A question about "temporality" of Tenses

Question

Hi, everybody:

I have seen the sentence "Let's go out now. It isn't raining any more. " in an essay.

And I know that the Present Continuous Tense has the meaning "temporary" (please look over the webpage http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/tenseprescont.htm ), so the sentence "It isn't raining any more. " contains the meaning---"not raining" will ends soon and it will rain again soon?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Rafaelinrio · Accepted Answer

Hey,

in this sentence, the idea is that it was raining in the past but now at the moment it's not. This sentence is very simple and anyone who knows a little English is able to understand it.

For example: I am not working on weekends anymore. The idea is that in the past, temporarily I was working on weekends but now, at the present moment I am not anymore.

Clive · Answer

Hi,
I have seen the sentence "Let's go out now. It isn't raining any more. " in an essay.

And I know that the Present Continuous Tense has the meaning "temporary" (please look over the webpage http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/tenseprescont.htm ) I prefer not to go off to other websites, because I usually find that I have to start clicking on this and that to find what you want me to look at. That's more work than I am prepared to do.

, so the sentence "It isn't raining any more. " contains the meaning---"not raining" will ends soon and it will rain again soon?

Your question seems to be this. If someone tells me something about 'right now', are they also telling me something about the future? I would say 'no'. We draw conclusions about the future based on our knowledge about what is being said.

Consider these examples.

I am sitting down. We know, based on our experience of the world, that people are unlikely to stay sitting down for the rest of their lives. However, it's not the tense that tells us this.

I am not standing on Mars. Here, based on our experience of the world, we do not assume that I am likely to be standing on Mars at some time in the future.

It is not raining. We know, based on our experience of the world, that it will rain in the future. It's not the tense that tells us this.

Best wishes, Clive

CalifJim · Answer

eagleflychthe Present Continuous Tense has the meaning "temporary"

Not always. Especially not with negations.

It isn't raining anymore contains no information about how soon it will rain again.

I don't find the association of "temporary" with "present continuous" a satisfactory explanation. It's more subtle and complex than that.

CJ

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