The meeting is starting now.

[Alice Chu]

Please tell me if my understanding is correct.
The following action/dynamic verbs referring to something changing from one state to another can be used in progressive/continuous tenses to indicate that something is happening, but they can’t be used with for or since to indicate the duration of actions.

1) start/begin, end, stop, die, finish, accomplish, complete
2) succeed, fail, lose, obtain/get, receive
3) move, arrive, land, come, go, leave, depart, retreat
4) appear/show up, disappear, arise, happen
5) buy, purchase, sell, borrow, lend
6) get/grow/turn, become, change, ripen, mature
7) open, close, fall, drop, marry, join,

Sentence 1, 2 and 3 are correct, but the others are incorrect.
1) The meeting is starting now.
2) The meeting was starting when Tom arrived at the office.
3) The meeting will be starting at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.
4) The meeting has been starting/has started for ten minutes/since 9 a.m.
5) The meeting had been starting/had started for ten minutes when Joe arrived there.
6) The meeting will have been starting/will have started for ten minutes at nine ten tomorrow morning.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please tell me if my understanding is correct.
The following action/dynamic verbs referring to something changing from one state to another can be used in progressive/continuous tenses to indicate that something is happening, but they can’t be used with "for" or "since" to indicate the duration of actions.

1) start/begin, end, stop, die, finish, accomplish, complete
2) succeed, fail, lose, obtain/get, receive
3) move, arrive, land, come, go, leave, depart, retreat
4) appear/show up, disappear, arise, happen
5) buy, purchase, sell, borrow, lend
6) get/grow/turn, become, change, ripen, mature
7) open, close, fall, drop, marry, join,

Sentences 1, 2 and 3 are correct, but the others are incorrect.

1) The meeting is starting now.
2) The meeting was starting when Tom arrived at the office.
3) The meeting will be starting at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.
4) The meeting has been starting/has started for ten minutes/since 9 a.m.
5) The meeting had been starting/had started for ten minutes when Joe arrived there.
6) The meeting will have been starting/will have started for ten minutes at nine ten tomorrow morning.

1 is OK.
2 is OK but unlikely. We'd probably say "The meeting was just starting/had just started when Tom arrived at the office".
3 is OK.
4 is incorrect. "The meeting had started ten minutes earlier, at 9am."
5 is incorrect. "The meeting had been going on for ten minutes when Joe arrived" or "The meeting started ten minutes before Joe arrived".
6 is incorrect. "At 9.10 tomorrow morning, the meeting will already have been going on for ten minutes."

Something doesn't "start" for a period of time. It's a single event. A meeting starts at just one moment in time. After that, the meeting is going on or continuing.

I'm not sure what the verbs in 2-7 have to do with anything.

 

[GoesStation]

The following action/dynamic verbs … can’t be used with "for" or "since" to indicate the duration of actions.

Mastering the correct use of quotation marks will greatly improve your written English.

 

[jutfrank]

Something doesn't "start" for a period of time. It's a single event. A meeting starts at just one moment in time.

In sentences 1 and 2, that's not the case. In those two examples, the event is durative, happening progressively over time.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hmmm, OK. I take "It's starting now" to mean something more like "It's about to start" (in the next few seconds) but hasn't actually started yet.

 

[GoesStation]

Hmmm, OK. I take "It's starting now" to mean something more like "It's about to start" (in the next few seconds) but hasn't actually started yet.

To me it means the meeting is in the process of beginning. If I were to enter the meeting room, I'd expect to find the attendees seated and the first presenter making introductory remarks.

 

[emsr2d2]

In my view, if the attendees are seated and the first presenter is making introductory remarks, the meeting has started.

 

[jutfrank]

Hmmm, OK. I take "It's starting now" to mean something more like "It's about to start" (in the next few seconds) but hasn't actually started yet.

Yes, I know what you mean. The semantics are rather fuzzy.

Suffice to say, the choice of using a progressive aspect shows that the speaker understands there to be a process that has already started. Even if nobody has formally declared that the meeting is properly underway, and even if nobody has yet said anything at all, you still have the idea that something is happening that can be considered as 'starting'.

There's a similar (though possibly less convincing) explanation to be made when we use present continuous to talk about future arrangements (I'm flying to New York in the morning). The use of the progressive aspect shows that although the plane takes off in the future, the event is already underway in some sense.

My advice to you, Alice Chu, with respect to proceeding with this difficult question is to be careful how you understand and classify what you're calling "action/dynamic" verbs. I think it's more accurate and more productive to say that the verb start can be used to signify a (durative) process and that it can also be used to signify an (inchoative) change of state. Instead of labelling verbs as either dynamic or inchoative in themselves, you ought to describe them as they appear in use. That way, you can say that when a verb is used with progressive aspect, it is necessarily durative and cannot be inchoative.

 

[GoesStation]

In my view, if the attendees are seated and the first presenter is making introductory remarks, the meeting has started.

You must be one of the many people who give me a dirty look when I walk in during the introductory remarks. :-(