محاضرات المرحلة الثانية

First Lecture
The Present Tense indicates that an action is present, now, relative to the speaker or writer. Generally, it is used to describe actions that are factual or habitual -- things that occur in the present but that are not necessarily happening right now: "It rains a lot in Portland" is a kind of timeless statement. Compare that to the present progressive -- "It is raining in Portland" -- which means that something is, in fact, going on right now. "I use my bike to get around town." is in the present, but I m not actually on my bike right now. An instantaneous sense of the present can be conveyed with either the simple present or the progressive: "Watch him now: he holds [is holding] down the control key at the same time that he presses [is pressing] the letter d."
The present tense is used to describe events that are scheduled (by nature or by people): "High tide is at 3:15 p.m. The Super Bowl starts at 6:15 p.m."
The present tense can be used to suggest the past with what is sometimes called the fictional (or historic) present: "We were watching the back door when, all of a sudden, in walks Dierdre." With verbs of communicating, the present tense can also suggest a past action: "Dierdre tells me that she took her brother to the dentist." Most oddly, the present tense can convey a sense of the future, especially with verbs such as arrive, come, and leave that suggest a kind of plan or schedule: "The train from Boston arrives this afternoon at two o clock."
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The Present Tense uses the verb s base form (write, work), or, for third-person singular subjects, the base form plus an -s ending (he writes, she works). Singular Plural I walk we walk you walk you walk he/she/it walks they walk
Singular Plural I sleep we sleep you sleep you sleep he/she/it sleeps they sleep
Singular Plural I am we are you are you are he/she/it is they are
Present tense habitual activities are frequently signaled by time expressions such as the following: all the time always every class every day every holiday every hour every month every semester every week every year most of the time never often rarely sometimes usually
-I walk to work every day. -The Chicago Bulls sometimes practice in this gymnasium. -Dr. Espinoza operates according to her own schedule.
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-Coach Calhoun recruits from countries outside the U.S.A. -Tashonda tells me she has committed to UConn. -We work really hard to make this a success, and then look what happens. -Every time that kid finishes a sandcastle, the waves come in and wash it away. --The shipment arrives tomorrow at 2 p.m.
The Present Progressive Tense indicates continuing action, something going on now. This tense is formed with the helping "to be" verb, in the present tense, plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending): "I am buying all my family s Christmas gifts early this year. She is working through the holiday break. Dierdre is being a really good girl in these days before Christmas".
The present progressive can suggest that an action is going to happen in the future, especially with verbs that convey the idea of a plan or of movement from one place or condition to another: "The team is arriving in two hours. He s moving to Portland this summer." Because the present progressive can suggest either the present or the future, it is usually modified by adverbs of time.
Generally, progressive forms occur only with what are called dynamic verbs and not with stative verbs.
The progressive forms of a verb indicate that something is happening or was happening or will be happening. When used with the past, the progressive form shows the limited duration of an event: "While I was doing my homework, my brother came into my room." The past progressive also suggests that an action in the past was not entirely finished. (Compare "I did my homework." to "I was doing my homework.") This is even more evident in the passive progressive
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construction: "He was being strangled in the alley" suggests an action that was not finished, perhaps because the act was interrupted by a good citizen, whereas the simple past "He was strangled in the alley" suggests an action that was finished, unfortunately.
A neat categorization of the uses of the progressive can be found on the page describing the "To Be" Verb.
The progressive forms occur only with dynamic verbs, that is, with verbs that show qualities capable of change as opposed to stative verbs, which show qualities not capable of change.* For instance, we do not say, "He is being tall" or "He is resembling his mother" or "I am wanting spaghetti for dinner" or "It is belonging to me." (We would say, instead: "He is tall," "He resembles his mother," "I want spaghetti," and "It belongs to me.") The best way to understand the difference between stative and dynamic verbs is to look at a table that lists them and breaks them into categories and then to build some sentences with them, trying out the progressive forms to see if they work or not.
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