The grammar of the english verb phrase part 41 pptx

VI. The relation between the W-readings and (non)progressive aspect 273
5.24.2 In sum, the use of the progressive form is the rule if the repetitive
habit is to be explicitly represented as temporary (rather than permanent), i. e.
as restricted in time, as covering a relatively short period leading up to t
0
. One
reason why a habit may be seen as temporary is that it is seen as induced
by volatile rather than stable factors (and may therefore easily come to an
end). Compare:
We’ve {been eating /
?
eaten} outside since the weather became hot. (relatively short
period; the habit started only recently and will come to an end as soon as the weather
conditions change)
We’ve {eaten /
?
been eating} outside ever since we came to live here twelve years
ago. (permanent habit; the habit started a considerable time ago and there is no
reason to expect that it will suddenly come to an end)
The spring creeks have been fishing ok lately, [but we have not had enough hatch
activity to get the fish feeding regularly on the surface.] (www)
5.24.3 A condition for a repetitive habit to be interpreted as continuative is
that the clause (or the context) must make it clear that the reference is to a
repetitive hypersituation:
I{have been coming /
?
have come} to this shop for years. (Have come is odd because
there is nothing triggering a repetitive interpretation; have been coming can only be
interpreted as repetitive Ϫ because of the combination of the progressive form and
a punctual VP Ϫ and is taken to express a temporary habit continuing into the pres-
ent.)

I have come to this shop on the first Friday of every month for years. (on the first
Friday of every month implies repetition)
I have come to this shop for my shirts ever since I came to live here last year. (This
implicates ‘Since I came to live here there have been several occasions on which I
have wanted to buy a shirt’ and is understood as ‘on each of those occasions I have
come to this shop’. There is a sense of repetition here, which renders it possible to
interpret have come as a continuative perfect.)
I have always come to this shop Ϫ ever since it opened. (Always implies repetition
if the situation is punctual.)
I have run the mile for years. (This sentence is odd unless it is interpreted as ‘For
years I have taken part in the activity known as running the mile’. This interpretation
implies repeated actualization of the situation referred to by the telic VP.)
5.25 The indefinite reading and (non)progressive aspect
5.25.1 A present perfect sentence which is to receive an indefinite reading is
not normally in the progressive form. This is because an indefinite reading is
a bounded reading, while a progressive clause typically represents its situation
274 5. The absolute use of the present perfect
as nonbounded. Besides, a speaker using an indefinite perfect is not so much
concerned with the duration or progressiveness of the situation (or a portion
of it) as with the fact that (or the question whether) the situation has actualized
in the relevant period leading up to now. Compare:
Has Tim worked in a colliery? (The speaker only wants to know if the situation has
ever actualized. He is not interested in the duration of the possible actualization. In
all likelihood he only wants to know if Tim has had the experience of working in
a colliery.)
Has Tim been working in a colliery? (According to the context in which it is cou-
ched, this may receive a continuative reading or an up-to-now reading.)
This does not mean, however, that an indefinite perfect is never in the pro-
gressive form. In the following subsections, several exceptions are pointed out.
5.25.2 An indefinite perfect used as an experiential perfect is not automati-

cally incompatible with progressive meaning. There is clear progressive mean-
ing if the situation in question is represented as a ‘background’ situation for
another situation, or, more generally, if the context provides a vantage point
from which the situation is viewed as being in progress. Compare:
?
Have you ever been writing a novel? (ϭ ‘Has it ever been the case that you were
working on a novel (without necessarily completing it)?’)
Have you ever been writing a novel [when you suddenly lost interest and decided to
do something else]? (The progressive form is impeccable because the when-clause
provides a vantage point from which the situation of writing a novel (if any) is
viewed as being in progress.)
?
Has Tim ever been working in a colliery?
Has Tim ever been working in a colliery [and experienced a cave-in]? (Ever enforces
the indefinite reading, and the second clause provides the temporal vantage point
from which the working is viewed as being in progress.)
Have you ever been writing lyrics [and found you ‘watered down’ what you really
wanted to say]? (www)
Similarly, compare:
Have you been working on a dissertation? (The context should make it clear whether
the continuative interpretation or an up-to-now reading is invited.)
Have you ever been working on a dissertation [and had to abandon it for some time
and then return to it]? (The indefinite interpretation is enforced by ‘ever’ plus the
context. The sentence means ‘Has there ever been a time in your life when the
situation of your working on a dissertation was in progress (and then was in-
terrupted by your having to abandon it)?’)
Have you ever been sitting in the pub with no money dying for a pint or a pack of
cigarettes, [then shoved your hand in your pocket and found £20 you’d forgotten
about?] (www)
VI. The relation between the W-readings and (non)progressive aspect 275

The temporal vantage point can be expressed by an adverbial when-clause,
provided there is the idea of (at least the possibility of) repeated actualization
in a period leading up to t
0
. (When the when-clause refers to a single bygone
situation, the past tense must be used). For example:
Sometimes when I’ve entered her room she’s been crying.
Whenever I’ve gone into his room in the past week he has been sleeping. (With
whenever the idea of repeated actualization in a period leading up to t
0
is automati-
cally present.)
The temporal vantage point can also be provided by a ‘narrative when-clause’,
i. e. a when-clause which does not establish an Adv-time containing the situa-
tion time of the head clause but which ‘pushes forward’ the action Ϫ see 13.1.3.
Have you ever been sitting around bored, when all of a sudden a song comes on
and makes you feel all tingly and good? (www)
The following example is similar, except that the narrative clause is now intro-
duced by and then rather than by when:
[You’ve never been behind someone when all of a sudden they slow down for no
apparent reason and make a turn with no signal? You’ve never had someone change
into your lane right in front of you without signalling?] You’ve never been waiting
to make a right turn onto a fast road, but don’t because you see someone coming,
[and then only when they turn onto your road do you realize that you could have
gone before he and the entire pack of cars behind him went by Ϫ if only he had
signalled.] (www)
5.25.3 For some speakers at least, there are some other cases in which the
progressive form is not unacceptable on an experiential indefinite reading even
though there is no overt reference to a vantage point, because the sentence
evokes the idea of a vantage point in some other way. The following are some

examples resulting from a Google search for the form have been waiting:
[I’ve never used Amazon for anything other than books/CDs, how do their prices
compare with specialist mailorder computer places? I’ve never had any big delays
from them, but then] I’ve never been waiting for something urgently from them.
(This is paraphrasable ‘I’ve never been in the position of (someone) waiting for
something urgently (so I’ve never been in the position where a couple of days extra
would feel like a big delay)’. It seems to be this ‘being in the position of’ that
provides the vantage point for the progressive.)
So considering I’ve never been waiting impatiently for any Sarah album besides Af-
terglow, [I tried not to have expectations of it.] (www) (ϭ ‘I haven’t been in the
position of waiting impatiently for any Sarah album (as a die-hard fan would be).’)
The following example does not suggest a clear vantage point. However, it is
easily paraphrased ‘I’ve never been in the position of waiting’, and the focus is
276 5. The absolute use of the present perfect
on the irritation of being kept waiting, of standing around doing nothing (or
rather on the minimal amount of such irritation), whilst the alternative ‘I’ve
never had to wait longer than 20 minutes’ would simply report a maximum de-
lay:
[Queues are generally kept to a minimum, except at 2 o’clock when everyone wants
to get their coat from the cloakroom, but] I’ve never been waiting longer than 20
minutes. (www)
The following sentences too encourage an interpretation along the lines of ‘I’ve
never had the experience of waiting …’ in a way that a nonprogressive version
would not, because it would not encourage the hearer to take a viewpoint on
the waiting from inside the waiting, so to speak:
[The entire staff has always been friendly and courteous.] I have never been waiting
for anything I have ordered. (www)
[They carry HL1 mods and the fancy Half-Park cartoons, they link to a neat
download page with EXTREME SPEED! Fileplanet gives the schools 10 Mbit about
56 KBPS, not bad itself, but it is average, this wannabe fileplanet site rules, AUTO

server chose with the least traffic,] I have never been waiting in line, [never paid a
dime and gotten an Average download speed of 556 KBPS!!!] (www)
5.25.4 There may still be other types of present perfect sentences (containing
an adverb enforcing an indefinite reading) in which there can be progressive
meaning without explicit reference to a vantage point from which the situation
is viewed as being in progress. Thus, I have been cycling to Greece before could
be acceptable if it is uttered by someone experiencing partial and fuzzy recall,
and thus wanting to make it clear that he is only able to remember some
midpoint of a situation and nothing further. This is the case in the following ex-
ample:
I’ve been cycling to Greece before. [That is, I’m cycling to Greece now, and this has
suddenly triggered a memory of being in the same situation before, but I can’t re-
member anything about what preceded or followed the recollected moment of being
in the process of cycling to Greece.]
5.25.5 The progressive form presents no problem for the ‘recency use’ (see
5.16) of the indefinite perfect, because adverbials like just or this minute are
anchored to t
0
and can function as the vantage point from which the situation
is viewed as being in progress:
Are you quite sure you haven’t just been speaking to the cryptic “K” herself? (DOC)
(Because the time of the ‘speaking’ is anchored by being ‘just before speech time’, it
provides a vantage point from which the situation referred to using the progressive
can be viewed.)
[“How can I help, sir? Two things, you said.” Ϫ “Ah! Well, yes. That’s one, isn’t it?]
What we’ve just been talking about. [You see, I’m jacking the job in next year, as
you’ve probably heard?]” (DOC)
VI. The relation between the W-readings and (non)progressive aspect 277
5.26 The unmarked up-to-now reading and
(non)progressive aspect

5.26.1 Present perfect sentences yielding an unmarked up-to-now reading and
referring to a habit use the nonprogressive form to represent the habit as non-
temporary (permanent) and the progressive form to represent it as temporary
(restricted in time):
We have always said that the car was reliable. (permanent habit up-to-now)
We have always said that the car was reliable [but we must admit that it broke down
this morning]. (permanent habit up-to-now)
We have always said that the car would break down some day. (permanent habit
up-to-now)
We’ve been telling people that the car was reliable. (temporary habit up-to-now)
We’ve been telling people that the car was reliable [but we must admit that it broke
down this morning]. (temporary habit up-to-now)
We’ve been telling people that the car would break down some day [and it has].
(temporary habit up-to-now)
5.26.2 Semelfactive (ϭ nonhabitual) situations that are in progress through-
out a pre-present period (but have come to an end shortly before t
0
) are referred
to by means of a progressive present perfect form:
[I’m glad he’s moved away from the window.] He’s been sitting there for an hour
[and I think the people opposite believe he’s spying on them.] (nonhabitual tempo-
rary situation up-to-now)
We have only recently discovered what has been going on.
Someone has been mowing the lawn. [It looks perfect.]
5.26.3 The verb form is always progressive (if the verb allows this form) if the
sentence yielding the unmarked up-to-now reading is used in an ‘explanatory-
resultative
’ way (see 5.18.3), i. e. if the sentence gives (or asks for) an explana-
tion for a state of affairs that is an indirect (and usually unintended) result
produced by the actualization of the situation referred to in the sentence. The

reason is that in this use the situation is always interpreted as nonhabitual
and temporary.
[“Your hands are dirty.”] Ϫ “I’ve been working in the garden.” (The speaker explains
how the result of his hands being dirty has come about. The result in question did
not suddenly come about at the end of his working in the garden but was an unin-
tended side effect of his working which showed itself during the working situation
itself.)
I’ve been writing a book. (This sentence may, according to context, suggest ‘That’s
why I am so tired’, ‘That’s why I have seldom come to the pub recently’, etc.)
[“Why are you upset?”] Ϫ “The two women over there have been insulting me.”
278 5. The absolute use of the present perfect
These sentences have an explanatory-resultative function because they offer an
explanation for a contextually given state of affairs. The explanation in ques-
tion relates to an (often unintended) result which came about while the situa-
tion indicated by the verb phrase was in progress and because that situation
was in progress.
As noted in 5.18.3, it is typical of the explanatory-resultative use of present
perfect sentences receiving an unmarked up-to-now reading that the sentence
in question has the discourse function of an explanation, excuse or reproach.
The reference is to a situation that has recently actualized (but is conceived of
as filling the pre-present because it is the only relevant situation in that
period Ϫ see 5.19.4)
17
and has produced a result which is still apparent at t
0
.
The sentence has to be in the progressive form (if possible)
18
because the result
in question does not follow from the completion of the situation, but is pro-

duced by the pre-present situation while it is in progress.
It follows that such sentences in the progressive present perfect can only be
used if the effect which the speaker wants to express does not presuppose
completeness or termination of a telic situation. The use of the progressive,
indeed, does not guarantee that the situation has been properly completed.
Thus, I’ve been planting the shrubs can suggest ‘That is why I am tired’ but,
while it does not rule it out, it does not suggest ‘All the shrubs are planted
now’. The latter idea requires the sentence I’ve planted the shrubs, which repre-
sents the situation as both telic and bounded. In sum, while the unmarked up-
to-now reading does mean that the situation has stopped at t
0
, the terminal
point reached does not have to be the point of completion of a telic situation.
In I’ve been working in the garden, the situation is not referred to by a telic
17. In 5.19.4 we discussed examples like I’ve been raising three children and establishing a
multinational corporation Ϫ which can easily be uttered two years after the last child
left home and a year after the multinational has been sold. We see no difference between
this sentence uttered in response to What have you been doing for the last twenty years?
and I’ve been gardening uttered in response to Your hands are dirty and telling the
addressee what the speaker has been doing in order to get dirty hands. The gardening
situation fills the pre-present just as well if it finished, say, two hours ago as if it finished
two seconds ago Ϫ it is anyhow seen as the relevant ‘filler’ for the relevant period up
to now. (The fact that the situation(s) mentioned need not literally fill the entire pre-
present is similar to the fact that a repetitive habit can be located at t
0
even if there is
no subsituation actualizing at t
0
: the speaker does not have to be dancing now to say I
do ballroom dancing. A repetitive habit is anyhow seen as homogeneous because acci-

dental gaps are treated as irrelevant. In the same way, I have been writing a book (which
may receive a nonquantificational constitution reading) is homogeneous even though the
writer will normally have stopped occasionally to sleep, eat, etc.
18. The following is an example in which the progressive form cannot be used because the
verb is stative:
[“Your hands are dirty.”] Ϫ “I’ve been in the garden.”
VI. The relation between the W-readings and (non)progressive aspect 279
verb phrase; in the explanatory-resultative use of I’ve been writing a book, the
situation is telic but the terminal point reached need not be the natural point of
completion: it may also be any time preceding the natural point of completion.
5.27 The nonquantificational constitution reading and
(non)progressive aspect
In this section we will argue that a clause receiving a nonquantificational constitution
perfect reading is always progressive, and will try to account for this.
5.27.1 A present perfect sentence triggers a nonquantificational constitution
reading if the speaker is clearly concerned with the ‘situational constitution’ of
the pre-present, i. e. with the kind of situation(s) filling the pre-present. On this
reading the present perfect clause generally uses the progressive form (if that
use is allowed by the verb):
[Ah, I see you’re back at last.] What have you {been doing /*done}? (What have
you done? cannot yield the intended nonquantificational constitution reading.)
[During my first twenty years I have learnt the recorder, the violin] and until recently
I have been teaching myself the acoustic guitar. (www) (nonquantificational constitu-
tion reading if the sentence is used specificationally; otherwise an unmarked up-to-
now reading)
In these examples, the length of the pre-present period is to be inferred from
the pragmatics of the context. In the following, it is indicated by the bifunc-
tional adverbial for the last twenty years in the preceding sentence:
(uttered at a school reunion) [“What have you been doing for the last twenty
years?”] Ϫ “I’ve been raising three children and establishing a multinational corpora-

tion.”
In examples like this, the relevant sentence responds to a request to account
for a period up to now. It refers to a hypersituation involving one or more
subsituations. The enumeration of the subsituations constituting the hypersitu-
ation which fills the relevant period leading up to now does not need to be
exhaustive. In this case the speaker has obviously been doing many other
things Ϫ the situations of child-rearing and corporation-establishing may even
have come to an end Ϫ but the speaker’s concern is obviously with providing
an informative response to the question. The questioner is understood not to
want an exhaustive list of the speaker’s activities over the last twenty years but
information about what we may call the relevant reportable activities. These