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Eagleflych Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
"is not reading" is what?
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00 Hi everybody: 02 br
02 br
00 I've seen the negative sentence below in a book and I've not understood it's meaning. Please help me. 02 br
02 br
00 ----"She is not reading the book right now." 02 br
02 br
00 I've thought three possible explanations: 02 br
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00 1. The process of reading the book doesn't exist right now. (The speaker is hinting that she may have already read the book or may start reading the book in the future, etc) 02 br
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00 2. The state of not reading the book exists right now. (The speaker simply is stating the fact of "not reading the book" and doesn't mean any hints) 02 br
02 br
00 3. The state of not reading the book exists right now. (The speaker is hinting that the state of not reading the book will end in the not very distant future and she will start reading the book in the not very distant future) 02 br
02 br
00 Which explanation above is right? 02 br
02 br
00 Thanks a lot in advance. 05 0 010id 2
00 Hi everybody: 02 br
02 br
00 I've seen the negative sentence below in a book and I've not understood it's meaning. Please help me. 02 br
02 br
00 ----"She is not reading the book right now." 02 br
02 br
00 I've thought three possible explanations: 02 br
02 br
00 1. The process of reading the book doesn't exist right now. (The speaker is hinting that she may have already read the book or may start reading the book in the future, etc) 02 br
02 br
00 2. The state of not reading the book exists right now. (The speaker simply is stating the fact of "not reading the book" and doesn't mean any hints) 02 br
02 br
00 3. The state of not reading the book exists right now. (The speaker is hinting that the state of not reading the book will end in the not very distant future and she will start reading the book in the not very distant future) 02 br
02 br
00 Which explanation above is right? 02 br
02 br
00 Thanks a lot in advance. 05 0 010id 2
Top answer
02 br 02 br 00 1 - feasible I suppose but unlikely as you'd really just use 'she is not reading the book yet' or 'she is not reading the book any more'. 0-
- 02 br 02 br 00 1 - feasible I suppose but unlikely as you'd really just use 'she is not reading the book yet' or 'she is not reading the book any more'.
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2 Answers
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0 I think either 2 or 3 are quite likely. 02 br
02 br
00 1 - feasible I suppose but unlikely as you'd really just use 'she is not reading the book yet' or 'she is not reading the book any more'. Although both of those options are quite ambiguous as well as you could apply meanings 2 and 3 to them. 02 br
02 br
00 This is a good example of why context is important. 0
02 br
00 1 - feasible I suppose but unlikely as you'd really just use 'she is not reading the book yet' or 'she is not reading the book any more'. Although both of those options are quite ambiguous as well as you could apply meanings 2 and 3 to them. 02 br
02 br
00 This is a good example of why context is important. 0
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0 My goodness! That's a lot of explanation for such a simple statement. 05 0 02 br
02 br
00 It means: 02 br
00 It is not the case that she is reading the book at this moment. 02 br
00 The implications are whatever the implications can logically be. 02 br
00 It's a matter of "maybe", "maybe", "maybe". 02 br
00 Maybe it means that she is now a
02 br
00 It means: 02 br
00 It is not the case that she is reading the book at this moment. 02 br
00 The implications are whatever the implications can logically be. 02 br
00 It's a matter of "maybe", "maybe", "maybe". 02 br
00 Maybe it means that she is now a
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