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Processes Objectively Belonging to Past Time

The Present Dynamic is used to refer to objectively past processes in dialogues and narrations.

Dialogues (see page 65): 1. "Are you sure you've forgotten?" — "Why are you asking?" (J. Braine); 2. " I could never bear the thought of any child of mine going to the Coloured Mission School." — "What are you getting at?" (G. Gordon); 3." You're a festivity in yourself." — "You're making fun of me" (J. Braine); 4. "Dinny would learn not to notice them."—"Forgive me, but you're missing the point" (J. Gals­worthy); 5. "Didwhat's-her-name show up?" —"To whom are you re­ferring?" (D. Parker); 6. Suddenly something hard hit the Senator on the back of his head and he gave a start. "What is that?" he cried.— "He's returning your pyjamas," she answered (W. S. Maugham).

Narrations (see page 65): 1. "It was a wedding in the country. The best man makes a speech. He is beaming all over his face, and he calls for attention" (G. Gordon); 2. Suddenly their heads cast shadows for­ward. A car behind them is coming up the hill. Its lights dilate and sway around them (J. Updike); 3. Vera comes through the entrance. Her long yellow coat swings unbuttoned, her bun of red hair is break­ing loose from its pins (J. Updike); 4. That man Trumen was so dumb his haberdashery store went bankrupt and the next minute he is running the United States of America (J. Updike); 5. "'Course I'm annoyed," said Bulrose indignantly." I'm sitting down at my office to a cup of tea when along comes an urgent message from Lady Quarn" (M. Arlen); 6. "But on the way down to the dressing station, he forgets to stoop low where the old sniper's working. He gets it through the head, too (R. Graves).

 

THE PRESENT DYNAMIC TO REFER TO SIMULTANEOUS PROCESSES

 

In about 11% of its uses the Present Dynamic refers to a process simultaneous with some other action or state denoted by a verb in the Present Static or, rarely, the Present Dynamic tense. Most frequently, simultaneous processes are expressed in complex sentences with a when-while-, or as-clause. The tense is, however, also common in other syn­tactic structures, for example:

1. "You don't really know what you're crying for" (E. Delafield); 2. "I expect they're wondering how we're getting on up here"(S. Gibbons); 3."I'm unstrung Mr. Annixter, and I'm running for my life" (F. Norris); 4."You're not thinking what you're saying" (Th. Dreiser); 5."Remember only that I'm thinking and striving for you all the time" (A. Cronin); 6. "Now that his son is recovering he is also recovering" (A. Cronin).

In Sentences with an As-, When-, or While-clause. In sentences with an as-, when-, or while-clause a verb in the Present Dynamic usu­ally denotes a habitual process. Processes actual only at the moment of speaking are, however, common in stage directions (examples a). In dialogue they are extremely rare (the sources analysed contain only two examples — b):



(a) 1. Foreson is going Left as Vane mounts the stage (J. Galsworthy);

2.As J entree is hammering at the door, it suddenly opens (O'Casey);

3.He is crossing to the outer door when she intercepts him (B. Shaw);

4.She is going when he puts out his hand (B. Shaw); 5. While he is speak­ing, Herbert appears from the wings Right (J. Galsworthy);

(b) But while I am tracing the progress of the wonderful Art-revo-
lution of these modern times, I am forgetting the calm and corrupt days
of old (Ch. Dickens); "All this time, while you are eloquent, my tea is
getting cold" (Ch. Dickens).

Relative frequency of the Present Dynamic in sentences with an as-, when-, or while-clause:

Sentences with a when-clause .... 93.0%
Sentences with a while-clause .... 5.3%
Sentences with an as-clause............... ……………………………..1.7%

 

The Present Dynamic in sentences with a when-clause is used in the following patterns (Table XI):

One will notice that Patterns 6 and 10 in which the processes in both clauses are denoted by verbs in the Present Dynamic are relatively rare (5% and 2%, respectively).

Examples of Pattern l__

( ~~ v when): 1. The tenses are employed when the speaker is being most objective (B. Charleston); 2. "You know how a strubborn horse breathes when they're choking him round the neck with a rope?" (J. Reed); 3. She knows I often do that when I'm sit­ting up for you" (A. Cronin); 4. "My mind is free when I'm washing a car or tinkering with a carburettor" (W. S. Maugham).

Examples of Pattern 2 (~~ ^ when); l."He is very clever, he invents gadgets for planes that no one will have anything to do with, and when he isn't doing that he drinks" (W. S. Maugham); 2. "She gives lessons too. Ah, sometimes when I'm dusting in her room I think her fingers will drop off. She plays all day long" (K. Mansfield); 3. When the waiter is not smearing over the table or flicking over a dead fly or two, he stands with one hand on the back of the chair, waiting (K. Mansfield).

Table XI

Nos Pattern Example %
__ ~~ v when   He sings when he is working  
~~ ^ when When he is working he sings
__ ~~ ^ when When he sings he is working
~’~ v when She arrives when he is working
~~ v when He is working when he sings
~~ ^ when When he is working he is singing
~~ ^ when When he is working she arrives
~.~ v when He is working when she arrives
~’~ ^ when When she arrives he is working
~~ v when He is singing when he is working î

 

Examles of Pattern 3 __

( ~~ ^ when): 1." I sometimes wonder how you behave when you're alone. When I'm there you're acting" (W. S. Mau­gham); 2. When we speak of "thunder growling behing the hills", we are implying that thunder is an animal and can growl (J. Warriner);

3. "When people say love can endure after passion is dead they're talking
of something else, affection, kindliness, community in taste and in-
terest, and habit" (W. S. Maugham).

Examples of Patterns 4 and 5 (~’~ v when), (~~ v when) : 1. The seals are often attacked when they are lying out on the land (H. Mckay); 2. "They usually do that when they are taking a prisoner off" (E. Wal­lace); 3. "They think I'm joking when I say I like beer" (J. Braine);

4. Of what are we really thinking when we use the Perfect Tense?
(B. Mc-Kerow).

Examples of Patterns 6 (~~ ^ when) and 7 (~~ ^ when): 1. " When he's sleeping he's always calling me pet names" (F. Meier); 2. "When they're not cutting up human lamb, they're discussing the high cost of living" (E. Wallace); 3. When I am having supper with a duke I become as far as it is in my power a duke myself (A. Munthe).

Examples of Patterns 8 (~.~ v when), 9 (~’~ ^ when), and 10 (~~ v when); l."That is what is happening when she screams" (E. Hemingway); 2. When we say "alive", we are in a manner preserving the Anglo-Saxon dative (J. Greenough); 3. The Tories are always boasting about the social services when they are not attacking them for being too expen­sive (D. Worker).

The Present Dynamic in Sentences with a While- or an As-clause:

1.Men can go without food for a long time. While they are without food they are using up the food the body has already stored (H. McKay);

2.The present is a point we can never grasp, because it slips into the past, while we are thinking of it (P. Roberts); 3. "What are the land­lords doing while these meetings are going on?" (M. Endicott); 4. And the process of the influence of the Irish language upon English still goes on, though slowly — for as time passes, Irish words are being adopted even in the English of the best educated people (J. Joyce).

 

THE PRESENT DYNAMIC TO REFER TO SEQUENT PROCESSES

A process denoted by a verb in the Present Dynamic can be sequent to (or with) processes denoted by verbs in the Present Static or Present Dynamic tenses. Examples:

1. "Sometimes, when the pain is bad, I want it all to end as quickly as it may be, but when the pain goes, there I'm again thinking of the money" (H. Walpole); 2. "I see the boy in the road. He's coming right up here. Oh! look, look, he's coming into our house" (A. Cronin); 3. Each manifestation of life is coming and then going back again (Th. Dreiser); 4. Outside it is raining. I like to think of that cold drenched window be­hind the blind, and beyond the fence. And all at one and the same mo­ment I am arriving in a strange city, slipping under the hood of a cab while the driver whips the cover off the breathing horse, running from shelter to shelter, dodging someone, swerving by someone else. I am conscious of tall houses, their doors and shutters sealed against the night. I am brushing through deserted gardens and falling into most smelling summer-houses. I am standing on the dark quayside, giving my ticket into the wet, red hand of the old sailor in an oilskin. How strong the sea smells! How loudly the tied-up boats knock against one another! I am crossing the wet shackyard, hooded in an old sack. And now I am walking along a deserted road — it is impossible to miss the puddles, and the trees are stirring, stirring (K. Mansfield).

 

ADVERBS AND ADVERBIAL PHRASES OF TIME COMBINED WITH THE PRESENT DYNAMIC

Adverbs and adverbial phrases of time combine with the Present Dynamic to modify processes of the present time sphere in about 19% of its uses: in 81% the context has no such indicators. Figures in brack­ets in the frequency list that follows indicate the percentage of the use

of the Present Dynamic with a particular adverb or phrase relative to the total number of instances of the tense combined with them:

now (23.6); always (19.1); every day, etc. (9.6); still (9.3); all the time, etc. (7.4); constantly, etc. (5.6); at present, this moment, etc. (3.8); today, tonight (3.4); just now (3.1); this week, etc. (2.2); till (1.8); these days (1.5); again (.9); all day, for the first time, now and then, soon, then, yet (.6, each); after awhile, all this time, for a number of years, from ... till, never, steadily (.3, each).

Now: 1. "A moment ago I had doubts. Now I am ordering you to do it" (G. Jenkins); 2. "And by the way, how is the dancing hall doing now?" (A. Cronin); 3. "What are you doing now?" —"Not much. I get around a little. I'm taking it sort of easy now" (E. Hemingway); 4. "What's he studying now? Is he studying science?" —"Yes, and I think he's getting on quite well at it. He's certainly working very hard" (D. Hicks); 5."I'm teaching now at one of the church schools" (G. Gordon); 6."Many of those who are writing novels now were only children during the Civil War" (D. Worker).

As the examples show, the Present Dynamic, when combined with now, refers both to concrete (Example 1) and abstract (Examples 2—6) processes.

Always: 1. "Where's my French grammar? You've boned it. You're always pinching my books" (H. Walpole); 2. Language is a living, grow­ing organism, like a tree or a vine. It is always changing (S. Cody); 3. The associations of words are always shifting, even when the meaning re­mains unchanged (J. Greenough); 4. Men are always trying to make machines which will do their hard work for them (H. McKay).

Examples 2—4, in which the Present Dynamic is combined with the adverb always, are emotionally colourless.

Every Day, etc.: 1. "Things of that sort are happening every day all over the world. They are in the nature of things" (H. G. Wells); 2. "I know it is hard to go on striking. A bowl of stew is all I am having each day and that is all I have to keep me going" (D. Worker); 3. "They're sending six pounds every month" (P. Abrahams).

Still: "Is it still snowing?" (W. S. Gray); 2. "Well, what are you doing now? Are you still keeping up your singing?" (D. Parker); 3. "She's still living, they say" (J. Galsworthy); 4. "I haven't the least use for anybody who's still talking about the war" (E. Delafield).

All the Time, etc.: 1. The experience of the working class is flowing in all the time, analysed, tested, reapplied, reanalysed (J. Lindsay); 2. The shift in parts of speech is not something that happened to old languages, or to new languages in their early stages. It is going on all the time (I. Goldberg); 3. "Everybody is trying to down me, and now I'm up against the Railroad. I'm fighting them all, Hilma, night and day, lock, stock, and barrel" (F. Norris).

Constantly, etc.: 1. Frozen foods are constantly gaining new markets (G. Stewart); 2. Form lives longer than its conceptional content. Both are ceaselessly changing, but the lorm tends to linger on when the spirit has flown or changed its being (E. Sapir); 3. The notion "present" has no stability whatever, but is continuously shifting from the past toward

the future (A. Markwardt); 4. And Cowperwood turned his face to that dawn which is forever breaking where youth is (Th. Dreiser); 5. "He is perpetually meeting accidents" (G. Meredith).

Already: 1. "Marvellous. I'm already feeling different" (D. Cusack); 2. "Mrs. Henry is already losing much of her strength. The sooner we operate now the safer (E. Hemingway); 3. "Aileen is already planning to go to Paris shopping" (Th. Dreiser).

At Present, etc. Today, Tonight: 1. He is at present studying for a scientific degree at Cambridge (J. Braine); 2. "Just about this moment she's getting away with a pearl necklace!" (P. Wodehouse); 3. These achievements of the U.S.S.R. surpass those of the West — indeed at the moment we are pausing, the Communists are driving ahead (D. Work­er); 4. "This train is really travelling today" (F. Norris); 5. Today the controllers are becoming controlled (D. Worker); 6. "Your ears are stick­ing up so nicely tonight, Michael" (J. Galsworthy).

Just Now, Right Now: 1." Aren't you feeling happy just now?" (P. Ab­rahams); 2. "He's the only man in England who's doing real work just now" (J. Galsworthy); 3. "The 17th and 19th Street line is earning one thousand dollars a day right now" (Th. Dreiser).

This Week, These Days: 1. "I'm a dancer, and the company I am with is playing here this week" (Th. Dreiser); 2. "I'm selling tickets for you this afternoon. I'm having such success" (F. Norris); 3. "How are you getting on these days?" (E. James).

Till, Again, All Day, For the First Time, Now And Then, Soon[59], Then[60], Yet: 1. Mass forms of protest in Greenboro are marking time till the end of lengthy negotiations (D. Worker); 2. "I think I'll be all right. I'm hearing from some of my friends again" (Th. Dreiser); 3."They are working in dust all day — their lungs are chucked with it" (A. Cro­nin); 4. "The appletree is having fruit for the first time" (D. Russel); 5. "You're getting to talk like a landlubber now and then" (G. Meredith); 6. "You are getting old; I am not, yet" (J. Galsworthy).

After a While. All This Time. For a Number of Years. From ... Till. Never. Steadily: 1. The Mexicans are simply enraptured. But after a while they are pining to put their spokes into those wheels (D. H. Lawrence); 2. "What's fretting you, dear?" —"It's George. He's waiting at home for his tea all this time" (J. Lindsay); 3. All full-time students, and those part-time students who are attending for a number of years may need a small locker in which to keep their belongings (B. Price); 4. The nuns are toiling from morning till night (A. Munthe); 5. "I'm never thin king of anything else" (G. Meredith); 6. The structural linguistics issteadi-ly becoming more influential among students of the language (J. Hook).

 

VERBS USED IN THE PRESENT DYNAMIC

 

Only about a dozen verbs, such as "contain, consist, matter, pos­sess, prefer, presume, suppose" are not used in dynamic forms in the sources analysed. The following verbs from those commonly said not to be used so[61] have been found in the Present Dynamic (figures in brackets indicating the total number of instances for each verb): see (30)[62]; happen (20); expect (16); hope (14); hurt (13); want (12); long (8); hear, imagine (7); count (on), find, rely (4); have (to), like, love, mean, wish (3); believe, consider, contribute, realize, recognize (2); admire, be (able to), belong, dare, intend, know, owe (be indebted), trust, un­derstand (1).

To See. Instances of the verb to see used in the senses to view as a spec­tator and escort have not been counted. From other meanings the most frequent one is to perceive with the eyes (ACD), for example:

1. "The scientists say this is the oldest coast in the world. They say it was here that the earth emerged from the chaos. Maybe life also emerg­ed here, too. We're probably seeing the same thing before our eyes now as happened on the first day of creation" (G. Jenkins) (The captain, the speaker, and his mate are watching an eruption of undersea volca­noes: Model II); 2. When you and I write, it is almost always in the hope of enabling someone else to see what we are seeing with our eye, or with our mind's eye (L. Strong) (Model II); 3. It won't take long. If only I could do it without doing it, be here while I'm over there. I'm not listening, I'm not seeing, I'm not feeling (J. Lindsay); 4. "You're just seeing things," said Mrs. Bell (B. Botkin); 5. "Two cottages and two houseboats! Or are we seeing double?" (Th. Dreiser); 6. "I'm afraid I am not seeing so well this morning" (A. Cronin) (Model III).

The Present Dynamic of the verb to see used in some other senses:

1." It's the most terrible thing I've ever seen in my life." —"I agree. But you're seeing only your fiance's problem, and your problem. I have to see all the other problems" (D. Cusack) (You are considering, thinking of only your fiance's problem); 2. "What's he doing?"—"He's seeing if everything is alright" (G. Greene) (He is making sure if everything is alright); 3."Don't worry, it will. That's what Jill is seeing to" (J. Lind­say) (That's what Jill is giving her attention to).

To Happen: 1. "What's happening at the front?" (E. Hemingway); 2. "Tell people in Britain what is really happening in Spain today" (D. Worker); 3. The man who tells a story thinks not about grammar, but about his characters and what is happening to them (L. Strong); 4. "If" is rapidly winning favour over "whether" in informal English. In formal English, however, this is happening more slowly (C. Kegel).

To Expect: l."Will you see if the mail has come? I'm expecting an important letter" (M. Mitchell); 2. I'm a nurse. I'm twenty-two, married, and expecting my first baby this August (D. Worker); 3. "Are you ex­pecting to stay here for a while?" (Th. Dreiser).

In the first two examples the verb to expect is used in the meanings await, look forward to, for which dynamic forms are common. In the third example the meaning of the verb is to suppose (ACD). The use is rare (1 instance from 16) and can be explained by Model IV.

To Hope: 1. "He will get my wire tonight. I'm hoping we shall see him tomorrow" (P. Wodehouse); 2. "Are you married yet?" —"No. As a matter of fact I'm hoping to get special leave" (G. Greene); 3. "Natu­rally, we are all hoping for his speedy recovery and return" (Th. Dreiser).

The verb to hope combines the meanings expect and desire (expect and desire — ALD; implies a wish that an event may take place and an expecta­tion that it will — ACD). In the Present Dynamic it is always used to re­present the process denoted by it in its development, going-on (Model II).

To Hurt: 1. "Now how do you feel in general? Is your back hurting you?" (H. Walpole); 2. "I'm shot," he said.— "You're just scared." — "No, sir. I'm shot. And I'm hurting bad" (E. Hemingway); 3. "I shall be all right. My hand is not hurting now" (D. du Maurier); 4." You are hurt­ing my arm." —"And you know I love you, don't you?" —"But you are still hurting my arm" (M. Arlen).

The verb to hurt means to cause or suffer pain and is used above in the Present Dynamic by Models II; II; II or III; I—respectively.

To Want: 1. "But what are you thinking about?" she cried in pained astonishment.— "I'm not thinking about anything. Not thinking only wanting" (A. Huxley); 2. I know you shouldn't keep telephoning them. When you do that, they know you're thinking about them and want­ing them and that makes them hate you (D. Parker); 3. " I'm not wanting to go. I've got that band round my brow again" (A. Cronin); 4."What is it you're wanting?" —"Come outside and speak to me" (H. Walpole).

The verb to want means to feel a need or desire for (ACD) and the Pre­sent Dynamic with it is used above by Models II; II; III; III or IV.

To Long. To long means to have a prolonged or unceasing desire (ACD) and is used in the Present Dynamic by Model II. Examples:

l."I'll put the kettle on. Are you longing for tea?" —"No. Not long­ing."—"Well, I am" (K- Mansfield); 2. "You must tell us".—"I'm longing to (K. Mansfield); 3."I am longing to see you again, my darling boy" (G. Gordon).

To Hear: l."The girl is hearing the song of the first lark. She knows that it means spring has come" (Th. Wolfe) (Model II); 2. "You under­stand you're hearing this under the Topsecret label" (P. Anderson) (Model II); 3. "Am I really hearing what you're saying?" —"Yes, you are" (D. Worker); 4. "Never heard of it? Well, you're hearing it nowl" (D. Carter) (Model III).

To Imagine: 1. "Agatha, there isn't any one here. Truly there isn't. You're imagining it" (H. Walpole); 2."Then," said Eugene slowly, "I'm imagining all this? Are we here talking together or not?" (Th. Wolfe); 3. "Hush!" he said quietly. "You are excited and imagining things that are not true" (E. Voynich).

Count (on), Rely (on): 1. "I gave my promise. She's counting on it" (W. Faulkner); 2."I'm counting on you to stay in good health" (W. Sa-royan); 3. "I'm relying on you, Alex" (A. Cronin); 4. "Harry is relying on you being sensible" (J. Lindsay).

To Find: 1. "Hullo. I noticed you were throwing your packs of cards

into the sea. Giving up playing? Are you?" —"Yes, I'm finding a new occupation" (E. Wallace); 2. "How is he doing in that terrible job with the.dance band?" —"He's finding his feet, is Simon" (J. Pudney); 3."In Marylebone we are finding it possible to unite many different types of people" (D. Worker).

To Have to: Millions of workers in France are having to live on 30 pounds a month, while hundreds of thousands have to make do on 20 pounds a month (D. Worker); Coypus enjoy eating the growing sugar-beet and oats, so farmers are having to take action against this destruc­tion (D. Worker) (Model III; Model III).

To Like, To Love: l."And how, my dear boy, are you liking our little community?" (A. Cronin); 2. "How are you liking the Piedmont Hotel, Professor?" (J. Galsworthy); 3. "Tell me about Ann. Is she still liking England?" —"Loving it" (J. Galsworthy); 4. "He's only in love with books and things, but I've got a real live woman in my arms that's loving me all the time she's kicking about over the traces" (J. London).

The Present Dynamic of the verb to like is used by Models IV (Exam­ples 1 and 2: The question is about the relation between the subject and the object at the moment of speaking, the relation being in the process of formation, changing) and III (Example 3: The question is about Ann who had ccme from America; the relation between her and England is represented as changing — the speaker knows that Americans commonly like England when they come to it and dislike it after they have stayed there for some time); that of the verb to love by Model II (the process of loving one in its going-on).

To Mean, To Wish: 1."Madam, if you are meaning me, you are wrong" (E. James) (if you, while speaking, are in the process of referring to me — Model II); 2. "I'm a lazy man. I'm always meaning to pull myself up. But I'm too old for improvement" (H. Walpole) (Model II); 3. She picked up the goblet of wine and proceeded to kiss the rim. "See, I am wishing into it" (Th. Dreiser) (I am in the process of saying my wish); 4. "I'm not wishing to talk about it" (Th. White) Model IV, or III).

To Believe, To Consider, To Contribute, To Realize, To Recognize:-l."I'm believing you when you say you came here with the best inten­tions" (P. Abrahams) (Model IV); 2. "But I didn't do such a thing. You are believing what he said. He was drunk. I tell you" (G. Gordon) (Mod­el IV or III — the speaker hopes he can convince the listener); 3."As a matter of fact I'm considering seriously joining the Communist Party" (A. Saxton); 4. The structural linguistics are contributing a new kind of analysis of languages (J. Hook) (Model II); 5. "I think the country is realizing that one cannot laugh too much at the things we feel very deeply" (D. Worker) (The country is in the process of realizing — Model I); 6. We are recognizing five modes, and we are recognizing eight Tenses rather than six (R. Long) (Model I).

To Admire, To be (able to)[63], To Belong, To Dare, To Intend: l."And if anyone comes, say that you are admiring the beautiful Indian bird" (G. Meredith) (Model II); 2. "I'll have what's belonging to me today" (Th. Dreiser) (Model III); 3. "Are you daring to call me a gatecrush-

er?" —"Well, aren't you?" (M. Arlen) (Model IV); 4. "Are you intend­ing to marry her?" (G. P. Snow) (See the verb want).

To Know, To Owe (be indebted), To Trust, To Understand: 1. " But

I do just want to say this, Roger. That woman utterly deserves — well, anything she got." —"I know she did," Roger said not without emo­tion. "And that's just why I'm not knowing anything at all" (A. Berkley) (Model III: Roger who knows who killed Ena tells his friend that he has been assuring the police he knows nothing); 2. "Well, he's owing the Third National and the Lake City as much, if not more" (Th. Dreiser) (Model III); 3."But I can do more. I am doing more. I am trusting you" (J. Conrad) (Model III); 4."Yet all the time deep in me I have an awful fear that they're right. But don't say I'm understanding. I don't begin to understand what he's after" (W. S. Maugham) (Model III).

The Verbs To Be, To Feel, To Look, To Think. Each of these verbs, as it is rightly stated in most textbooks, is common in the Present Dynamic.

To Be: 1. "I'm not being quite honest," he said at last.— "No?" — "I really came to see you" (G. Greene) (Model III); 2. "Oh, you are just being mean!" (S. Lewis) (Model II, III, or IV); 3."He is being quite firm about it. Though he is desperately in love with her" (R. Macaulay) (Model Ö: He is always showing firmness whenever we speak of it); 4." Isn't Dick being a long time?" —"He is, rather." —"He's been gone ages" (K. Mansfield) (Model III: The speaker hopes that Dick will soon come); 5. "His wife is being confined today" (G. Gordon) (Model III).

To Feel, To Look. The frequent use of the Present Dynamic of these verbs to refer to mental and bodily states is readily explained by the fact that such states are likely to change (Model III).

To Think. Most frequently the verb to think in dynamic tenses re­presents a process of meditating in its development, as in "Are you thinking carefully of what you are doing?" —"All the time" (Th. Drei­ser).

In Irish English, however, the verb to think in the Present Dynamic is also common in the variant meaning "to be of an opinion", as in:

1. "St. Paul. That'll be Minnesota, I'm thinkin'" (E. O'Neill); 2. "She'll come to her senses, I'm thinkin'" (Th. Dreiser); 3. "It's getting colder, I'm thinkin'" (Th. Dreiser).

The Present Dynamicof Some Other Verbs. Examples of the Present Dynamic of some other verbs which are also commonly said not to be used in dynamic tenses:

1. "You're just advising us to behave like beasts." —"I'm advising you to behave like human beings" (A. Huxley); 2. "Are you aiming to leave it lying there?"—"I aim to show it to ma" (W. Faulkner); 3." George, why do you exaggerate so? To drive us all wild?" —"I'm not exaggerating, Cassie" (J. Updike); 4. "I'm fearing you have the right of it for once" (E. O'Neill); 5. "If your oath is not proper oath at all, I'll have to be taking your naked word for it and have you anyway — I'm needing you that bad" (E. O'Neill); 6. "Here, sister, never mind about the fish. It'll save, I reckon." —"I ain't minding it. I'm going to milk before it sets in to rain" (W. Faulkner); 7. "The one mystery is, what

are we remembering?'' (J. Updike); 8. "I am wondering if that dance is open now," he said to her (Th. Dreiser); 9." I'll go — don't you worry."— "I'm not worrying. Tosh. I've got more to do with my time" (K- Water-house).

A study of ever increasing amount of sources leads one to conclude that, theoretically at least, any verb having Participle I can be used in dynamic tenses.

 

Miscellaneous

 

To be Going + Infinitive. The Present Dynamic of the verb to go plus an Infinitive is used to represent a process denoted by the Infini­tive of a verb as a piece of objective reality in the future. The conctruc-tion is devoid of the modality often present in the Future Tenses. Exam­ples:

1 ."Oh, Mother, Mother," she sobbed." Am I going to die>I don't want to die." —"Of course you're not going to die" (W. S. Maugham) (Will my death be a piece of objective reality?). 2. "Now they're doing some­thing positive, I know I'm going to get better" (D. Cusack); 3. "We're not going to be here (in this world) so much longer, and neither of us needs the money" (Th. Dreiser); 4. "Come on, Sophie. We're going to dance" (W. S. Maugham).

Sometimes, especially in American English, the verb to fix is used in this construction synonymously with the verb to go, as:

"She's fixing to spend the night with Betty," Bill said (W. Hill).

References to Facts of Objective Reality. The Present Dynamic is widely used to refer to any process of objective reality taking place at the moment of speaking,- if it is represented as relatively dynamic, for example:

l."The water's boiling at last" (G. Gordon); 2. "There's not a soul about, but the candle is burning" (H. Walpole); 3. "Help! Help! Oh, my God, I'm drowning, I'm drowning. Help!" (Th. Dreiser); 4."Aileen, I'm dying" (Th. Dreiser); 5." It's getting darker and darker" (G. Meredith); 6. "The moon is hiding now, behind one of the elms, and the evening star shining above a dead branch (J. Galsworthy).

In all such cases, reference is to objective facts. This is often emphasized by the presence in the context of such words as "it's a fact", and so on. For example:

1. "I'm not good at guessing.I like facts." — "Well, it's a fact we're dancing" (J. Lindsay); 2. " In fact, I am hoping he may mean a great deal" (Th. Dreiser); 3. "As a matter of fact I am feeling better than I've been feeling for months" (Th. Dreiser).

Successive -ing Forms. The Present Dynamic if often followed imme­diately by a gerund or Participle I, for example:

1 ."Are you really going travelling?" (I. Stone); 2." I'm going shopping" (M. Bryant); 3. "They think we're going mooning" (H. G. Wells); 4. I hear he's starting feeding patients to that Stillman fellow" (A. Cronin); 5. "What are you doing sitting there?" (E. James).

In such cases as"'Going shooting?' he asked" (E. Hemingway) the use of an Infinitive changes the information conveyed in speech from

"Are you walking in order to be hunting?" to "Are you going to fire your gun?"

To be Dying + Infinitive. For the verb to die in the Present Dynamic when combined with an Infinitive or with for is used in the variant meaning "to desire greatly". For example:

1. "I told 'em about you, and they're dying to have a look at you" (S. Lewis); 2." I'm simply dying to see you" (W.S.Maugham); 3."Please," Laura said."I'm dying to play badminton" (I Shaw)."Let's have a drink. I'm dying for one" (H. Cecil).

 

THE PAST DYNAMIC

 

The Past Dynamic is fifth in frequency in fiction (2.4%) and is extremely rare in technical literature (see page 53). It is used when the speaker who is mentally in the past represents a verbal process as rela­tively dynamic. Objectively, a verbal process can be concrete or ab­stract, its length ranging from several instants to infinite; continuous or repeated; isolated or simultaneous or sequent with other processes.


Date: 2015-12-11; view: 623


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