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to be taking their siesta together. What are you complaining about?——Is there really anything for you to be complaining about?
But in addition to this purely categorial distinction, the form of the continuous infinitive has a tendency to acquire quite a special meaning in combination with modal verbs, namely that of probability. This meaning is aspectual in a broader sense than the "inner character" of action: the aspectuality amounts here to an outer appraisal of the denoted process. Cf.:
Paul must wait for you, you needn't be in a hurry. Paul must be waiting for us, so let's hurry up.
The first of the two sentences expresses Paul's obligation to wait, whereas the second sentence renders the speaker's supposition of the fact.
The general meaning of probability is varied by different additional shades depending on the semantic type of the modal verb and the corresponding contextual conditions, such as uncertainty, incredulity, surprise, etc. Cf.:
But can she be taking Moyra's words so personally? If the flight went smoothly, they may be approaching the West Coast. You must be losing money over this job.
The action of the continuous infinitive of probability,
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in accord with the type of the modal verb and the context, may refer not only to the plane of the present, but also to the plane of the future. Cf.: Ann must be coming soon, you'd better have things put in order.
The gerund and the participle do not distinguish the category of development as such, but the traces of progressive meaning are inherent in these forms, especially in the present participle, which itself is one of the markers of the category (in combination with the categorial auxiliary). In particular, these traces are easily disclosed in various syntactic participial complexes. Cf.:
The girl looked straight into my face, smiling enigmatically. → The girl was smiling enigmatically as she looked straight into my face. We heard the leaves above our heads rustling in the wind. → We heard how the leaves above our heads were rustling in the wind.
However, it should be noted, that the said traces of meaning are still traces, and they are more often than not subdued and neutralised.
§ 5. The opposition of the category of development undergoes various reductions, in keeping with the general regularities of the grammatical forms functioning in speech, as well as of their paradigmatic combinability.
The easiest and most regular neutralisational relations in the sphere continuous — indefinite are observed in connection with the subclass division of verbs into limitive and unlimitive, and within the unlimitive into actional and statal.
Namely, the unlimitive verbs are very easily neutralised in cases where the continuity of action is rendered by means other than aspective. Cf.:
The night is wonderfully silent. The stars shine with a fierce brilliancy, the Southern Cross and Canopus; there is not a breath of wind. The Duke's face seemed flushed, and more lined than some of his recent photographs showed. He held a glass in his hand.
As to the statal verbs, their development neutralisation amounts to a grammatical rule. It is under this heading that the "never-used-in-the-continuous" verbs go, i. e. the uniques be and have, verbs of possession other than have, verbs of relation, of physical perceptions, of mental perceptions. The opposition of development is also neutralised easily with
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verbs in the passive voice, as well as with the infinitive, the only explicit verbid exposer of the category.
Worthy of note is the regular neutralisation of the development opposition with the introductory verb supporting the participial construction of parallel action. E. g.: The man stood smoking a pipe. (Not normally: The man was standing smoking a pipe.)
On the other hand, the continuous can be used transpositionally to denote habitual, recurrent actions in emphatic collocations. Cf.: Miss Tillings said you were always talking as if there had been some funny business about me (M. Dickens).
In this connection, special note should be made of the broadening use of the continuous with unlimitive verbs, including verbs of statal existence. Here are some very typical examples:
I only heard a rumour that a certain member here present has been seeing the prisoner this afternoon (E. M. Forster). I had a horrid feeling she was seeing right through me and knowing all about me (A. Christie). What matters is, you're being damn fools, both of you (A. Hailey).
Compare similar transpositions in the expressions of anticipated future:
Dr Aarons will be seeing the patient this morning, and I wish to be ready for him (A. Hailey). Soon we shall be hearing the news about the docking of the spaceships having gone through.
The linguistic implication of these uses of the continuous is indeed very peculiar. Technically it amounts to de-neutralising the usually neutralised continuous. However, since the neutralisation of the continuous with these verbs is quite regular, we have here essentially the phenomenon of reverse transposition — an emphatic reduction of the second order, serving the purpose of speech expressiveness.
We have considered the relation of unlimitive verbs to the continuous form in the light of reductional processes.
As for the limitive verbs, their standing with the category of development and its oppositional reductions is quite the reverse. Due to the very aspective quality of limitiveness, these verbs, first, are not often used in the continuous form
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in general, finding no frequent cause for it; but second, in cases when the informative purpose does demand the expression of an action in progress, the continuous with these verbs is quite obligatory and normally cannot undergo reduction under any conditions. It cannot be reduced, for otherwise the limitive meaning of the verb would prevail, and the informative purpose would not be realised. Cf.:
The plane was just touching down when we arrived at the airfield. The patient was sitting up in his bed, his eyes riveted on the trees beyond the window.
The linguistic paradox of these uses is that the continuous aspect with limitive verbs neutralises the expression of their lexical aspect, turning them for the nonce into unlimitive verbs. And this is one of the many manifestations of grammatical relevance of lexemic categories.
§ 6. In connection with the problem of the aspective category of development, we must consider the forms of the verb built up with the help of the auxiliary do. These forms, entering the verbal system of the indefinite, have been described under different headings.
Namely, the auxiliary do, first, is presented in grammars as a means of building up interrogative constructions when the verb is used in the indefinite aspect. Second, the auxiliary do is described as a means of building up negative constructions with the indefinite form of the verb. Third, it is shown as a means of forming emphatic constructions of both affirmative declarative and affirmative imperative communicative types, with the indefinite form of the verb. Fourth, it is interpreted as a means of forming elliptical constructions with the indefinite form of the verb.
L. S. Barkhudarov was the first scholar who paid attention to the lack of accuracy, and probably linguistic adequacy, in these definitions. Indeed, the misinterpretation of the defined phenomena consists here in the fact that the do-forms are presented immediately as parts of the corresponding syntactic constructions, whereas actually they are parts of the corresponding verb-forms of the indefinite aspect. Let us compare the following sentences in pairs:
Fred pulled her hand to his heart. Did Fred pull her
hand to his heart? You want me to hold a smile. You