5 exercises — practise matching bounded vs. ongoing verbs to the right duration and completion language.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "finish" with a telic verb phrase that has a clear, inherent completion point?
"Finished migrating the database to the new cluster" is correct: "migrate...to the new cluster" is telic — it names an action with a clear, inherent endpoint (the migration is complete when the database is fully in the new cluster), which is exactly the kind of event "finish" can naturally apply to. Option A's "monitoring the servers" is atelic — an ongoing, unbounded activity with no built-in completion point, so "finished monitoring" is odd unless a specific bounded task is meant. Option C's "maintaining the codebase" is likewise atelic, an open-ended ongoing responsibility rather than a completable event. Option D's "running the service" describes an atelic, continuous state, not a bounded task with a natural finish line.
2 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses the progressive with an atelic verb to describe an ongoing, open-ended responsibility?
"Is monitoring production traffic around the clock" is correct: "monitor" is atelic, describing an ongoing activity with no inherent endpoint, which fits naturally with the open-ended time expression "around the clock". Option B's "building the new dashboard" is telic (it has a natural completion point when the dashboard is done), so pairing it with "around the clock" is a mismatch, implying endless, never-finishing work rather than a bounded task. Option C's "deploying the hotfix" is similarly telic and bounded, making "around the clock" an odd fit. Option D's "completing the audit" is explicitly telic (its endpoint is baked into the verb "complete"), so "around the clock" clashes with its bounded nature.
3 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "for" (typical of atelic activities) rather than "in" (typical of telic events) to describe duration?
"Ran without errors for six hours" is correct: "run" here describes an atelic, ongoing state with no inherent endpoint, and atelic verbs pair naturally with "for + duration" to show how long the state continued. Option B's "deployed for six hours" is odd because "deploy" is telic (it has a completion point), so "for six hours" incorrectly suggests the deployment event itself lasted six hours rather than being a bounded action (better: "deployment took six hours" or "was deployed six hours ago"). Option C's "fixed the bug for six hours" similarly misapplies "for" to the telic, completed event "fixed" — "for six hours" would better modify an atelic process like "worked on the bug for six hours". Option D's "completed for six hours" is doubly odd since "complete" is inherently telic and instantaneous, incompatible with a "for"-duration reading.
4 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "almost" with a telic verb to show an action was nearly, but not fully, completed?
"Almost finished migrating the pipeline" is correct: "finish migrating", a telic event with a clear endpoint, can be modified by "almost" to mean the endpoint was nearly, but not quite, reached — a standard and unambiguous use of "almost" with telic events. Option A's "almost monitored" is confusing with an atelic verb like "monitor", since it is unclear whether monitoring started and stopped early or never started at all — atelic verbs lack a clear endpoint for "almost" to target. Option B has the same ambiguity problem with the atelic "maintained". Option D's "almost ran" is similarly ambiguous with the atelic "run", potentially meaning the team nearly started running it, rather than nearly completing a bounded task.
5 / 5
A sprint report needs to describe an ongoing support responsibility with no defined endpoint. Choose the sentence with the correctly matched atelic verb and time expression.
"Will support the legacy system for the foreseeable future" is correct: "support" is atelic, describing an open-ended, ongoing responsibility with no built-in completion point, which matches the unbounded time expression "for the foreseeable future". Option A's "resolve the incident" is telic (resolution has a clear endpoint), making an indefinite, open-ended time frame a poor fit — an incident should be resolved once, not indefinitely. Option C's "complete the migration" is explicitly telic and bounded by definition, clashing with "for the foreseeable future". Option D's "launch the feature" describes a single telic, punctual event (a launch happens once), which cannot sensibly continue indefinitely.