From: Patrick Ryan
Message: 46760
Date: 2006-12-25
----- Original Message -----From: tgpedersenSent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 4:48 PMSubject: [tied] Re: Ablaut, hi-conjugation, stress alternation, etc
>
> If someone said to me:
> "I shall read the paper, and then I can have a holiday."
> my first question would be:
> "How long do you think it will take?"
> That suggests to me durative rather than punctual.
It suggests punctual, since that someone by implication will pass
from a state of not having read the paper to one of having read the
paper which latter state is apparently a precondition for his taking a
holiday which means "shall read" is aspectually punctual, at least
within the implicitly chosen universe if discourse, and that your
question is conversation.
Torsten***
I see nothing stative here.
This is clearly a description of an active event.
A further proof is that
"I shall be reading the paper . . ."
could be substituted with no discernible difference in meaning for a native speaker of English.
Patrick
***