The Communicative Grammar of English Workbook - Edward Woods, Rudy Coppieters 2002

5.4. Meanings and forms
Unit five. Time, tense and aspect

Sections 113-115; 573-578; 740-741

Verbs can refer to:

• an event, i.e. a happening thought of as a single occurrence with clearly defined limits

• a state, i.e. a state of affairs continuing over a period with or without clearly defined limits

• a habit, i.e. a state consisting of a series of events.

All three meanings are normally expressed by simple, i.e. non-progressive forms of the verb (simple present, simple past, present perfect and past perfect).

A fourth type of meaning is the temporary meaning expressed by the progressive aspect (present progressive, past progressive, present perfect progressive and past perfect progressive).

Task one **

Identify the (non-modal) finite verb phrases in the text below, specifying for each

(a) which of the four above meanings it expresses

(b) which of the eight verb forms mentioned in brackets is used.

The argument for a Slow Europe is not only that slow is good, but also that it can work. In 1999 Slow Food gave birth to the Slow City movement, which started in the tiny Tuscan town of Greve and has since spread throughout Italy. The organization has turned around local economies by promoting local goods and tourism, and now has a waiting list of cities hoping to copy the success of its members. Young Italians are moving from larger cities to Bra, where unemployment is only 5 per cent, about half the nationwide rate. Slow food and wine festivals draw thousands of tourists every year. Shops are thriving, many with sales rising at a rate of 15 per cent per year. “This is our answer to globalization,” says Paolo Saturnini, the founder of Slow Cities and mayor of Greve.

(from Newsweek, 2 July 2001, p. 21)

Task two ***

Convert the following sentences expressing state meaning into corresponding sentences expressing habit meaning.

Example: Basil is a teetotaller→ Basil doesn’t drink alcohol. / Basil never drinks alcohol.

1. Fiona is a vegetarian.

2. Sibyl is a pianist.

3. Winston Churchill was a cigar smoker.

4. We were regular churchgoers in those days.

5. Mr Hazelhurst was a Russian teacher for twenty years.

6. Dr Winter is a brain surgeon.

7. Davy is a beggar.

8. Ms Booth is a barrister.

9. Alan Sparke is an arsonist.

10. My cousin is a conscientious objector.

11. This convict is a serial killer.

12. Ben Jonson was an actor and a playwright.