progressive aspect
- noun
- /prəˈɡrɛsɪv ˈæspekt/
- Specialized
:
aspecto progresivo
- To express a continuous action, you can use the progressive aspect, such as in the phrase, "She is playing the piano."
Examples
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The teacher explained that the progressive aspect shows ongoing actions, such as in the sentence, "I am studying for my exam."
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The processes under discussion are also characterized by the progressive aspect (i.e., "walking," "falling") without tense.
Academic text (2005) -
In English, the verb forms like running and eating illustrate the progressive aspect, indicating actions that are currently happening.
Synonyms
1
5.5
A verb tense that shows an action is continuing
A way in grammar to show an action or state keeps happening
A verb form that shows an action is continuing, repeated, or not finished
A verb form that shows an action is continuing at a specific time
A verb form for actions happening now or around a time
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'progressive' denotes ongoing or in-progress action and 'aspect' denotes a grammatical category, so together they clearly indicate the grammatical category that marks ongoing actions. This combination is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'aspecto progresivo', French 'aspect progressif') and follows standard terminology, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Progressive aspect comes from the word progressive, which suggests something 'in progress' or still moving. In grammar we show this idea by using be + 'verb-ing', for example 'She is reading', so the name helps us remember it means 'ongoing' or 'still happening'.