Main content
Grammar
Course: Grammar > Unit 2
Lesson 5: Verb aspect: simple, progressive, and perfectProgressive aspect
We use the progressive aspect to express that a verb action is ongoing, as in "I am eating.".
Want to join the conversation?
- so progressive is ongoing correct?(11 votes)
- Yes, you're right - the progressive aspect is ongoing. It describes something that is in the process of happening. It was just happening, is still happening, and will still be happening (for however long) in the future.
For example:
I am running.
...this means:
- I was running a second ago
- I am running right now
- I will still be running in a second
The cake is baking.
...this means:
- the cake was baking a minute ago
- the cake is baking right now
- the cake will still be baking in a minute
Baby is sleeping.
...this means:
- Baby was sleeping a moment ago
- Baby is sleeping right now
- Baby will still be sleeping in a moment from now
Think of it this way: progressive = "in progress"
Hope this helps!(57 votes)
- A past tense example is
I was watching TV when I fell asleep.(11 votes)- exactly. it is in the past continuous or according to the video "progressive" aspect. it is safe to say that you are right. hope this helps(4 votes)
- Does this sentence "I will be heading home around nine o'clock." mean that I'm on my way home around 9? How does it differ from "I will head home around nine o'clock."?(4 votes)
- It is actually the same! It doesn't really differ from "I will head home around nine o'clock.", except from using different words. Hope this helps.(7 votes)
- Is there a way to know when we should use i walked vs i was walking?(3 votes)
- Here is the most excellent chart showing all 12 English tenses. I hope you love it as much as I've come to love it. http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/verb_tense_chart.pdf(5 votes)
- Could someone give me more ideas of progressive aspect?(3 votes)
- Present tense, progressive aspect: She is loving her dog.
Past tense, progressive aspect: She was loving her puppy.
Future tense, progressive aspect: She will be loving her puppy.(5 votes)
- I didn't understand why 'I was walking' is a progressive aspect
Someone can help me?
Thank you!(3 votes)- A progressive aspect means it is still happening, for example, Henry is walking down the street, he is walking so it would mean it is progressive, there is still movement or action.(5 votes)
- Is there a difference between: "I was walking" and "I had been walking"?
Would they be listed under the same name?(5 votes)- I was walking is a present tense term. Was is a present tense word. I had been walking is a past tense term and had is a past tense word.(2 votes)
- is I'm a verb because it has a noun and a verb in it?(3 votes)
- No. "I'm" is not a verb, though it contains one.
"I'm" is a contraction of a pronoun, "I" and a verb, "am". In the sentence, "I'm a woman." the verb is, "am".(4 votes)
- I AM eating an apple right now. (literally, I'm eating an apple)(4 votes)
- Thank you david alexander for telling my the plural of platipuses(3 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello grammarians, let's talk about the progressive aspect. So we talked about the
simple aspect as something that is just most bare form. It's what you see here, I walk, I will walk, I walked. But aspect allows us to talk about things that are ongoing. And that's what we call the progressive because it's progressing,
it's going, it's happening. So if we are telling a story
and we are inside that moment, we can use the progressive aspect. So I walk becomes, in the present, I am walking. So the way the progressive
works is that it takes the form of to be for whatever the
subject of the sentence is, in this case I, and it changes
the verb into an ING verb. That's what it does. That's what the progressive does. And its effect is to say
that something is ongoing. This is also called the continuous aspect, but I like to call it
the progressive aspect. Let's try this in all the
different basic conjugations. So we call this the present progressive. Let's try the past progressive. So if it says I walked, we would just take the verb to be and then put it in the past. So this part doesn't change,
the walking doesn't change. You would say, I was walking. Likewise, for the future, so we're not gonna
change the walking part, we're just gonna put this
am part into the future, which is like so, I will be walking. That's the future progressive. So the way to remember
the progressive aspect is for me to hideously butcher
the writing of David Mamet and tell you to always remember your ABCs. Always be conjugating. And conjugating here is
just a word that means to put verbs in different
tenses and aspects, but I really want you to focus on the fact that we've got this be and this ING. So just remember be and ING and that's how you form the progressive. So no matter whether or not
it's happening in the past, it's still I was walking. So the part that changes is
the be, is the verb to be. I was walking, I am
walking, I will be walking. The part that doesn't
change is the walking and that's how you express
that something is ongoing, that something is continuously happening in the telling of the story. Understanding this will
enable you to master time. You can learn anything. David out.