alexclx  +  577740 Sun, 19 Oct 08 03:43 AM Hi. I am not sure of the grammatical meaning of the following sentence: It was beginning to rain. A native speaker of English told me that means the speaker was experiencing a process of raining from no rain drops to more and more rain drops. But some grammars say "begin" in progressive tense refers to a future event. Which is correct? please help. Thanks. alexclx Joined on Wed, Oct 8 2008 New Member 12 Tenses

	RayH  +  577744 Sun, 19 Oct 08 04:01 AM It was beginning to rain. A native speaker of English told me that means the speaker was experiencing a process of raining from no rain drops to more and more rain drops. This is correct. RayH Joined on Sat, Mar 22 2008 Contributing Member 1,555 Native speaker of U. S. English. Not a grammar expert.

	Yankee  +  577749 Sun, 19 Oct 08 04:21 AM alexclx “But some grammars say "begin" in progressive tense refers to a future event” That is misleading. The present progressive can refer to an on-going present activity, or it can refer to an arranged/planned future activity.  Rain is not something that people can arrange or plan the beginning of. If you say "It is beginning to rain", that means that there have already been some raindrops, and it suggests to me a gradual start or build-up to a full-fledged rainfall. In the case of the past progressive, the explanation that you received from your native-speaker friend sounds good to me.  . Yankee Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006 Connecticut, USA Veteran Member 6,491 Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain Present Progressive, Tenses

	AlpheccaStars  +  577751 Sun, 19 Oct 08 04:22 AM Both could be correct.  It is begiining to rain. The future event -- relative to the time frame of the sentence -- might be a gullywasher.    AlpheccaStars Joined on Sun, Oct 12 2008 Senior Member 3,508 The pen is mightier than the sword. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

	Lakshwadeep  +  577787 Sun, 19 Oct 08 07:34 AM My answer is similar to Yankee's. The present progressive ("is beginning") can refer to a future event when used in conjunction with an adverb or adverbial phrase. Examples: It is beginning to rain. (no adverb/adverbial phrase) The farmer is beginning his work on Tuesday. (adverbial phrase) For the past progressive ("was beginning"), it is discussing something that was going for a while but not now. So, I don't know how the past progressive could refer to a future event if it can't involve the present. It doesn't seem that "is beginning to rain" can refer to a future event very well; the best I can think of is this: It is beginning to rain a deluge next week. This sentence is really awkward with the "next week" (necessary for the event to be in the future), so the future tense (It will begin to rain...) would be a better option. Lakshwadeep Joined on Sat, Feb 2 2008 United States Junior Member 90 Present Progressive, Verbs, Tenses, Adverbs