Résumés
Abstract
The Present Perfect Progressive often expresses an activity reaching up to the present, as in He has been speaking for two hours. Here the subject is represented after part of the event, hence the impression of an unfinished activity. In some cases, however, the completed portion of the event represents almost the whole event, as we shall see with explicit examples. In other cases still, the Present Perfect Progressive expresess a just- finished event, where the subject is situated after the whole event’s duration. The aim of this article is to answer the following question: how can the Present Perfect Progressive express different moments of the event’s duration and so evoke different types of events? As we shall see, the answer lies in the way that events are expressed by the present participle.
Résumé
Le Present Perfect Progressive exprime souvent une activité se déroulant jusqu’au présent comme dans He has been speaking for two hours. Dans ce cas, le sujet est situé après une partie de l’événement, d’où l’impression d’une activité inachevée. Dans certains cas, cependant, la partie accomplie de l’évènement représente la quasi-totalité de l’évènement, comme nous le verrons dans cet article. Enfin, le Present Perfect Progressive peut exprimer un évènement venant tout juste de se terminer. Dans ce cas, le sujet est situé après la durée entière de l’évènement. Le présent article vise donc à répondre à la question suivante: comment peut-on évoquer différents moments de la durée d’un évènement – et exprimer ainsi différents types d’évènements? Comme nous le verrons, la réponse réside dans la manière de représenter l’évènement exprimé par le participe présent.
Parties annexes
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