Sunday, August 7, 2016

present continuous - Usage of progressive tense in "I'm making you all personally responsible for his deliverance"



[Farell uncuffs Cage's hands and turns to the squad]


Sgt Farell: Private Cage is a deserter, I'm making you all personally responsible for his deliverance. He will be combat ready at 06:00 tomorrow.


Cage: Combat ready?


Sgt Farell: Private Cage is under the delusion that he does not belong here, we must dissuade him of this delusion. If he tries to run, feel free dissuade him until he can't piss standing up.


Cage: You have to listen to me, I will never be combat ready!


[suddenly Farell punches Cage in the stomach]


Sgt Farell: I envy you, Cage. Tomorrow morning you will be baptized, born again.



[Farell turns and starts to walk off]


Sgt Farell: PT, ten minutes!


[as Farell leaves the rest of squad look at Cage with distrust]



enter image description here


This conversation is taken from the movie Edge of Tomorrow.


As I recall, lots of performative verbs like advise, permit, promise, warn, etc. are used with present simple rather than the present continuous to perform a speech act.


In this context, could Farell say "I make you all personally responsible for his deliverance" instead? Any nuances suggested?



Answer



I'm going to try another approach to answer your question. My answer is based on the explanation given in the book Meaning and the English Verb (2nd ed.) by Geoffrey N. Leech, which I remember you have.



Let's recap. In chapter one, Leech discusses the two main uses of the Simple Present: unrestrictive use and instantaneous use. The unrestrictive use is about state verbs (be, live, etc.) and eternal truths (e.g. Two and three make five.) The instantaneous use is about commentaries, demonstrations, and asseverations (e.g. I beg your pardon.)


In entry 11, Leech mentions that,



These PERFORMATIVE VERBS express formal act of declaration, in contrast to the Progressive forms We are accepting your offer, etc., which merely report the speaker's present activities or future intentions. This usage is also characteristic of more ceremonial contexts, such as


​   ship-launching: 'I name this ship . . .'
​   judge passing sentence: 'I sentence you to . . .'
​   card and board games: 'I bid two clubs.' | 'I resign.' | 'I pass.'
​   wills: 'I bequeath . . .'



After the above excerpt, Leech also mentions a bit more about the difference between I write . . . and I am writing . . .,




Also, in formal letters the verb write is sometimes used as a performative: I write to inform you that . . . (But in a more informal style I am writing . . . is preferred.)



In your example, I'm making you all personally responsible for his deliverance, I believe that the verb make is an activity verb (a type of event verb, according to Leech, see 36c), and it's more appropriate to use the Progressive aspect. Using the Simple Present is possible, but it will make the utterance sound ceremonial, which may not fit the context (the occasion in the movie--I haven't seen the movie yet, by the way. :-) as well as the use of the Progressive aspect.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Simple past, Present perfect Past perfect

Can you tell me which form of the following sentences is the correct one please? Imagine two friends discussing the gym... I was in a good s...