Introduction In this regular feature, the misagreement in tense is extended from present and present perfect tense (discussed in the previous edition of MEW) to an analysis of the frequently used present participle (of the participial phrase) and the infrequently used progressive verb (of the progressive phrase), each of which contains an ing syntactic unit.

The present participle component of the participial phrase functions primarily adjectivally but as a verbal retains verb-like qualities such as tense. The present progressive verb phrase is infrequently (if at all) used in research writing, possibly because of its informal narrative pattern (characterised by agent- and action-focused sentence constituents).