Collins Cobuild English Grammar (93 page)

Do
you
like
football?
I
want
to come with you. Where
do
you
keep
your keys?
Then I
heard
a noise.

Generally, these sentences cannot be expressed as, for example,
Are you liking football
?,
I’m wanting to come with you
,
Where are you keeping your keys
? or
Then I was hearing a noise
.

   However, a few of these verbs are sometimes used with present and past progressive forms, particularly in informal spoken English. You can use the progressive form with these verbs when you want to emphasize that a state is new or temporary, or when you want to focus on the present moment.

Rachel
is loving
one benefit of the job – the new clothes.
I’
m liking
grapes these days too.
I’
m wanting
the film to be deliberately old-fashioned.

Some people think this usage is incorrect, and it is usually avoided in formal texts.

Here is a list of verbs that are traditionally considered to be stative verbs, but that are sometimes used with present and past progressive forms:

forget

guess

imagine

lack

like

love

remember

want

You can use the present perfect progressive or past perfect progressive with some stative verbs in both formal and informal contexts.

I’
ve been wanting
 to speak to you about this for some time.
John
has been keeping
birds for about three years now.
Then she heard it. The sound she
had been hearing
 in her head for weeks.

Using time adverbials to indicate past, present, or future

4.70
    In many statements, it is the time adverbial rather than the verb form that carries the time reference.

For example, a common use is to put time adverbials that normally refer to future time with the present simple or present progressive when it is used to refer to future actions. They can also be used with references to the future that are made in the past.

The company
celebrates
its 50th anniversary
this year
.
After all, you’
re coming
back
next week
.
The farmer just laughed and rode away. So
the next week I tried
my luck at another farm.
We
arranged
to meet
in three weeks’ time
.

The adverbs
now
,
today
,
tonight
, and expressions involving
this
refer to a period of time that includes the present moment. They are used fairly commonly with all verb forms. This is because an event can be located before, during, or after the time specified by the verb form.

I was
now
in a Scottish regiment.
Your boss will
now
have no alternative but to go to his superiors and explain the situation.
One of my children wrote to me
today
.
I will ski no more
today
.
It’s dark
today
. ‘I went to the doctor
this morning
,’ she said.
He won’t be able to fight
this Friday
.
I’m doing my ironing
this afternoon
.

referring to an earlier or a later time

4.71
    If you want to refer to time that follows a particular event or period of time, you use an adverb such as
soon
or
later
. You can use an adverb such as
beforehand
or
earlier
to refer to time that preceded a particular period of time or an event.

Sita was delighted with the house and
soon
began to look on it as home.
It’ll have to be replaced
soon
.
He
later
settled in Peddle, a small town near Grahamstown.
I’ll explain
later
.
I was very nervous
beforehand
.
You’ll be having a bath and going to the hairdresser’s
beforehand
.
She had seen him only
five hours earlier
.

This type of time reference is common with past and future forms. It is sometimes used with present forms when they are used to refer to past, future, or habitual actions.

Sometimes I
know beforehand
what I’m going to talk about.
I
remember the next day
at school going round asking the boys if they’d ever seen a ghost.
But
afterwards
, as you
read
on, you
relate
back to it.

Here is a list of adverbials that are used to refer to time in a relative way:

afterwards

at once

before long

eventually

finally

immediately

in a moment

instantly

later

later on

presently

shortly

soon

suddenly

within minutes

within the hour

~

the next day

the next week

the next month

the next year

the following day

the following week

the following month

the following year

the day after

the week after

the month after

the year after

~

beforehand

early

earlier

earlier on

in advance

late

one day

on time

punctually

Note that in this list
presently
means
soon
.

You can use
early
to show that something happens before the expected or planned time, and
late
to indicate that it happens after that time.
On time
and
punctually
are used to show that something happens at the planned time.

These adverbs come after the verb or at the end of the clause.

Tired out, he had gone to bed
early
.
If you get to work
early
, you can get a lot done.
He had come to the political arena
late
, at the age of 62.
We went quite
late
in the afternoon.
If Atkinson phoned
on time
, he’d be out of the house in well under an hour.
He arrived
punctually
.

With
early
and
late
you can also use the comparative forms
earlier
and
later
.

I woke
earlier
than usual.
Later
, the dealer saw that it had been sold.

Note that
early
,
late
, and
on time
are also used after linking verbs.

The door bell rang. Barbara was appalled. ‘They’re
early
.’
The Paris train was slightly
late
.
What time is it now? This bus is usually
on time
.

For more information on
linking verbs
, see paragraphs
3.126
to
3.181
.

4.72
    You can also specify a time by relating it to an event, using a qualifying expression or a relative clause after the time adverbial.

I didn’t sleep well
the night before the prosecution
.
I called him
the day I got back
.

4.73
    You can also use some prepositions to relate events to each other, or to particular periods of time. These prepositions are listed in paragraph
4.100
, and there is a full explanation in paragraphs
4.103
to
4.108
.

After the war
, he returned to teaching.
Joseph had been married
prior to his marriage to Mary
.
Wages have fallen
during the last two months
.

necessary time

4.74
    If you want to refer to a
necessary time
, beyond which an event will no longer be relevant, useful, or successful, you can use
in time
.

I had to walk fast to reach the restaurant
in time
.
He leapt back,
in time
to dodge the train.

If something happens before the necessary time, you can use
too early
, and if it happens after the necessary time, you can use
too late
.

Today they grow up
too early
.
It’s much
too early
to assess the community service scheme.
They arrived
too late
for the information to be any good.
It’s
too late
to change that now.