English
English is an example of a language with no general imperfective. The English progressive is used to describe ongoing events such as "The rain was beating down". Habitual situations do not have their own verb form, but the construction "used to" conveys past habitual action, as in "I used to ski". Unlike in languages with a general imperfective, in English the simple past tense can be used for situations presented as ongoing, such as "The rain beat down continuously through the night".
Read more about this topic: Imperfective Aspect
Famous quotes containing the word english:
“The English language is nobody’s special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.”
—Derek Walcott (b. 1930)
“To be born in a new country one has to die in the motherland.”
—Irina Mogilevskaya, Russian student. “Immigrating to the U.S.,” student paper in an English as a Second Language class, Hunter College, 1995.
“The English never draw a line without blurring it.”
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)