Use of Present Continuous

[philadelphia]

I foresee we are being more familiar with this. WOuld you mind creating a thread about the prepositions? I keep having trouble from some contexts.

[David L.]

I'm not sure if I'm getting across the idea that in the tense
'I brush my teeth', this refers to just the act and the action 'brush' - time does not come into this. We know that brushing one's teeth takes a couple of minutes; but the tense tells us nothing about time or implies any period of time.

My hearts beats. -Yes- it performs this action. My liver does not. My liver just lies there.

Even though my heart has been beating for years and hopefully will continue to for many more, this is purely extra knowledge I have, something else I happen to know about hearts. The tense does not imply any time period or duration.

Take this one:
Men grow beards. Women do not. Facts.
I am growing a beard. I say that at this very moment. Whether I decided this morning, and so didn't shave, or it is an impulsive decision and, (even though I shaved this morning), I decided two seconds ago that I won't shave from now on..........a process that takes time has begun, is now going on. The action of 'grow' is now happening over time. The tense 'am growing' indicates that I am at this moment somewhere within this period of time from when it started -my decision to grow a beard - and when I am satisfied with its length and so say, "How do you like it. I've grown a beard", which implies, the growing process is over, at an end. It is now grown.

michelle wrote:
I’m afraid he can’t answer he is engaged (on the other line) – is correct but

I’m afraid he can’t answer he is being engaged - even if this is also an ongoing/ temporary situation is wrong.

Yes. The first sentence is correct. At this very moment, this split second, he is busy. WE KNOW that telephone conversations can take a minute or a half hour - having a conversation takes time - but the tense does not refer to any period of time, or how long he will be. Purely that, at this very instant, he is in the act of speaking on another phone so cannot speak to you.

He can’t answer. He is being engaged.
The tense of 'is being engaged' alerts me to the fact that something is happening, going on, whether over a very short or long period of time. So, if I was on the other end of the phone, and you said that to me, what would I understand you to mean, what would I picture in my mind?
I imagine you have just looked up and seen your boss in some other part of the office, or through the glass, in his own office. Someone has quickly walked up to him and has started a conversation. The boss is being engaged in a conversation (which is happening at the same time that I am speaking to you.) The man went up to him, they started talking, a situation began and is continuing: he is being engaged by the other man in a conversation.
So, your complete explanation to me might be:
He can’t take your call. As we speak, he is being engaged by an irate(=very angry) colleague in a rather heated discussion. I assume some problem has come up so this could take some time. Could he ring you back later?"
'is being engaged' tells me that something is happening and is unfolding over time. I don't know when it began. I don't know how long it will go on.
So -'is engaged' is like a snapshot - static - we see a static, still picture of some 'action' that is unmoving, doesn't involve any time.
'is being engaged' is like a movie, whether a film clip a few seconds long, or for however long the whole movie lasts. We are witnessing some of the action. We may have walked in after the movie began and have no idea when it started. We may have no idea how long the movie is and what time it will finish. We have come into the cinema while the movie is playing/the action is going on.

Note: I have used Michelle's phrase "is being engaged", just so that we can concentrate on understanding the difference between the two verb forms in terms of tense. Native speaker's would not actually phrase it as 'is being engaged'. Something like, "He was expecting your call, but he is being detained by another matter at present. Could he...?"

Are there more questions about this, or does someone want to suggest another verb tense we can look at?

Philadelphia: a thread on prepositions sounds a great idea for another native speaker in this forum. Any takers?
Any native speaker here who has any other area of grammar they want to start a thread on?

[michelle.siel]

Things are much clearer now. Thank you for your detailed explanations.

[philadelphia]

There is a very French idiom which tells, if you give a fish to a man, he will eat once. If you teach him how to fish, he will eat for all his life.* Man is often used as to both woman and man - no male chauvinism from it. Maybe you have got another about similar.

That is from what you have done, you have teached us how to fish - even though we will still make some mistakes and, thereby, come back into here again.

Hope you will do other threads as good and some native speakers will feel interresting in helping and sharing their knowledge.

This is a very thanks to you, Mr. David!



*Si tu donnes un poisson à un homme, il se nourrira une fois. Si tu lui apprends à pêcher, il se nourrira toute sa vie.

[David L.]

Bitte Schón

[RonBee]

I foresee we are being more familiar with this. WOuld you mind creating a thread about the prepositions? I keep having trouble from some contexts.

Try:

I think we are becoming more familiar with this. Would you mind creating a thread about prepositions? I keep having trouble with them.

[David L.]

Can we morph your last offering into an offer to take it on, Ron? of me I know!

[RonBee]

Can we morph your last offering into an offer to take it on, Ron? of me I know!

I would need help. Also, there is the problem of AE/BE differences. I think Soup would be very good at it. Maybe a team effort would be appropriate.



(Prepositions do give ESL learners a devil of a time.)

[Tdol]

(Prepositions do give ESL learners a devil of a time.)

They keep us in work, though.