Why use the progressive aspect here?

[Sitifan]

They married, but their hasty pact quickly unraveled. the man balked at registering the boy in his name out of fear he could be breaking the law.Why use the progressive aspect here? Why not just say could break the law?
Thank you very much for your reply.
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Thank you very much for your reply.

[Alan]

Hi Sitifan,

The use of the progressive form here suggests that at that particular time he 'could be breaking the law' . If you use 'could break the law' in your sentence, you are being specific and you would have to continue with -'if he did that'.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Briefly

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Alan

Don't we need to use the definite article before "fear", since we're talking about a certain fear - the fear of breaking the law ?
the man balked at registering the boy in his name out of the fear he could be breaking the law.

Thanks in advance !

[Alan]

Hi,

I wouldn't use 'the' because that makes it too specific. After all 'out of fear' is very general and is an accepted alternative to 'afraid of'.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Make or Do?

[Molly]

[Alan]

Not really, Molly I think the continuous form stands all right on its own with the suggestion that he could be doing that right now.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a driving instructor

[Molly]