--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> ... Modern English, a language in
> which aspect is not a lexically specified property of verb stems.
I've seen it effectively claimed as such, for 'stative verbs', which
may be defined as verbs that (almost) lack progressive forms.
Examples are 'own' and 'be'. My personal preference is to say that
the progressive is largely lacking in these verbs because it adds
nothing to the meaning, so unless the construction requires a
progressive it will not be used. My favorite example here is that 'be
good' in the sense of 'behave oneself' does have a progressive form.
However, I am not sure that there is a test to distinguish the two
positions, and it may well be that the existence or otherwise of
lexical markings for such a class varies from person to person.
Richard.