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The general meaning of probability is varied by different additional shades depending on the semantic type
of the modal verb and the corresponding contextual conditions, such as uncertainty, incredulity, surprise, etc.
Cf.:
But can she be taking Moyra's words so personally? If the flight went smoothly, they may be approaching
the West Coast. You must be losing money over this job.
The action of the continuous infinitive of probability, in accord with the type of the modal verb and the
context, may refer not only to the plane of the present, but also to the plane of the future. Cf.:
Ann must be coming soon, you'd better have things put in order.
The gerund and the participle do not distinguish the category of development as such, but the traces of
progressive meaning are inherent in these forms, especially in the present participle, which itself is one of the
markers of the category (in combination with the categorial auxiliary). In particular, these traces are easily
disclosed in various syntactic participial complexes. Cf.:
The girl looked straight into my face, smiling enigmatically. > The girl was smiling enigmatically as she
looked straight into my face. We heard the leaves above our heads rustling in the wind. > We heard how the
leaves above our heads were rustling in the wind.
However, it should be noted that the said traces of meaning are still traces, and they are more often than not
subdued and neutralized.
§ 5. The opposition of the category of development undergoes various reductions, in keeping with the
general regularities of the grammatical forms functioning in speech, as well as of their paradigmatic
combinability.
The easiest and most regular neutralizational relations in the sphere continuous - indefinite are observed in
connection with the subclass division of verbs into limitive and unlimitive, and within the unlimitive into
actional and statal.
Namely, the unlimitive verbs are very easily neutralized in cases where the continuity of action is rendered
by means other than aspective. Cf:.
The night is wonderfully silent. The stars shine with a fierce brilliancy, the Southern Cross and Canopus;
there is not a breath of wind. The Duke's face seemed flushed, and more lined than some of his recent
photographs showed. He held a glass in his hand.
As to the statal verbs, their development neutralization amounts to a grammatical rule. It is under this
heading that the "never-used-in-the-continuous" verbs go, i.e. the uniques be and have, verbs of possession
other than have, verbs of relation, of physical perceptions, of mental perceptions. The opposition of
development is also neutralized easily with verbs in the passive voice, as well as with the infinitive, the only
explicit verbid exposer of the category.
Worthy of note is the regular neutralization of the development opposition with the introductory verb
supporting the participial construction of parallel action. E.g.:
The man stood smoking a pipe. (Not normally: The man was standing smoking a pipe.)
On the other hand, the continuous can be used transpositionally to denote habitual, recurrent actions in
emphatic collocations. Cf.:
Miss Tillings said you were always talking as if there had been some funny business about me (M.
Dickens).
In this connection, special note should be made of the broadening use of the continuous with unlimitive
verbs, including verbs of statal existence. Here are some very typical examples:
I only heard a rumour that a certain member here present has been seeing the prisoner this afternoon (E.M.
Forster). I had a horrid feeling she was seeing right through me and knowing all about me (A. Christie). What
matters is, you're being damn fools, both of you (A. Hailey).
Compare similar transpositions in the expressions of anticipated future:
Dr Aarons will be seeing the patient this morning, and I wish to be ready for him (A. Hailey). Soon we shall
be hearing the news about the docking of the spaceships having gone through.
The linguistic implication of these uses of the continuous is indeed very peculiar. Technically it amounts to
de-neutralizing the usually neutralized continuous. However, since the neutralization of the continuous with
these verbs is quite regular, we have here essentially the phenomenon of reverse transposition - an emphatic
reduction of the second order, serving the purpose of speech expressiveness.
We have considered the relation of unlimitive verbs to the continuous form in the light of reductional