Peeters, Bert (1993). Commencer et se mettre à: une description axiologico-conceptuelle [Commencer and se mettre à: An axiologico-conceptual description]. Langue française, 98, 24-47. DOI: 10.3406/lfr.1993.5832. PDF (open access)
This paper examines in full detail all syntactic environments in which the Modern French aspectual verbs commencer and se mettre à are currently used. It also investigates the precise semantic differences between both verbs. Definitions are couched in semantic primitives. The author attempts to take a stand with respect to all observations made by others on these verbs over the last thirty years. Most examples are drawn from a corpus of weekly magazines and/or 20th century novels.
