Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: is reading...

Which one do you prefer?
a) John is sitting in the study and probably READING a newspaper.
b) John is sitting in the study and probably IS READING a newspaper.
 
Kiuhnm

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c) John is sitting in the study, probably READING a newspaper.
d) John is sitting in the study and IS probably READING a newspaper.
 
:-)

):
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I vote for c) and d); not so much for a) or b).
 
-- 
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
   -- WH Auden
 

 I vote for c) and d); not so much for a) or b).
 
But, alas,
"John is sitting in the study and probably ...[read]... a newspaper."
is the sentence to complete and "IS READING" the expected "missing bit".
 
Kiuhnm

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Given the starting sentence and assuming you can't change the word order or 
insert any punctuation, IMHO answer "a)" above is the better of the two.
 
It's not really natural-sounding, however.
 
The best answer overall is c), if you can add a comma. Unless there's some 
unspoken need to emphasize the probability, not the reading.
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 is the sentence to complete and "IS READING" the expected "missing bit".
 
This is not a big deal nor do I think there is a consummate right 
answer, but given the exercise question as stated, I would respond "is 
reading." Outside of the exercise, in a conversational context I would 
expect to hear "c" but would accept any of the four. In a written 
context, I would expect to see "d" but would not be surprised by "b" and 
I would accept "c" if the context were not formal. Reading "a" would 
lead me to suspect that a typographical error left out the "is". 
However, my answers are not definitive, they are just based on my 
experience.
 
I think that when you query about an exercise question, knowing that 
it's an exercise question influences the answer. Without that knowledge, 
some may respond by selecting the most used phrase in casual 
conversation. We know from our experience in school that the author of a 
exercise question is probably looking for an answer that is, to some 
degree, further to the right of center on a scale that goes from highly 
idiomatic conversation to formal encyclopedic text.

 experience.
 
I thought that "c" was wrong, the adverb being misplaced.
 
Kiuhnm

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It's conversational, and conversational phrases can be wrong in respect 
to formal writing. We accept implied words much more easily in 
conversation than we're willing to accept in writing, for which clarity 
becomes paramount.
 
That's why I wrote "I would expect to hear "c" and I didn't write "c" is 
correct. I don't know why you say the adverb (I'm assuming "probably") 
is in the wrong place. Perhaps you say that because a better phrasing 
for a written sentence would be "John is probably sitting in the study 
reading a newspaper" but that has a different meaning. (In the original 
sentence we know he's sitting in the study, but we are predicting what 
he is doing there.)
 
The way one hears "c" may be as follows.
John is sitting in the study. He is probably reading a newspaper.
 
I expect that is why Mr. Darke suggested a comma between the two 
phrases. However, to convey that conversational message, I would have 
used the Herb Caen three-dots punctuation. (You won't find that in the 
Chicago Manual of Style.)
John is sitting in the study... probably reading a newspaper.
 
It is really two separate thoughts with the same subject and verb, but 
the subject and verb are implied in the second phrase. Don't you do the 
same in conversational Italian?
 

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I'm sorry, I meant "b". If you respond "is reading", isn't the adverb 
"probably" in the wrong place? That's why I completed the sentence with 
"reading".
 
Kiuhnm

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It's not in the preferred place but I would not say the placement makes 
the sentence wrong. You could separate "probably" with commas if the 
readability of the sentence troubled you. Out of curiosity I made a few 
Google searches with interesting results.
 
"and probably is reading" 3,590 results
"and is probably reading" 71,600 results.
"and probably reading" 505,000 results
 
These searches also accept "probably" separated by commas. So, it 
appears that the vast majority of users use the shorthand version of the 
phrase with the verb "is" implied. However, I would be surprised to find 
that the author of English exercises would expect you to imply the verb 
in your answer. Does the author identify a correct answer?
 

 in your answer. Does the author identify a correct answer?
 
The expected answer is "is reading".
 
Kiuhnm

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That's why I'm here: I thought my answer ("reading") was better :)
 
Kiuhnm