continuous" is not a tense.
People sometimes use "continuous" to mean "progressive",
which is a construction that can occur in either present or past tense.
Third, in this sentence, 'coming' has no tense at all,
since it's a non-finite (i.e, non-tensed) verb form, a participle.
A present active participle, to be precise, used in construction
with a sense verb, which participate in some rather odd constructions. |
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Django Cat
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 2:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Continuous tense |
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On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 16:56:17 +1100, "Michael" <dayzman@hotmail.com>
wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
With the phrase "I can see it coming", is 'coming' continuous tense? If so,
when should the "is", "are" etc. be omitted before a word in continuous
tense?
Regards,
Michael
|
Yes. It's an example of the Present Continuous Tense (aka Present
Progressive); the basic for 'I see it coming' is modified by the modal
verb 'can' to show ability or permission.
Compare Pres Cont 'I see it coming' (action happening now or centered
on the present) with Simple Present 'I see my doctor every Tuesday'
(regular habit) or 'I see better with glasses' (general truth).
DC |
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