摘要：The aim of the present paper is twofold. First, the use of the progressive will be
investigated in two genres from two different corpora, one of which consists of
19th-century English and one of Present-Day English (an English-German
translation corpus). Focusing on the present progressive1, we will look at how
the normalized frequency of the construction differs between the two genres –
political and academic texts – and between the two corpora. We will also examine
the amount and type of modification of the present progressive form by temporal
adverbials. Both frequency and adverbial modification are connected to
the grammaticalization of the aspectual functions of the progressive form, which
according to Nehls (1988: 188) took place ‘around the middle of the 19th century’.
2 When the progressive became grammaticalized for the expression of
ongoing action, its frequency should reasonably have increased, but it is also
possible that the necessity of qualifying the progressive with temporal adverbials
should have decreased. Moreover, a few remarks on the role of temporal
adverbials in German translations of the progressive will be made. Furthermore,
we will take up some qualitative issues concerning the development of certain
functions of the progressive form, such as emotional connotations and the ‘old’
and ‘new’ passive progressive, as in The house is building vs The house is being
built.
