The Defenite Tenses in English

FOREIGN
UC-NRLF
161
2636278
B
b3b
E7fl
ON THE HISTORY
OF
THE DEFINITE TENSES

IN
ENGLISH
BY
ALFRED AKERLUND
A.-B.
PH. LINDSTEDTS UNIV.-BOKH.
LUND
1911
W. HEFFER ft SONS, LTD.

CAMBRIDGE
F?^v'^
ON THE HISTORY
OF
THE DEFINITE TENSES
ENGLISH
IN
BY
ALFRED AKERLUND
Lie.
HB.
PHIL,,
BY DUE PERMISSION OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY OF LUND
TO BE PUBLICLY DISCUSSED
SEPTEMBER
23, 1911,
AT
IN
4
LECTURE HALL
O'CLOCK
P.
VI
M.
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
LUND
1911
PRINTED BY BERLINGSKA BOKTRYCKERIET
PREFACE.
following
investigation,
in
an abridged form, was
The
originally meant to appear as part of a more comprehensive work, announced in the 'Englische Studien', band
40 (IQOQ), under the title: 'The Origin and Development of

the Definite Tenses in English'.
My
interest in the subject
was
at first
roused by the
diverging views on the origin of the definite tenses in

dern English.
Mo-
Thus much may suffice to say here concerning these

some scholars recognize in the -ing-iorm the pres-
views:
ent
participle
that they
with
the
new
and are of opinion
ending,
have developed directly from corresponding periin Old English, where we have to do with
phrastic forms
the
old
participle
which
is
also the case in texts be-
longing to northern dialects in Middle English; other schol-
on the contrary, hold that their origin is to be sought

such expressions as *he is a-going', a standing for the
preposition on, and the form in -ing being not the participle
ars,
in
proper but the verbal noun.

Later on,
when working
out
my
material,
grew more
and more
interested in the various uses of the periphrastic
forms, be
their origin
what
while to deal with them

while
was about
it
in a
may, and
thought
it
worth
comparatively exhaustive way,
it.
In the present treatise, therefore,
back on the verbal noun question.
altogether turn
my
PREFACE
iv
from the
start
fact that the construction
'be
-f-
ing*
Modern English is morphologically, if not historically,

the same as that occurring in Old English, and follow it
from this period through Middle and Early Modern Engin
lish,
the end a section
at
adding
on the compound
definite
tenses.
In
short, the treatise
is
intended to give,
in
the
first
place, a history of the periphrasis (in the active voice) from

an exclusively syntactical point of view, and secondly, to
so
contribute,
far
as
the
may
investigation
furnish con-
clusions on this point, towards the formation of an opinion

on its origin, by comparing its functions during the different stages of the language.
In
later
essay
shall take
up
this
question from
the point of view of the verbal-noun expressions, by giving

an account of their origin and their relations to the definite
words: a history of the 'a-phrases'

in standard English,
as the one quoted above
in
tenses,
such
dialects,
other
and vulgar speech,
the rise and
desire
Professor
this
account also comprising
of the passive definite tenses.
growth
Finally,
teacher,
to
Eilert
hearty thanks to
record
my
Ekwall,
of Lund, University, for
my
and encouragement he has given me

during the progress of my work; to Mr. Charles Scott
the
valuable
Fearenside,
Lund,
who
advice
formerly English Lector in the University of

has read through the treatise in manuscript and
English; and lastly
in
proof with a view to normalizing
to
the officials of the University Library at
unfailing courtesy
and help
my
in facilitating
Lund
my
for their
researches.
Landskrona, September IQIL

Alfred Akerlund.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
OLD AND EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH
I.
Main Uses
A.
1.
2.
3.
B.
C.
D.
II.
The Present Tense

The Past Tense
The Imperative and
IIL
25
Survey
30
27
IV.
47
49
51
58
58
2.
3.
Examples
4.
The
The
of the Periphrastic Infinitive
Adjectival
Meaning
Periphrasis Expressing a Subjective Feeling
THE COMPOUND TENSES

2.
39
45
Nature
The Present Tense

The Past Tense
1.
35
58
of the Periphrastic Imperative
of Cases where the Participle is of an Adjectival
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
5.
34
34
Examples
Examples
Survey
1.
23
Futurity
The Inchoative
Midland and Southern Dialects

1.
The Present Tense
2.
The Past Tense
3.
The Imperative and the Infinitive
B.
Northern Dialects
The Present Tense
1.
2.
The Past Tense
C.
12
the Infinitive
A.
4.
6
7
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH
3.
The
Perfect and the Pluperfect

Examples of the Future and the Preterite Future
CONCLUDING SURVEY
61
62
75
80
80
82
85
85
92
96
WORKS CONSULTED.
Bain,
Higher English Grammar, 1896.
Einenkel, Streifziige durch die mittelenglische syntax, Miinster 1887.

Syntax, p. 100 ff. Pauls Or. ^
Erdmann, Essay on the
history
and modern use of the verbal forms
in -ing in the English language,
Stockholm 1871.
Franz, Shakespeare-Grammatik, Zweite Auflage, Heidelberg 1909.
Growth and Structure
of the English Language, Leipzig 1905.

des
Kriiger, Schwierigkeiten
Englischen, 1897 ff.
Morris, Historical Outlines of English Accidence, 1872.
Jespersen,
Murray, The Dialect of the Southern
Counties
of Scotland [Trans-
actions of the Philological Society, 187021.
An Advanced
Onions,
English Syntax,
The present and
Pessels,
past
London
1905.
tenses
periphrastic
in
Anglo-Saxon,
Strassburg 1896.
Piittman,
Die Syntax der sogenannten Progressiven Form im Alt-und
Marburg 1908
Frfihmittelenglischen,
405
Sweet,
in
[also
Anglia, 31, 3; p.
ff.].
New English Grammar, Oxford 1900, 1903.

A Primer of Spoken English, Oxford 1906.
Ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache und Verskunst, Leipzig

Western,
Om
med
de
verbalformer
hjaelpeverbet be
engelsk
og nutids
[Forhandlinger
1899.
particip
omskrevne
Videnskabsselskabet
Christiania aar 1895] ^

'
See
also
Grammatiken,
own work was
p.
Grenville
53
ff.
Grove, Modern Engelsk Larobok, Del II

This book came into my hands when my
just finished.
TEXTS.
Old and Early Middle English.
1.
= Beowulf,
Chr. = Earle and
Beow.
ed. Holthausen,
Plummer,
Heidelberg 1905.
Chronicles Parallel, Oxford
Two Saxon
1892, 1899.
= Aelfric's Lives of Saints, ed. Skeat, E. E. T. S. 76, 82, 94, 114.

= Old English Homilies, ed. Morris, E. E. T. 29, 34, 53.
89.
V. a V. = Vices and Virtues, ed. Holthausen, E. E. T.
A. Pr. = The Proverbs of Alfred, ed. Borgstrom, Lund 1908.
L. o
K. = Life of Saint Katherine, ed. Einenkel, E. E. T. S. 80.
O. a E. = Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, E. E. T.
Ae. L.
O.
E.
H.
S.
S.
St.
S. 7.
Late Middle English.
2.
Midland and Southern Dialects.
(i)
= Havelok the Dane, ed. Skeat, E. E. T. S.

=
44.
Jos.
Joseph of Arimathie, ed. Skeat, E. E. T.
Oaw. = Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, ed. Morris, E. E. T.
A. P. = Early English Alliterative Poems, ed. Morris, E. E. T.
Hav.
e.
s.
4.
S.
S. 4.
S. 1.
CI.
Piers
PL
= Cleanness.
= Piers
the
The English Works

Per.
= Sir
Plowman,
ed. Skeat, E. E. T. S. 38.
of Wyclif, ed.
Matthew,
Ferumbras, ed. Herrtage E.
Chaucer, The Complete
Works
E. E. T. S. 74.
E. T. S. e.
s.
34.
of Geoffrey Chaucer, ed. Skeat,
ford 1894.
= The Canterbury Tales

= The Clerkes Tale
C Y. Pro!, = The Canon's Yeoman's
C. T.
CL
T.
Prologue
Ox-
TEXTS
Viii
= The Knightes Tale

= The Milleres Tale
P. Prol. = The Parson's Prologue
Prol. = The Prologue
Sh. T. = The Shipmannes Tale
Sq. T. = The Squieres Tale
Troil. = Troilus and Criseyde
Kn, T.
M.
T.
The Romaunt of The Rose

Rom. R.
Gower, The English Works of John Gower,
e.
Macaulay, E. E. T.
S.
= Confessio Amantis.
Gl. = Lydgate's Temple
Am.
o
T.
e.
ed.
81.
s.
C.
Lydg.
s.
George Ashby's Poems,
D &
of Glas, ed. Schick, E. E. T. S.
60.
= Dicta
ed. Bateson, E. E. T. S.
e.
s.
76.
opiniones diversorum philosophorum

P. Pr. := Active Policy of a Prince
o.
et
Pr. R. = A Prisoner's Reflections

= Generydes, ed. Wright, E. E. T. 55, 70.
= Blanchardyn and Eglantine, ed. Kellner, E. E.
Gen.
Bl.
God.
S.
Godeffroy of Boloyne,
(ii)
T. S.
ed. Colvin, E. E. T. S. e.
e.
s.
58.
s.
64.
Northern Dialects.
= The Bruce, ed. Skeat, E. E. T.

21, 29, 55.
= The Kingis Quair, ed. Skeat, T. 1884.
W. Wa. = Schir William Wallace, ed. Moir,
T.
1889.
T.
Du. = The Poems of William Dunbar, ed. Small,
1893.
Ly. Mon. = The Monarche and other poems of Sir David Lyndesay,
B. Br.
S.
K. Qu.
S.
e.
s.
11,
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
ed. Small, E. E. T. S. 11, 19.
C. o Sc.
3.
= Complaynt
of Scotlande, ed. Murray, E. E. T. S.
e. s.
17, 18.
Early Modern English.
Stephen Hawes, The Passetyme of Pleasure [Skeat's Specimens of English Literature, A. D. 1394 A. D. 1579]
The English Works

*
Kellner,
of
John
Historical
Fisher, ed.
Mayor,
E. E. T. S. e.
s.
27.
Outlines of English Syntax, London 1905,

A. D. ab. 1408'.
p. 322: 'falsely attributed to Chaucer
TEXTS
the reign of King
in
England
J,
Cowper,
Heywood, The Four
Vol.
Lat.
Henry the Eighth, by Thomas Starkey,
E. E. T. S. e.
ed.
ix
s.
12, 32.
P's [The Ancient British
Drama, London 1810,
I]
= Hugh
Serm.
Latimer;
Spec] Sev. Serm.
London
PI.
= Seven
= Sermon
on the Ploughers
Sermons before Edward
[Skeat's
VI, ed. Arber,
1869.
= Roger Ascham; Scholem. = The Scholemaster [Skeat's Spec]

Tox. = Toxophilus, ed. Arber, London 1868.
R. D. = Nicholas Udall, Roister Doister, ed. Arber, London.
Asch.
Ud.
Thomas
Sackville, Induction to 'The Mirrour for Magistrates' [Skeat's
Spec]
Sackv.
&
Nort. Ferr. and Porr.
= Sackville
[and Norton], Ferrex and
Porrex [The Ancient British Drama, Vol.
I]
George Gascoigne, The Steele Glas, &c., ed. Arber, London 1868.
Sp. F. Q.
Spenser, The Faerie Queene [The Poetical Works of Ed-
John
mund
Spenser, Boston 1839, Vol. VI]
Lyly;
Alex.
= Alexander
Drama, Vol.
Anat.
and Campaspe
[The Ancient British
I]
= Euphues.
The Anatomy
of Wit, ed. Arber,
London
1868.
Marlowe, The Works of Christopher Marlowe, ed. Cunningham, London.
= Edward the Second

=
Faust
The Tragical History of Doctor
Tamb. = Tamburlaine The Great
Ed.
Peele,
II
Faustus
David And Bethsabe
The Old Wive's Tale

Greene, Friar Bacon And Friar Bungay
A Looking-Glass For London And England
A Maiden's Dream [The Dramatic And Poetical Works Of Robert
Greene
&
George
Shakespeare, The Complete
Peele, ed. Dyce,
London]
William Shakespeare
Folio, ed. Porter and Clarke, London.
Works
of
Reprinted from the First

Anth.
The Tragedie Of Anthonie,
As
As You Like It
=
And Cleopatra
=
Cor. = The Tragedy Of Coriolanus
Haml. = The Tragedie Of Hamlet
Hy. V = The Life Of Henry The Fift
Hy. Vni = The Life Of Henry The Eight
= The Tragedie Of Julius Caesar
Jul. C.
.'
vol. 12
vol.
vol.
vol. 11
voL
vol.
voL 10
TEXTS
= The Tragedie Of King Lear

= Loves Labour's Lost
Macb. = The Tragedie Of Macbeth
Me Wives = The Merry Wives Of Windsor
King
L.
vol. 11
L. L. L.
Mids. ^=
A Midsommer
Nights
Modern
Mass.
= Massinger,
London
11
vol.
voK
voK
vol. 12
=
=
=
4.
voL
Dreame
Mu. Adoe
Much Adoe About Nothing
The Tragedie Of Othello
The Taming Of The Shrew
Taming
The Tempest
Temp.
Tw. N.
Twelfe Night, Or What You Will
Oth.
vol,
vol.
vol.
voL
English.
The
Plays
of Philip Massinger, ed.
Cunningham,
1870.
A New Way to Pay Old Debts.

L.== Milton, Paradise Lost, London 1903. J. M. Dent & Co.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. Morley, Cassells' National
O. D.
Milt. P.
Pep.
Library.
Bun. Pilgr.
= Bunyan,
The
Pilgrim's
Progress,
ed. Venables,
Oxford
1900.
= The Mermaid Series William Congreve, ed.

Bach. = The Old Bachelor
D.-D. = The Double-Dealer
W. W. = The Way of the World
=
The Spectator Selected Essays, ed. Ewald,
Spect.
Congr.
Ewald,
New
York.
London and New
York.
= Addison Budg. = Budgell.

= Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, ed. Clark, London 1899.
Sw. Gull. = Swift, Gulliver's Travels, London,
M. Dent & Co.
Mont. = The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu,
Add.
Def. Rob.
J.
Wharncliffe, 2nd ed.
London
Samuel Johnson, Rasselas

London 1906]
Joh. Rass.
St. S. J.
Sher.
L.
[Classic Tales, ed. Fearenside,
= Sterne, A Sentimental Journey [Classic Tales]

= Sheridan, The Rivals [The British Classical
Riv.
Herrig, Brunswick 1894].
ed.
1837.
Authors,
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
General Character of the Definite Tenses
in Recent English.
1.
existence of the periphrastic and simple forms side
Theby
furnishes
side
means
mirable
of
the English language with an ad-
expressing even very subtle shades of

may indeed represent
meaning: the use of a definite tense
a stylistic nicety of an exquisite effect, just strong
and appreciated, but too
to
be
to
say, to allow of
felt
delicate,
enough
am tempted
being properly analyzed. They prove,

then, frequently enough, rather hard to judge; and on the
at the intrinsic character of the definite ten
whole, to get
eral
perhaps no easy task.

Most authors agree, however,
meaning of duration which is
their
main
ses
is
characteristic.
who
Western,
explains
have a gento be looked upon as

that they
the
has treated this subject somewhat
fully,
between the simple and the
peri-
difference
phrastic forms thus:
As a
one can only say that, whereas the simple

tenses express the infinite and the unlimited, as: 'the church
stands on a hill', *! have never seen him', or the momentary,
rule,
as: *he fell dead', or a series of events, as:
gone,
imply
sat
that
down and
the
action
wepf,
or
the
'when he had
the periphrastic tenses
state
of
things
is
limited
1
within a certain space of time, either directly expressed or

to be understood, as: 'he has been sleeping for six hours',
simultaneous with another action, as: *he was

dressing when I entered the room'. (Indledning, 2).
This pronouncement is not intended to stand as an
or that
is
it
exhaustive
udtommende og
the definite tenses ('At g\
of
definition
noiagtig
definition af
balformers brug
engelsk er neppe muHgt'.
it
covers the main uses.
1.), but
i
Taking
it,
nogen
de omskrevne verIndledning,
therefore, as the starting-point for forming
more general and comprehensive definition, we may sum

up the different statements by saying that the indefinite
tenses are used where no special time is thought of, whilst
a
the
tenses
definite
Thus
put,
are
employed when
venture to say that
explanation of the other uses
different
periphrasis
the
verb,
functions
gives,
makes
so
it
of
the
gives us the key to an
it
as well, and
following view of the matter:

The fundamental principle,
the
this is the case.
that
arrive at the
which underlies
definite tenses,
is
all
that the
to speak, a stronger inner stress to
more
sentence-stressed, by calling the
interest directly to the idea of time: the indefinite tense is
more
neutral
and apt
to act in a
way more
as a copula
than as a tense, properly taken, whereas the definite tense

is
more pregnant
the action, as such,
2.
in
is
this
respect and
is
preferred
where
to be emphasized.
Views of Previous Investigators Concerning the Old English Periphrasis.
Old English possesses an equivalent
to the
Modern
English definite tenses in a periphrasis formed by the verbs

'wesan' or 'beon' with the present participle.
^
See Concluding Survey.
occurs already
It
remarkably
in the oldest texts
by grammarians; but
early
investigation as to
rough
has been undertaken.
and was noticed
until lately
no tho-
character and syntactical uses
its
Most of the authors concerned agree in attributing to

the Old English periphrasis about the same meaning and
functions
grammatical
modern forms,
e.
g.
as
the
characterize
Matzner, Einenkel,
corresponding
Miiller,
and others.
somewhat
Several scholars, however, are of a
different
opinion.
Thus Sweet,
in
New
Engl. Or.
11,
2203, remarks
Old English are 'only vaguely

the simple forms'.
In 2205 he sup-
the extended forms in
that
from
differentiated
poses the fundamental difference to be that the periphrastic

tenses 'are associated with the idea of incompletion', and
then
admits
often
occur
that,
in
as
natural
constructions
result
which
of this, they very
involve
the
idea of
or progression ( 2206).
Thus far,
think.
Sweet's remarks will hold good, but then he ventures the
following restriction: 'But that this idea is only a second-
continuity
ary
one
is
shown by those
instances in which the con-
text excludes the idea of duration, as
when
the periphrase
accompanied by the adverb sona 'immediately', as in pa

sona on anginne pees gefeohtes wees se munt Garganus
That the periphrasis
bifigende mid orm^tre cwacunge ^'.
is
in this instance, as
indeed
in
some
others as well, admits
of an inchoative meaning in no wise excludes the idea of

continuity: on the contrary, it must always be understood
that the action in question
that
ple
it
we
'
tremore
continues for
some
might very well

This
is
is
not only beginning, but also
time.
infer that
Thus in the above examMount Garganus 'started
Aelfric's translation of the Latin:
concutitur.
Se
Herrig's Archiv 91, p. 194.
Max
Forster,
Zu den
Garganus immenso
Blickling Homilies,
which
trembling' \
one
justified in
is
tive
element
that
Old English
certainly
implies duration.
that, in
saying
Moreover,
these instances, the dura-
not only admissible but, as a rule, predominant, the inchoative meaning being only the secondary one.
Jespersen holds (Growth and Structure etc., p. 205)
ern
English
is
used to
'he
some
'he waes feohtende' corresponds to

fight'.
It
will
Mod-
not be denied
Old English periphrasis involves

that,
such an idea; but if Jespersen's interpretation should be
taken to mean that the main use of the extended tenses
in Old
English is that they denote a habit, it must be
in
downright
of
It
would seem
as
if
Jespersen had
support his conject-
different origin of the Old English

modern counterpart, by thus assuming
functions for the two extreme stages of the lan-
the
altogether
periphrasis and
different
guage
rejected.
this interpretation in order to
adopted
ure
cases, the
its
2.
Old English has been treated, on a larger scale, by no fewer than three scholars,
namely, Erdmann and Pessels, and lastly by Piittman, who
Lately the periphrasis in
brought some specimens of the Early English

period under his investigation.
Without entering into details in this place I confine
has
also
myself
to
stating
that
the results arrived at agree
main points, and especially

tion
or
progression
as
in
on
all
recognizing the idea of dura-
the general character of the peri-
phrasis.
Sweet has ( 2207): 'began to tremble'.

The passage referred to runs as follows: 'The periphrastic
tenses / am reading, I was reading, J have been reading, I shall be
reading, etc. were not fully developed even in Shakespeare's time and
seem to have little, if anything, to do with the Old English he was
'
used to fight'; the modern forms are aphetic for / am

a-reading, where a represents the preposition on and the form in -ing
is not the participle, but the noun'.
feohtende 'he
Only
very
think
to quote, in
definition
interesting
used
fit
12):
(p.
its
Erdmann's
entirety,
'The Participle Present
form, together with the various parts of the

verbs
wesan and beon, that periphrastic conjugaauxiliary
is
which
tion
the
in
is
that
it
from
the
take,
verb,
the
Part.
or past.
corresponding simple forms,
which represent the action merely as a

or has taken place.
and
denotes an action as
at a certain time, present, future,
this
in
which
of
progress
differs
called the Progressive form,
commonly
is
characteristic
being
It
to
fact, that takes, will
Being the adjective form of the
Present
naturally
has
in
character a
its
shade of permanence and durability, that does not belong

to
the rest of the verb.
in
the
passage,
and
time
there will
distinction
ceptible
the
of
the
two forms may not
unfre-
be interchanged,
quently
the
forms
simple
some space
Accordingly, though actions put

also must be considered to occupy
same
particular
idea.
without infringing the sense of

however be found to exist a per-
between
their
This distinction
cases, but
it
is
several
may be
seldom quite
ways
of giving
greater or less in
effaced.
By using
a tense of this periphrastic conjugation, the speaker, mentally entering into the very time of events, describes the
action
the
as
going on, as continuing; whereas,

simple form, he would take no notice of
point of view, but mention
it
as a fact only'.
if
it
choosing
from that
OLD AND EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH.
I.
Both
Occurrence.
the
periphrasis
is
in
Old and
in Early
very sparingly used, as
Middle English
compared with
modern usage.
Beowulf musters only 3 examples, and
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
of the
we
in
the
whole
have only about 24.
In
Aelfric's Lives of Saints the number of instances seems at

first sight fairly large about 100; but when we take into
consideration the great length of this work, one must say

that, even here, the frequency is, comparatively, small. Also^
it
is
forms
striking
is
exhibit
here
no
fact
very
instances
that
the occurrence of the extended
uneven:
at
all,
while
e.
g.
some
II,
of the legends
IV, IX, X, XI,
XIV^
XV, XVII, XIX, etc., we find them in comparatively great

numbers in others, especially in XXIII with 13 instances^
and, even more, in XXIII B, where some two dozen are
on record. This might partly depend on the more or less
free use Aelfric made of the Latin sources which were at
In the works translated from the Latin, in
his disposal.
fact, the periphrasis is much more frequently used than in
the works that are original or partly original.
Thus in the
shown
Homilies
which
been
as
has
by Max
Blickling
are,
Forster \
'
Zu den
very
close
translation
from
the
Blickling Homilies, Herrig's Archiv 91.
Latin, there
PRESENT TENSE
no fewer than about 130
are
ber of which occur
in
instances, a considerable
Horn.
where we
XIII,
num-
find the peri-
phrasis on almost every line. In the Old English Homilies

there are 26, which is certainly no great number for a book
of
that
As regards
size.
of the glossary, with the
The
meagre
instances
have
and Exodus
itself and the whole
I
part of the text
gone through the greater

examples.
the Genesis
result of finding only
likewise
are
two
very few in other
The Life of Saint Katherine

and Alfreds Proverbs have only two or three each. These
An exception from the
texts, however, are rather short.
is afforded in the Vices and Virtues, with
scantiness
general
texts belonging to this period:
36 instances of the periphrastic form.
The tense which

owing
while,
to the narrative nature of
concerned, the present
(i)
Defined.
quite clear,
which,
number
It
of the texts
Main Uses.
The function
unless
however,
then
definitions
are
strengthened by time-defini-
moment.
other
actual
'nu'
Occasionally
cases
the
present
in
some cases
(Ae. L. XVI, 217), or *nu
the
and A.
definitions
lies
in a
employed show
'that
complement
Pr. 40.
the periphrasis implies duration, as in O. E. H.

('eure'),
sel-
which even more emphasizes the
clause, as in V. a V. 47, 14
In
is
the case in only a very limited
the
expresses
(Ae. L. XXIII, 452),
present
is
it
is
the periphrasis
of
of instances.
where the
gyt'
the past,
The Present Tense.
1.
tions,
most
is
comparatively scarce.
is
A.
dom
most often met with
is
V. a V. 137, 31 ('niht and
daig').
II,
175, 18
OLD AND EARLY MIDDLE ENOUSH
examples.
Ae. L.
Symble he bid gyfende. And he ne wanad swanan J)ing his.

XVI, 217. and da synd nu ealle on {)am ecan wuldre
45.
I,
})aeh
for heora claennysse mid criste

wunigende.
XXIII, 452, and decius se casere is nu gyt smeagende
hwaet we gefaran habban.
O. E. H.
De
175, 18.
II,
21.
stede to stede
is
'.
To
alle do halgen de hier on Hue waren iboand nu mid ure lauerde gode wunigende bied, ic
V. a V. 21, 12.
ren,
eure wagiende.
J)at eure is wagiende noht fra
ac fro time to time.
se
wrecche woreld.
pis
clepie
ic de beseche and bidde dat tu dese halwende
on write sette, for dan ic am michel penchinde dar
hwile de ic on dese wrecche lichame am wuniende,
47, 14.
lore
Godd is haure fastinde.

For dan de gode mann is niht and daig Jjeinkinde
hu he muge gode icwemen, and him betst hersumen;
alswa is dies beswikene mann niht and daig peinkinde
hwu he muge fellen [hjis ungesali beli mid swete metes
137, 17.
31.
and drenches.
A. Pr. p. 40.
If
hit
so bi-tyde}),
pzt pu bern ibidest,

J)e
ler
hwile
hit is Intel,
him mon-pewes;
|)anne hit is wexynde,

hit schal wende par-to;
J)e
betere hit schal iwurj>e
euer buuen eorpe.
Remarks.
Ae. L.
I,
Here the expression involves an idea
45.
of
recurrence.
O. E. H.
11,
semper
(ii)
175, 18.
Translated from the Latin 'Mare
est in motu'.
Undefined.
In the majority of the
examples found
the tense occurs by itself, and the function of the periphrasis in many cases scarcely differs from that of the simple
PRESENT TENSE
form, as, for instance,
Ae. L.
in
I,
49 and
O. E. H.
in
175, 25.
Here the extended tense seems to be
existence
chiefly
character
gressive
and
of the durative or rather pro-
virtue
by
the
of
II,
called into
verbs
in
question ('creopende'
'fleonde' respectively).
Rather
an adjective
meaning: Ae. L. I, 131; Ae. L. XVI, 293; Ae. L. XXXIV,
114; V. a V. 15, 23; V. a V. 137, 6; here the periphrasis
seems to denote absolute duration. In the last example
often
the
approaches
participle
in
one might also say
that
present, according to
much'
the
is
correct
it
stands instead of the indefinite
modern notions: the translation

one to render the meaning
Middle English expression Ms
'helps
of the
swiSe helpinde'.
Thus, on the whole, one must say that where it

stands undefined, the present periphrastic very seldom denotes the actual present in the same strict sense as we
have
it
Modern English;
in
be singled out as
417; O. E. H. I, 43;
might
V,
V. a V. 107,
8.
examples, however,
good specimens:
fairly
V. a V. 21, 3;
Ae. L.
V. a V. 95, 3;
however, that the verbs employed
Note,
here, 'eardigende'
few
and 'wunigende', are by nature durative.
Examples.
Ae.
L.
I,
Da
49.
den
gesceafta
maenig-fealde.
pe
paes
and
an scyppend gesceop syn-
misiices
and
hiwes.
Sume syndan creopende on
lingeltce
mid
swa swa wurmas dod. Sume gad on
twam fotum. sume on feower fotum. Sume fleod
mid fyderum. sume orp flodum svimmad.
And swa styrigende is seo sawul. t>aet
131.
farad.
eallum
eordan.
lichoman.
176.
Heo
is
unge-saewenlic. and un-lichomlic. butari haefe
and butan bleo. mid pam

eallum limuni wunigende.
V, 417.
Ic
me gebidde
to
lichaman befangen. and on
dam
gode.
|>e
bid eardigende
on heofonum.
XVI, 293.
Twa
unrot-nyssa synd. an
is
|>eos yfele.
10
and Oder
his
Ae.
L.
XXIII B, 244.
is
halwende
paet is
synnum geunrotsige.
god sy gebletsod se de
tiligende;
227.
gedafenad
De
abbud Zosimus
to
t>aet
is
se
man
for
sawla haelu
biddenne and to
bletsigenne. forpan pu eart underwreded mid {)aere sacerdlican lare. and j>u eart tellende cristes gerynu mid |)am
gyfum
|)aera
XXXIV,
114.
godcundlican
We habbad cyne-helmas halige mid us

scinende swa swa rose, and snaw-hwite
swa swa
{)a {)U
lilie.
ne miht geseon peah
[)e
hi scinende
beon.
O. E. H.
ah prud heo wes swide and modi, and ligere and

and wredful and ontful. and fordi heo bid wuniende
43.
I,
swikel.
inne pisse pine.
On
and on fures heowe wes godes

he ded pa pe beod bilehwite.
and wid-utan ufelnesse. and birnende on godes willan.
He is fleonde alse shadewe and ne stont neure
II, 175, 25.
on one stede.
V. a V. 15, 23. de deade man[n]es Jjruh, pe is widuten ihwited,
and wid-inne stinkende and full of wernies.
To eu ic clepige iec de bied wuniênde mid
21, 3.
95.
culfre onlicnesse
isceawed. fordon
gast
{)et
gemaneliche hlauerde gode,

He wissed des mannes idang[c] de he to-cumd,
35, 28.
Oder durh halige writes oder durh hali sermuns, pe he
him durh sume wise manne de he is inne wuniende, sant.
37, 32.
if du wilt sikerliche wunigen on karite and on
panne do du alswa
is,
we
boke finden iwriten,

mid faste hope and
and
J)at
mid sode luue bie werchinde dat god de du iliefst.
To sume menu hie cumd and fard, and mid
57, 11.
sume men hie is wunende, and on swide feawe menu hie
On da manne de hie is rixende, J)is [is]
is rixende.
de tacne: al swo de woreld-mann lihtliche lei[c]hed of
ydelnesse de he isiedt)der iherd, al swa de gastliche mann
de hie on rixed, lihtliche wepd oder sobbed,
59, 14. godes milsce last aeuremo (to) alle do mannen de
gode,
dat tu
mid
hit a
rihte geleaue
him bied dradinde,

75, 16. and wite du te sode, bute du him bie hier teidinde hwat swa hit de ratt to donne: danne du cumst
danne du art itwamd fram dine lichame, hit te
,
wile betachen
PRESENT TENSE
V. a V. 75, 22. Diuicie
des eihte, gif hie
95, 3.
95, 11.
affluant, nolite cor
apponere, *Worl-
swide rixinde to deward, ne do du
ende;
For di he bitt dat pais bie aider on licame and

on saule, and dat pies hali mihte sibsumnesse bie rixende
on geu bade;
95, 23. ic am on muchele aruednesses, on hungre and on
durste(s), on wacches and on swinkes, and on mani5e(s)
kennes wrecchades, sori and sorhfull, woninde and we-
pinde.
cum|) and bri[nlg|j tidinges of idelne(s)spekende sotwordes de aroered up hleitres,

none wunienge ne haue he mid de,
Dies ilche halie mihte, hie is tur and strengpe
107, 8.
to alle do mihte(s) de dar inne bied wuniênde,
f>at is, dat he wordliche him loki mid alle hise
133, 24.
lemes of his likame. Hise eiene, {)at hie ne bien to
if ani
101, 14.
and
ses,
is
naht dine herte derto,

Carited arist up fram de grundwalle, and beclepd
all
de wouh, (and) alle de bied in do hali huse wuni-
si
II
is
swide gawrinde hider and geond; }jo earen, dat hie blideliche ne hlesten ydelnesses,
To alle do nedes de mann hafd to donne {)anne
137, 6.
is ([)es)e hali mihte swide helpinde.
Remarks.
Ae. L.
49.
I,
is
It
scarcely possible to perceive any
meaning between the periphrastic

tense 'syndan creopende' and the simple forms
'ga6', 'fleoQ' and 'swimmad'.
difference
176.
O. E. H.
It
is
the
lent
in
'Heo' applies to *seo sawul'.

11,
not
second
to
'.
'Qui fugit velut umbra et
impossible that the adverb 'neure' in
175, 25.
an
clause
'eure'
has been
in
the
felt
first,
brought the periphrasis into use

Here the periphrasis
V. a V. 57, 11.
chosen,
the
according
to
intensive-durative
modern
idea
as an equiva-
and
thus
there.
is
very happily
notions, to
in
has
Ms
mark
wunende',
12
Ms
rixende'
as
opposed
it
to
may have been
however,
nicety,
concerning God's grace

'curnd and far5'.
This stylistic
is
far
from the
author's
mind we
xed'
the side of one another and under the
find Ms rixende'
and 'on
ri-
by
same conditions,
e. without any difference of
meaning being perceptible. Thus the appearance
of the periphrasis would seem to be rather arbii.
trary.
V.
V.
The extended
14.
59,
tense
might here,
be considered to imply a constancy, a
frame of mind.
perhaps,
75, 22.
felt
to
racter,
also
It
is
possible
that
'affluant'
has been
be a verb of a marked progressive chaperhaps with some nuance of intensity
(note
the
addition
'swide'),
and thus the
extended form has been considered as the most

apt to convey this idea.
Here
consider the participles to be of

an adjectival nature (note also that they are coordinated with real adjectives): the periphrasis
95, 23.
denotes a habit, almost verging on a quality.

Observe the alternating occurrence of
133, 24.
periphrastic
and simple forms:
'bien
gaw-
rinde', 'hlesten'.
2.
(i)
The Past Tense.

Defined.
This tense occurs more often with defini-
These may consist of tempoadverbs or adverbial expressions, indicating either point
tions of time than without.

ral
or length of time.
As examples
be termed
of
actuality,
the
former
we may
take
category, which might
Chr.
D.
1052
('l)a').
15
PAST TENSE
O.
H.
E.
225 Clâ
I,
O. E. H.
),
3 ('on elche of })ese
11,
|)rie times').
For the latter, which rather represents an action or

a state of things as going on for a certain time, and might
be called qualified duration, we have many more examples^

mention Chr. A. 871 ('oj) niht'), Chr. C. 1066
of which
1
on
fMange
Chr.
dseg'),
1100
E.
Ae. L. XX, 125
('aefre'),
C3rittig geara'), Ae. L. XXIII, 493 ('aefre'), Ae. L. XXlll B,

577 (Mange'), V. a V. 51, 5 ('})rie and j)rihti wintre and an
The complements, as may be seen above, maydenote perpetuity ('aefre'), or limited duration \ either in more
general terms (Mange on daeg'. Mange') or else by distinct
half).
statements
geara',
('drittig
'prie
and
Jjrihti
wintre and an
half).
according to the nature of the complehardly possible to decide whether point or
Occasionally,
ments,
is
it
length of time
where
is
may be rendered
Jjysan timan'
'to
as, for instance, in
meant,
Chr. E. 1104,
either
'at
by
this
time' or 'during this time'.
Often enough the definition lies in a separate clause,,

more or less connected with the clause where we have the
between
guish
category
Chr.
represented
A. 755; Ae. L.
these
all
'forte
cases,
The terms
XXXVII,
we have
employ
these:
1,
gyt smeagende
hwaet
we
2.
we
can distin-
The former
Ae. L. XVIII, 421
Ae. L.
89; V. a V. 149, 12; the latter in
I,
are
tenses
in
4;
to
O. E. H.
II,
do with an
and here the action
Jât'-clause,
nite
cases,
and limited duration.
actuality
find
584; O. E. H.
XXIII,
In
many
least in
at
Here,
periphrasis.
is
33 and 131.
'oddaet'-or
sometimes, as in
main uses of the

and decius se casere
to designate the
actuality,
gefaran
e.
g.
habban.
(Ae.
L.
XXIII,
defiis
nu
452.).
qualified duration, comprising: (a) perpetuity, e. g. Godd is haure

(V. a V. 137, 17.); (b) limited duration, e. g. fa waes he
fastinde.
seofon
mondas wunigende swa
blind.
(Ae.
L.
XXI,
270.).
14
Chr. A. 755, represented as going on

is
until a certain result
reached.
some
In
and clause
instances
Chr. A. 755
in
we
combination of adverbial
find a
strengthen the force of the periphrasis, as
to
48, 9); Chr. A. 855; Ae. L. XXI, 270;
(p.
Ae. L. XXIII B, 45 and 803.
On
tion
is
the whole,
the
clause,
are
on
said that,
where the
defini-
an adverb or an adverbial expression, the periphra-
sis implies qualified
of
may be
it
duration in by far the greatest
instances found, but that,

the
two
categories
when
the definition
and
actuality
number
is
limited duration
a balance with each other.
Examples.
Chr.
A.
755
48,
(p.
4).
and hie
on pone Cyning wcerun
alle
hine ofslaegenne haefdon;

[E: and he ealle on done cining feohtende wceron. o6 pet
hig hine ofslaegen haefdon.]
A. 755 (p. 48, 9). Ac hie simle feohtende waeran of) hie
feohtende
o[)
alle laegon
A.
755
(p.
paet hie
butan anuni Bryttiscum gisle,

48, 26). and hie pa ymb pa gatu feohtende
waeron op paet hie paer inne fulgon,

A. 855 (p. 66, 8). and py ilcan geare ferde to
micelre weorpnesse, and paer
and pa him ham weard

IE:
And
py
ilcan
was
.Xii.
Rome mid
monap wuniende,
for,
geare
ferde
to
Rome mid mycclum
wurdscipe. and paer wunade .Xii. monad, and he feng to

Karles dohter Francna cining pa he hamweard waes.]
A. 871 (p. 70, 28). and onfeohtende waeron op niht."
C. 918 (p. 105, 25). Ac swide hraedlice paes de hi paes geworden haefde heo gefor .Xii. nihtun ser middan sumera.
binnan Tama weorpige dy eahtopan geare paes de heo
Myrcna anweald mid riht hlaforddome healdende waes.
C. 1066 (p. 198, 23). and hi paer togaedere fengon. and
swyde heardiice lange on daeg feohtende waei-on.

D. 1052 (p. 175, 15). t>a waes Eadward cyng on Oleaw-
cestre sittende.
1085 (p. 215, 33). Da Willelm Englalandes cyng pe

pa waes sittende on Normandige. fordig he ahte aegder ge
E.
15
PAST TENSE
Chr.
Normandige.
ge
Englaland
I)is
geaxode. he ferde into
Englalande
Toforan see Michaeles maessan aetywde seo heofon
swilce heo for neah ealle ja niht byrnende waere.
E, 1098.
1100
E.
him
he
(p.
235, 21). and

waeran.
Imrh
yfelra
manna
raedas pe
and j)urh his agene gitsunga.

pas leode mid here and mid ungylde tyrwigende
gecweme
aefre
aefre
waes.
E. 1104 (p. 239, 21).
earmda pe
Ae.
L.
147.
XIII,
Nis eade to asecgenne |)ises landes

timan dreogende waes.
hit to |)ysan
Wei we magon gedencan hu wel

mid
hit ferde
lis.
igland waes wunigende on sibbe.

witega waes awaeg farande.
ac god hine gecyrde pus him eft secgende.
Gecyr to ezechian
buta
pry suna he gestrynde. and hi siddan
|)a(Ja |)is
XVIII, 421.
XX,
125.
Isaias se
drittig
and
geara waeron wunigende butan haemede.

aelmyssan worhton. od pact se wer
fela
ferde
to
XXI,
1.
munuclicere drohtnunge.
ON EADGARES DAOUM D^S ^DELAN

CYNINCGES.
i)ADA se cristendom
waes wei deonde purh
god
on angel-cynne
|)a
270.
pa.

geswutelode god
waes he seofon
and
mondas wunigende swa blind.

he mid geleafan ferde
his hlyst naefde. oppaet
to j>am halgan
swydune.
he
XXIII, 220. and swa oft swa he into daere byrig code,
hine on waedlan hywe aeteowde. and dearnunga waes
smeagende hu hit on daes caseres hirede ferde.
and aefre he him waes onsittende paet hine sum man
493.
gecneowe.
Da he pus waes to heom sprecende. and swa hreowlice his ceap gedrifan haefde. hi sona ealle up stodon.
and aefre waes his uneadnys wexende.
621.
584.
Da
717.
swa
malchus pas word gehyrde pe se portgerefa him

he ofdraed sloh adun paer-
hetelice waes tosprcecende.
rihte.
he aras pa of paere flora, and of pam wacan saecce

pe he lange on-uppan dreorig waes sittende. and he pancode gode aelmihtigum.
801.
16
Ae.
L.
XXIII B, 45. swa he
sylf saede
Zosimus.
\ixt
he
sylf
waere
modorlicum beordrum on {>3et mynster befaest.

o\) [)aet |>reo and fiftigde gear he waes \tXT on |>am
regole drohtnigende. and aefter |)ysum he waes gecnyssed
fram
and
|>am
sumum gepancum.
and he waes |)us sprecende. hwaeder aenig munuc on
eordan sy.
f)as and pysum gelicum him {)encendum,
him aet-stod sum engel. and him to cwaed.
415.
Ac swilce me hwilc Strang meniu ongean stode.
fram
50.
J)aet
me pone
wracu
ingang beluce. swa

duru bewerede; Odde ic
J)a
562. and pus ic seofontyne geare rynum on maenig-fealdum

frecednyssum swa swa ic aer cwaed. winnende waes on
eallum pingum op pisne andweardan daeg and me on
fultunie waes. and mine wisan reccende seo halige godes
cennestre.
577.
803.
pus ic waes lange on maenig-fealdum. and mislicum

nydpearfnyssum. and on unmaetum costnungum winnende.
and wraxligende.
and ] Zosimus on pam mynstre waes drohtnigende.

an hund wintra. and pa to drihtne hleorde.
XXV, 728. lonathas wunode on wurdmynte da lange.
and cynegas hine wurdodon mid wordum
XXXI,
XXXVII,
and gifum.
and he sige geferde on manegum gefeohtum.
and aefre waes winnende embe godes willan.
His mod waes swa-peah aefre embe mynstru
28.
smeagende.
4.
& he on cristes lare

wel peonde waes. oddaet he weard ge-hadod
to
seo faerh"ce godes

standende on paes
temples cafertune waes.
O.
me
eft
E,
halgum diacone.
weren wuniende
ane
on
ibeoden
on
heore
edmodliche
pa
upflore
com ferliche muchel swei of heofne
on })isse deie
Adam pa wes wniende on peses life mid geswince.
225.
Men pe waren wunende on elche of pese prie times
II, 3.
wisten gerne after ure lauerd ihesu cristes tocume alse
H.
we
1,
89.
Bat
halie hired cristes apostles
dod.
On pe niht and on pe time. l>e ure lafdi seinte marie

kennede of holie lichame ure louerd ihesu crist. were
herdes wakiende bi side pe buregh and wittende here
31.
oref.
33.
AI
mankin was wunende on muchele wowe.
PAST TENSE
forte pat ilke time
'.
I?
pat ure louerd ihesu crist
hem
t)arof
aredde.
II, 51. J)at israelisshe folc was walkende toward ierusalem
on swinche. and on drede. and on wanrede and |)o wile
was hersum godes hese.
51.
Ac efter |>an |)e hie weren wuniende in ierusa-
O. E. H.
lem.
131.
for
|)0 hie forleten godes lore.

he nolde noht turnen ut of J)e hege weie. ne of
and was |)er-one werchende. and
|)e rihte pades.
to
for
he
p^^.
farende.
[com] to de ende pat is eche lif.
147, and on pis reuliche wei hie weren walkinde forte
pat hie
comen
to
pe lichamh'che deade.
hlauerd lesus Crist, he was her on

Hue wuniênde prie and prihti wintre and an half
mang senfulle mannen,
On da time de hie was hier on Hue libbende,
55, 1.
hit was iwriten: Maledicta sterilis,
67, 25. an riche iungman cam to Crist be do daigen de
he hier lichamliche was wuniende, and seide: Quid
V. a V.
Dies
51, 5.
ilke
dese
faciam,
Hit seid in Vitas patrum dat at sume sal waren

149, 12.
de hali faderes to-gedere igadered, and waren spekinde
bitwen hem on (h)williche wise me mihte rihtist and
Sum sade Da sade on
sikerest to gode cumen.
of da eldest
Remarks.
Ae. L. XXIII, 220.
was
actually
the
town.
smeagende' marks what he
*waes
engaged in at each of his visits

Here the sense of incompletion
especially prominent:
of.
The
no
definite result
is
to
is
thought
periphrasis might also be considered to
involve a slight shade of iteration: a comprehen-
sion of several single acts.
form
'aeteowde',
which
completed.
801. 'waes sittende'
Compare
denotes
the simple
single
act
= Modern English 'had been
sitting'.
XXIII B, 415. 'standende waes'
may perhaps be
2
18
rendered
correctly
by 'found myself standing'.
The extended tense seems

idea
of
result
should
to indicate that the
be linked together with
that of duration.
This example might, in some way,

compared with Ae. L. XXIII, 220: 'waren
V. a V. 140, 12.
be
comprehends the utterances of each

speaker ('Sum sade: which appears more
than once.) The discussion is represented as
spekinde'
',
brought to a kind of close by 'Da sade

(ii)
some
When
Undefined.
cases
very
vague
in
undefined, the periphrasis
meaning
according to
'.
is in
modern
we
should here sooner expect the

indefinite tense nowadays: Chr. E. 1086; Ae. L. Ill, 566;
Ae. L. VI, 131; Ae. L. XXV, 276; V. a V. 41, 17; L. o
notions: that
K.
St.
verb
to say,
is
G.
64;
E.
2741.
It
in all these instances is
may be observed
that the
'wunigende'.
In other cases the participle partakes of
an adjectival
nature, as in Ae. L. XXIII, 702; Ae. L. XXIII B, 90; O. E.
H.
119 and
II,
L.
from
Apart
certainly hold
occurs
without
K. 1353.
St.
these
that
the
two groups, however, one may

past
definitions,
periphrastic,
even
when
it
has, to a considerable extent,
Modern English: it expresses that

an action or a state of things was going on under special circumstances, these
being indicated, more or less
The following may be considered
directly, in the context.
the
same functions as
as especially
L. XXIII B,
in
good examples: Ae. L. VII, 67 and 421,

41 and
187; Ae. L. XXV, 423; O. E. H.
I,
Examples.
Beow.
159.
(ac se) jeglca ehtende waes,
deorc deat>-scua dugupe ond geogope;
Ae.
93.
PAST TENSE
Beow.
Swa
3028.
se secg hwata
ladra spella;
19
secggende waes
and aet nyxtan naman heom hors. and ridon swa

wide swa hi woldon. and unasecgendlice yfel wircende
Chr, E. 994.
waeron.
Eala reowlic and wependlic tid waes
E. 1086,
swa manig ungelimp waes fordbringende.

AN ae{)ele laece waes wunigende on
Ill, 566.
{)aes
geares.
{)e
Ae. L.
byrig.
{laere
lOSEP
gehaten.
Se [)egn waes wunigende butan wifes neawiste.
â cunnodan laecas hwi he licgende waere.
VI, 131.
VII, 67.
421.
and cristen-dom waes peonde. and pa halgan wurdon
XVI,
161.
fordan
gecydde.
|)e he mid sodfaestnysse ne sohte pone
haelend.
ac foxunga waeron wunigende on him.

se tima waes gesaelig
XXI, 444.
and wynsum on angel-cynne. pa da eadgar

cynincg
pone cristen-dom ge-fyrdrode. and
fela
munuclifa araerde.
and
XXIII, 702.
and for j)aere micelan biysse synderlice he weop

and his heorte waes fcegnigende.
XXIII B, 32. Das wisan he ealle on him hcebbende waes.
and he naefre fram pam smeagungum haligra gewrita his
ofer aelcne.
mod awenda
90.
ac
paet
heora
paet
an
aelc
waes
waere
heom eailum
swidost fram
geefst.
on lichaman dead, and on gaste
libbende;
141.
aeghwilc
wyrcende
177.
187.
XXV,
423.
dyllic feoh waes
823.
habbende
wunigende on sibbe.
farende on eordan.
his cynerice waes
syddan
on
his
agenum ingehyde mid him sylfum
waes. his agenes geswinces gewitnysse hwaet

waes. and hwiicra geswinca saede sawende.
he
i)a wisan Zosimus georne behealdende waes.

He witodUce hire W3ds ehtende. and heo wxs fleonde;
276.
and his feower gebrodra him fylston anraedlice

and ealle da pe waeron wunigende mid his
faeder.
XXX,
and sloh da haedenan

od paet hi oncneowon
8.
paet se
him wid-feohtende waes.

Nacode he scrydde. and swa
nyd-behaefnysse he waes dcelende.
ic
pam
cena iudas
sodlice secge. ealle
pe paes behofodon.
20
XXX, 445. forpam ge waeron winnende on godan life,

and ge waeron for-pyldiende maenig-fealde cos[t]nunga.
and swa-peah naeron ofer-swi|)de. Cumad nu on sybbe.
XXXI, 622. cwaed eac paet nan man naere fram him
buton pam anum pe him onfeohtende waeron.

ac he ne ablan na swa-peah.
Ae.
L.
ofslagen
1283.
mid seofon-nihte
faestene
him fore to-pingi-
ende.
od-paet he beget paes pe he biddende waes.
and heo pa daeghwamlice hire speda pearfendum daelde. and gelomlice heo cyrcan sohte. and mid
halsungum god waes biddende paet
XXXIV, 76. â cyne-helmas waeron wundorlice scinende
on rosan readnysse. and on lilian hwitnysse.
XXXV, 84. Polemius pa sona sende his frynd
to pam maedene darian and micclum waes
biddende
XXXIII,
7.
paet
Mihhal eode bi-foren

and pa scawede mihhal
to sancte paul pa wrecche sunfulle pe per were wuniende
Nu eft on pisse deie purh pes halie gastes to-cume 1
93.
weren alle ispechen agein inumen. and isome fordon pet
cristes apostlas weren specende mid alle spechen.
95.
fordon pet he wes dreihninde on pissere worlde mid
for he ne remde ne of bitere
bilehwitnesse. and
O. E. H.
1,
41.
speche nes.
\>t he dude pet heo weren birnende on godes

and bodiende umbe godes riche.
ec hie him segen on fures hewe al ich er seide.
II, 119.
and weren perof wallinde on sodere luue godes and
mannen.
V. a V. 41, 17. du aust te folgin dane riht[t]wise and onfald
lob, de was wuniênde on dare woreld mid wiue and
95.
fordon
willan.
mid
L.
St.
children,
In pis ilke burh
K. 64,
wes
wuniende a meiden
1353.
't
berninde as he wes
of
grome
't
of teone,
bed bringen o brune

an ad amidden pe burh;
G. a
E. 2741.
Raguel
letro flat riche
Was wuniende in
He hadde seuene
man.
madian,
dowtres bi-geten;
î
PAST TENSE
Remarks.
Beow. 3028.
occurs
This
rangue, and it
be ascribed to
with
view
may
lengthy habe that the periphrasis can

after a rather
certain idea of duration, viz.
the warrior took to
time
the
to
deliver his speech.
The
Ae. L. XXI, 444.

'and
used,
translation given in the edition
kingdom continued
his
in
peace'
exactly renders the meaning.
The
XXHI, 702.
money was
XXIIl
'haebbende waes'
by
XXX,
8.
de'
in the
'naefre'
several
to
edition
on the
current
is
earth'.
indirectly de-
is
next clause.
The context shows
applies
B, 32.
fined
the
of
translation
'since the like
that 'waes daelen-
occasions:
*he
used to
was his habit to

XXXI, 622. The translation given here: *
no man had been slain by him save those only
*it
',
who
'.
were fighting against him' is not quite

The context leads me to prefer: 'who
accurate.
had been
(on
fighting'
certain
occasion
or
perhaps rather on several different occasions during his former lifej.
The
seems to imply a
note
the complement
intensity:
'mid halsungum', and the coordination with the
XXXIII,
7.
certain
idea
iterative
expressions 'daeghwamlice
and 'gelomlice
XXXV,
seems
O. E. H.
eft
95.
I,
on
periphrasis
of
84.
to
Q3.
daelde'
sohte'.
Here also an
intensive
meaning
be intended: 'micclum'.
There
is
an indirect definition
in
'Nu
})isse deie' in the first clause.
'dreihninde'.
The complement
'on J>issere
22
worlde'
is
here equivalent to an adverbial of time:
'during his whole
O. E. H.
I.
ticiple
life'.
The
95. 'birnende', 'bodiende'.
here
is
and
'bodiende'
this
idea
adjectival
so
in
(^=:
first
par-
burning, zealous),
to share in
may be considered
far
that
in
urbe
denotes a constant
it
habit.
L. o
St.
K. 64.
quedam
[H]ac
puella,
Alexandrinorum
Thus
*erat'
is
erat
rendered
by *wes wuniende'.
1353.
'berninde
has: furiis
he wes
as
accenso
agitatus
vehementissimo igne.
jussit
in
The Latin
medio civitatis
'.
Additional Remarl<.
of Saints a few instances of the

past periphrastic occur, where we should now use either
In
Aelfric's
Lives
the perfect or the pluperfect.
These compound tenses were not
developed in
Old English, nor in the earlier part of the Middle English
period, and they did not occur at all in the periphrastic
fully
conjugation. Thus it may be explained that, in case the

idea of duration or progression was attached to the meaning of an expression, or if the verb in question was felt
to possess this character, the past periphrastic might occasionally
be chosen.
We
J)aere
have already noted two instances; he aras J)a of

flora, and of Jjam wacan saecce })e he lange on-uppan
and he {)ancode gode aelmihtigum.

(Ae. L. XXIII, 801), and: cwaed eac {)aet nan man naere
fram him ofslagen buton {)am anum {)e him onfeohtende
dreorig
wees
wceron.
(Ae. L.
sittende.
stances, at least,
XXXI,
622).
In the first of these
two
in-
the extended past corresponds exactly to
a definite pluperfect in
Modern
English.
23
IMPERATIVE AND INFINITIVE
following examples, however, Modern English

would sooner prefer an indefinite perfect or pluperfect.
In the
Ill,
halgan weofode.
and mid his halgum handum. husel senode.
and Vam bisceope tahte. j)aes pe he biddende
I)a stod se haelend sylf. aet \>am
113.
waes.
ne mot nan mann ne ne sceal secgan on hine

sylfne paes de he wyrcende naes.
Nu ge habbad gehyred J)aet ge forhelen ne sceolan
XII, 243.
eowre agenne synne ne eac secgan na mare
ponne ge wyrcende waeron.
XXIII, 210. Da hi dus sprecende waeron seofon da gecorenan
halgan. |)a sealdon hi heom faestnunge betweonan. J)aet
Eft
XII, 177.
hi ealle
386.
XXIII,
J)is
woldon healdan.
halige
Dyllice
word,
and ungerime odre de on
halgum bocum synd awritene.
pact
god aelmihtig maenigsylfne. and
ge durh his witegan. ge purh hine

be daera martyra aeriste waes sprecende.
fealdlice.
The
tion
translations
which
of these
consider
to
examples given in the edibe perfectly correct are
the following:
III,
113.
'and
the
instructed
bishop in that for which he
had
prayed'.
XII, 177. 'nor
ought he to
say, respecting himself,
such [things]
as he hath not
donef
XII, 243. 'neither say any more than ye have done,*
'When they had thus spoken,
XXIII, 210.
each other
XXIII, 386. 'Such
they gave
'
words and numberless others

which God Almighty,
in many ways, both by His prophets and by Himself, and
concerning the resurrection of the martyrs, had spoken'
[are
the] holy
which are written
3.
The Imperative and the
In these
note a strong
sized
in holy books,
two forms
durative
by such an
Infinitive.
of the periphrastic conjugation

force,
we
occasionally further empha-
adverb as 'symble'
in
Ae. L. XII, 268.
24
most cases they express a habit or a frame of mind, the

participle thus assuming a more or less adjectival meaning,
In
full
verbal
121, 9,
context
the
although
force,
show
clearly
Ae.
in
L.
H.
to
'forgitende'
respectively.
of the Periphrastic Imperative.
Examples
E.
retains its
it
XXXIII, 314 and V. a V.
Ae. L. XXXIII, 314. ne beo pu forgitende
O.
that
where there are objects attached
and 'rewsende'
(i)
may
as
5.
II,
quia
Uigilate
t)at
t)inra efenJ)eowa.
is
bed wakiende. and
forleted gure synne.
V. a V. 75, 9. 'Darhwile de du art mid [)ine widerwine on da

weige, bie him teidinde dat de he wile hauen idon, laeste
he de nime
113, 4.
Estote
geuer fader
(ii)
Ae. L. XII, 268.
97, 17.
We
J)at
mildciende,
al
swo
he
Ic hit
Infinitive.
sceolan beon peonde symble on godnysse.

and his fader hine scolden luuigen and
b(i)en.
wat well dat godd ne mai bien wuniênde
on none saule dat unfrid is of sennes.

107, 15. ne he ne scall resten ne slapen to michel, ne to
ne he ne seal to michel bien spekende, ne to michel
swi(g)ende ;
For
121. 9.
of
6.
mid him wuniende
litel;
'Bied
Examples of the Periphrastic
V. a V. 37,
mi(sericordes),
on heuene!'
is
desre
us
di
eadi
meneged
mihte,
{)at
we
allre |)inge arst
ure lauerde
scolden beon rewsende ure
sennen,
Mann de wel wile bien riwsinde, ne rewe him nauht

ane hise sennes.
23.
Remark.
V. a V. 107, 15.
the
This
indefinite
instance
form
same
towards
the
Modern
English:
clearly
shows how
and the adjective converge

idea of absolute duration in
the
translation of the edition
25
FUTURITY
is:
*nor
much
an
shall
silent' ;
adjective
he be too
he speak too much, nor be too

one might here very well substitute
for
talkative'.
B.
Futurity.
Sometimes the periphrasis occurs

this
however,
is
in
expressions which
In the majority of these instan-
involve a futural meaning.

ces,
as well: 'nor shall
'spekende'
not
its
chief function, the idea of
duration or progression being the predominant one. Thus

one can by no means hold that the periphrasis serves as
a 'future-equivalent', but only that
meaning of
1.
has an implied under-
it
futurity.
The Present.
- and ic wille l>aet ge beran
eower leoht to me. and licgad on cneowum
and ic eow forgife paet paet ge gyrnende beod.
Eala hwaeder heo hider cumende syo. and
667.
Ae. L. XXI, 295. -
XXIII B,
me ne gyme.
Da |)e butan godes lage and godes isetnesse

pa beod butan gode efre wuniende.
V. a V. 103, 20. Ne biest du naht hier lange w uniênde ; iorXzii
dine sennen!
O. E. H.
I,
119.
libbed
Remarks.
Ae. L. XXI, 295.
Aelfric's
p. 40):
risch
Kuhn
(Die Syntax des
Verbums
in
Leipzig- Reudnitz 1889,

'21,297 [this example] konnte man futu-
Heiligenleben.
nennen.
(cf.
Koch
11
18).'
'gyrnende
beod' implies a supposed actuality.

XXIIl B, 667. 'cumende syo' denotes indefinite
futurity,
an eventuality.
26
O. E. H.
119.
I,
should
prefer: 'shall for ever
be
dwelling' to the 'are ever dwelling' given in the

edition.
V. a V. 103, 20.
'thou
The
wilt not
futural
meaning
is
obvious:
long be dwelling' (translation of
the edition).
2.
The
Beow.
Past.
1102. 'deah hie hira beag-gyfan
'deoden-lease,
'gyf J)onne
banan folgedon
him swa ge[)earfod waes:
t>a
Frysna hwylc frecnon spraece
'daes mort)or-hetes
*|)onne hit
Ae.
O.
ac waere
L. VI, 268.
E.
J>aet
myndgiend
waere,
sweordes ecg syddan scolde
wunigende
getel.
aefre.
Gif non hine ne lufede. non to him ne come,

ne delende nere of his eadiniSsse.
H.
217.
I,
Remarks.
Beow. 1102. 'myndgian' means 'remind of (Holthausen: erinnern an).
Thus: 'if then should
remind of
The idea of hypothetical futur'.
ity
appears,
be the essential element
in fact, to
of the periphrasis: a durative force
seems scarcely
admissible.
Ae.
L.
*
O.
E. H.
VI,
I,
come
268.
Rendered
but that the

217.
'if
in
by:
should always continue'.

loved him, none would
participate of his bliss.'
(translation of the edition).
^^^ -
translation
tale
none
would
to him, nor
the
27
THE INCHOATIVE
The Inchoative.
C.
Chronicle and in Aelfrids Lives of Saints we

meet with several interesting instances where the periphraIn
sis has,
al
the
besides
inchoative
phrasis
primary and chief function, an additionof a secondary character: the peri-
meaning
here
is
its
inchoative-durative,
much
and the
latter
element
former has not even got

predominates
its own linguistical expression, but is involved in the duraWe have to do with a sort of anticipation, or 'logicitve.
so
al
Erdmann
hiatus', as
that the
(p.
of simply stating that such
a liveliness
of
13) very aptly terms
it:
'Instead
and such an action begins, by

anticipates time, and passing
it
expression
over the opening moment, represents the action as already
This logical hiatus is more or less felt, acin progress.
the different degree of weight attached to the

commencement of the action'. As regards the Chronicle it
cording
to
may be observed
that the expression 'and feohtende waeron'
a set phrase, so to speak, for rendering the idea which in

Modern English may be expressed by 'and then they
is
started fighting'.
Occasionally this scantiness of language^
Erdmann has it, 'liveliness of expression', gives

way to a more logical, but less vivid and pregnant style:
and hi Jâer togaedere fengon and swyQe heardlice
feohtende waeron. C. 1066 (p. 198, 23). Here the two eleor
as
ments have got each
its
special expression in the language.
Examples.
Her com mice! sciphere on West Walas, and hie
gecierdon, and wi{) Ecgbryht West Seaxna cyning
winnende waeron; I>a he t)aet hierde, and mid fierde ferde,
and him wi|) feaht aet Hengest dune,

E: winnende. MS. wuniende; and so D.
Chr. A, 835.
to
anum
28

Chr.
and hie late on geare to {)am gecirdon J)aet hie

here winnende waerun, and hie t)eah micle fierd
gegadrodon, and {)one here sohton aet Eoforwic ceastre,
and on pa ceastre braecon, and hie sume inne wurdon,
and pxr was ungemetlic wael geslaegen
A. 876. [p. 74J. and py geare Healfdene Nor{)anhymbra
lond gedaelde. and ergende waeron and hiera tilgende.
A.
867.
wi|) |)one
[B:
j)
hie sy{)[)an ergende. E: hergende.]
76, 2]. and {>aes on Eastron worhte Aelfred

werede geweorc set Ae[)elinga eigge, and of
pam geweorce was winnende wi[> pone here,
E. 994.
Her on pisum geare com Anlaf and Swegen to
- and hi da on da burh lesWxct
Lundenbyrig
feohtende
waeron. and eac hi mid fyre ontendan woldon. ac hi par
gefeordon niaran hearm and yfel ponne hi aefre wendon.
F: and faestlice on pa burh fuhton. and hi
E. 1001.
Her com se here to Exan mudan. and up da
eodan to dere byrig. and paer faestlice feohtende waeron.
ac him man swyde faestlice widstod. and heardlice. Da
A.
878.
cyning
[p.
lytle
ge wendon
Ae.
hi
and pa pa hi faet gewrit raeddon. hi ealle

wundrigende waeron. and god aelmihtigne anon mode
wuldredon.
XXIII B, 231. Das word witodlice gebrohton on Zosime
micelne ege. and fyrhtu. and he waes byfigende; And he
L. XXIII, 775.
waes geondgoten
sworettan
669.
and
fone
haebbende.
mid
paes
swates dropum;
he
weop. and his eagen up to pam heoand eadmodlice god waes biddende pus
biterlice
cwaedende.
Hwaet da faerlice comon fif englas of

heofonum.
ridende on horsum mid gyldenum geraedum.
and twaegen paera engla on twa healfe iudan
feohtende waeron. and hine eac bewerodon.
XXXI, 220. Ja aefter twam tidum astyrode se deada
eallum limum. and lociende waes.
1123.
I)a waes se ele wexende ofer ealne fone weg.
swa paet he ofer-fleow.
1202.
and pa deofol-seocan sona mid swidlicre
XXV,
490.
-^
Da ongan
grymetunge
forhtigende waeron.
29
THE INCHOATIVE
Remarks.
Here the hiatus
Chr. A. 878.
is
Ae. L.
XXV,
The context shows
490.
felt:
little
very
even possible that no inchoative idea
it
is
intended.
is
clearly
that
the expression ought to be rendered by 'began
to fight'
better, 'started fighting'
or,
than by 'were fighting', which
is
rather
the translation
of the edition.
XXXI, 1202. 'sona' shows that the inchoative

is more stressed than the durative.
element
Additional Remark.
In
Lives
Aelfric's
cases, which seem
of Saints
to have
we
something
have some curious

in
common
with the
inchoative use of the periphrasis, in so far that they imply

an anticipation, at least the last two of them. It may be
been
that Latin influence has
an analogous instance
in the
Ecclesiastical
History
of
Piittmann
5):
(p.
J)a
butan eldenne waes
at
work
here, to judge
Old English Version
of Bede's
the
English People, quoted by

somninga se min latteow gestod and
eft
his
gong cerrende
430, 25 (repente
ductor substitit; nee mora, gressum torquens *208,

XXXI,
250.
and he sona ge-edcucode.

and mid geornfulre elnunge up arisende waes.
and eft-cyrrende waes herigende. and blaetsigende
lirne drihten
641.
I)aes
16).
XXllI B, 639.
from
haelendne
And he
westenes
waes
I)e
he
crist;
purh
pyder becom.
eft-cyrrende
aer
J)one
ylcan sidfat
30
D.
Sweet remarks
construction
jective
Survey.
2208) that *The analogy of the ad-
would make us
expect to find the
periphrastic forms used mainly to express rest, and passive
rather than active phenomena.

But, on the contrary, they
are especially favoured by verbs of motion and fighting
wees winnende, wceron feohtende either with or without
the idea of continuity'.
Here Sweet no doubt has had

occurrence
of 'feohtende'
does not hold good
in
in
mind the frequent
the Chronicle, but his remark
for the great bulk of
rature: verbs expressing rest
are
Anglo-Saxon
lite-
and other passive phenomena
in the periphrastic
very freely employed

Piittman has found that verbs
met
with:
this
is
of
conjugation.
saying are very often
true as regards the Blickling Homilies,
and other works of the same kind, especially

Piittmann speaking about
translated from the Latin.
for instance,
if
where the periphrasis seems
cases
progressive force
verbs,
at least in
is
be devoid of any
inclined to attribute, even to these
many
to
cases, a slight shade of the sense
of duration, in others he takes into account the possibility

of Latin influence: 'Zu den ebenfalls haufig mit der bedeu-
tung eines historischen tempus vorkommenden verben des

sagens ist zu bemerken, dass es sich in vielen fallen vielleicht doch um eine leise schattierung des begriffes der
dauer
handeln
konnte,
anzunehmen
einfluss
In
no doubt
ist'
in
(p.
anderen
48).
vielleicht
lateinischer
He may be
right in both
2204 he ventures the following conjecture: 'They were

formed on the analogy of the combination of the
originally
so that such a paraphrase as hie wceron

were rejoicing' was felt to be intermediate between
hie blissodon 'they rejoiced' and hie wceron blJpe 'they were gfad'.'
verb
'be'
blissiende
with
'they
adjectives,
SURVEY
31
suggestions, especially, it seems to me, as regards the Latinfluence.

As to the verbs which most often take
in
the
pends,
this
is
be kept
in
mind
that this de-
great degree, on the nature of the
to
should
it
periphrasis,
clear
especially
the case
in
of the
texts:
Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle; one can safely say, however, that verbs that are
of a durative or progressive character such as verbs of
rest,
motion and also mental states or proceedings
are
in the majority.
The
periods
going
a
on
certain
functions
chief
mark
are to
that
at a certain
of
the periphrasis during these
an action or a
state of things is
point of time, actuality, or else for
length of time, qualified duration ^
It
is
hardly
whether actuality or limitof an extended tense: even
possible to decide in every case
ed duration
is
where there
are definitions
the
function
one may
the borderland between the
two
find
examples lying on
On
categories.
the whole,
however, one can say that during these periods the latter
is somewhat more frequently represented than the former.
The meaning
out
when
generally,
it
or
of the periphrasis
is
most
clearly
brought
defined by adverbs, adverbial expressions

by another clause, which directly mark the
is
Here we have a type which

may be worth some special attention, mean where the
complement consists of adverbs of perpetuity, such as
point or the length of time.
'aefre',
'symble'.
If
then, of course, the
perpetual duration:
and
verb
in
question
is
also durative,
whole expression involves the idea of
Godd
is
haure fastinde (V. a V. 137,
cefre waes his uneadnys wexende.
If
the
Generally speaking, then,
it
17),
(Ae. L. XXIII, 621);
implies progression or duration.
to a special moment, and thus the meaning of

prevails over that of duration properly taken, then it
this idea is limited
incompleteness
that the periphrasis is used to form the actual tenses, describing the
actual goings-on, a situation or the like.
is
32
but
the verb
if
is
a 'point-verb'
we
currence:
Sy ruble he bid gyfende (Ae.

according as the same verb may be
an expression
durative,
tive
or
l)aet
hine
in:
either
of
L.
I,
meaning of re45). Of course,
more or
as
felt
less
may be interpreted as either duraand cefre he him waes onsittende
sum man gecneowe
we may
series
as
iterative,
get a
Here
(Ae. L. XXIII, 493).
*waes onsittende' as applying to a

different occasions, or else as a mental
regard
several
state of a certain constancy.
But
the
in
tibly,
the
where a
meaning may also

context
to
as
especially for
is
is,
less percep-
the past tense,

in
most
cases,
Not
regards
become more
actuality
more or
certain point or length of time
to be understood.
mostly
only,
lie,
and this
infrequently, however
the present tense, which always tends
neutral
not quite clear
in
meaning, where the idea of

the periphrasis
is
either very
hardly differentiated in function from the indefinite
vague,
these cases are, however, not so very many or

else, where the idea of duration is distinctly prominent,
tending towards the meaning of absolute duration, the par-
form
assuming
ticiple
a nearly adjectival character,
As regards the
instances.
holds that, in a great number of
periphrasis has the same meaning as the
'Schliesslich bezeichnet die umschreibung in
case
several
in
Piittmann
anzahl
falle
das
historische
tempus,
d.
h.
which
the
is
former group,
instances, the
simple forms:
einer grossen
sie
weicht
in
bedeutung nicht von derjenigen der formen der einab.' (p. 48).
Here, however, it must be borne
mind that this is mostly the case in works translated from
ihrer
fachen zeiten
in
the Latin
and
this
is
more emphasized by Pessels
than
Pessels has (p. 82) the following remark: 'The influence of

Latin has tended to greatly increase the employment of the periphrasis, but it has, at the same time, greatly obscured the progressive force.'
'
the
33
SURVEY
such as Bede, and also the Blickling Homby Piittmann

which latter Piittmann incorrectly classes among the
ilies,
more
works ('selbstandigere
original
who groups
prosa')
as
well
as
with 'the original works', in the

Pessels,
Old English Homilies, for instance, Piittmann ascribes only
6 instances to this category, two of which are quite out
of
as
place,
don
not the present, but the perfect,
have
These are
participle.
weren
they
it
1,
81
gode men weren Jjurh {)et ho

and 95: Alswa seal {)e lardeu
itende of Jjan halie gast,
mid {)en halia gast itend.

with
the primary idea of the periphrasis
Together
5et bid
J)e
note, sometimes, a
we may be
that
more or
less
we
marked under-meaning, so
justified in ascribing to
it
an additional
character of futurity or ingression.
We
ent
get the futural meaning especially
tense
is
the pres-
by adverbs denoting time-length as
we
'lange', 'aefre'
thus
three sub-types, namely
find that the *aefre-type' falls into
one
durative,
one
iterative
and one
but in other cases also this meaning
futural-durative;
be,
when
defined
more or less distinctly, felt.

The inchoative or ingressive meaning
may
very seldom
predominant:
only secondary, the durative
idea being the primary and prevalent one.
To this general idea of duration or progression one
otherwise
might
is
add
implied,
'symble'
it
is
is
cases where qualified duration

the periphrasis is defined by 'aefre',
that, at least in
as
etc.
when
or
followed
by a
result-clause, but also in
others, even those implying actuality, the periphrasis

a
stronger inner stress to the verb than the indefinite
gives
forms, so much so that one may say that the definite ten-
many
ses have, in not a few cases, a

racter:
pronounced intensive chathey are more pregnant as opposed to the more
neutral simple forms.
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH.
II.
A.
Midland and Southern
Occurrence.
periphrasis
up
is,
In texts
Dialects.
belonging to these dialects the
to the 15th century, sparingly used.
the Dane (3000 short lines) has only one

case on record; and so too has Joseph of Arimathie, which
Havelok
is a rather short text.

Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight,
and the Early English Alliterative Poems, although both of
them fairly long texts, exhibit likewise one each. From
an investigation of Piers the Plowman, comprising Prologus
and Passus XII (about 200 pages),

have gathered 4
instances.
The extended tenses seem to be totally absent
from The English Works of Wyclif:
have gone through
about 73 of the volume, which counts 450 pages, without
I
being able to hunt out a single specimen. This, however,

is
not at all surprising if we take into consideration the
nature of the work: a collection of sermons or tracts in a
philosophical-religious vein, altogether lacking the vividness
of narration.
Sir Ferumbras has contributed about half a
dozen
instances,
which must
be* regarded as a comparatively
scanty number, considering the epic character and the not

inconsiderable size of the work. Also Chaucer must be
pronounced to make a rather limited use of the construcThe Canterbury Tales and the Troilus and Criseyde
tion:
35
PRESENT TENSE
some 30
together hold only
The same remark may

prologue and the first two
cases.
be applied to Gower (in the

books of his Confessio Amantis
have only found half a
dozen instances) and also to Lydgate, to judge from the
Temple of Glas with two or three: this last text, however,
I
is rather short.
Towards
the latter part of the 15th century the peri-
seems
phrasis
have got
to
more
used:
freely
George
Ashby's A Prisoner's Reflections, Active Policy of a Prince,

Dicta & opiniones diversorum philosophorum contain together
In the Generydes they amount to about a
16 examples.
:
Caxton's
dozen.
while
rence:
his
translations
show
uneven occur-
a very
and Eglantine abounds in

seldom
Blanchardyn
instances
of the periphrastic tenses, they are very
met with
in the
The Present Tense.
1.
(i)
Godeffroy of Boloyne.
Defined.
In
some cases
the tense
is
accompanied
by
time-distinctions, usually adverbs, either implying point
of
time ('now'), as
189,
in
Gaw. 2214;
766 and Caxt.
Fer.
Bl.
16, or else length of time: Ashby, Pr. R. 218 ('euer-
more'), P. Pr. 870 ('euer').

In
one or two cases the

as
clause,
function
of
in
the
Ch.
definition takes the
Troil. IV, 31,
periphrasis, and
where 'whyle' might
where
in
form of
actuality
Ashby,
Pr.
the
is
R.
220,
well suggest a durative meaning.
as
Examples.
Gaw.
2214.
Fer. 766.
For
ylde
now
me
is
gode Oawayn goande
her to Charlis kyng
J)at is
owar now lyuyng
J)e
\
rygt here,
beste knygt y-core

oI)er euere was her
be-fore.
Ch.
Troil. IV, 31.
Bifel that,
whan
that
Phebus shyning
is
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH (mIDLAND)
36
the brest of Hercules Lyoun,
Up-on
That Ector,
3 b,
o. Gl.
Lydg. T.
1.
14].
[p.
The
pleyne also vp-on Jelusye,

snake tortyvous.
vile serpent, the
That
&
so crabbit
is
frounynge of his ye,
euere grochynge & suspecyous,

Thus is he fryed in his owene gres,
And
1.
c,
[p.
14].
&
To-rent
And
owene
torn with his
euere froward
rage,
&
frounynge causeles,
Ashby, Pr. R. 218. Thynke that worldes welth and felycyte
Ys nat euermore in oone abydyng,
220.
But transitory ys prosperyte,
And no certeynte whyle thow art lyuyng.
Put no ful truste in the Comonalte,
P. Pr. 870.
Thai be euer wauering in variance,
The sayd kynge Alymodes is alwaye kepynge

before
her cyte of Tourmaday, & wasteth &
siege
al
the
about,
contrey
distroyeth
Caxt. Bl. 129,
12.
his
189,
16. this
ouer
all
daye
doo praye you
& commaunde
that
the best knyghtes that are now reynynge in the

worlde / ye woll socoure the comforte of my Joye,.
wyde
Remarks.
Ch.
Troil. IV, 31.
'Bifel tiiat
'shyning is
tlie time of day.
Ashby,
Pr.
'shall
Caxt.
Bl.
and
'.
Tlie
With
R. 218.
,'
'whan'-ciause
a suggestion
of
but
marl<s
futurity:
not always be abiding'.
129, 12.
Denotes both protracted duration
actuality;
we may
also note the occurrence
of the simple forms 'wasteth
seem
to
single
out
proceedings contained
pynge
as
in tlie past,
&
distroyeth',
something of the
which
different
in the
his siege', or they
comprehensive 'kemay be regarded more
a supplement to this expression, dispensing
with
the
periphrasis
mostly
clumsiness of language.
in
order to avoid
37
PRESENT TENSE
(ii)
Somewhat more
Undefined.
frequently the tense
occurs without special complements. It then expresses the

present actual, 'now' being understood, as in Piers PI.
Pass. VHI, 18; Fer. 2735; Ch. C. T. CI. T. 744; C. Y,
Gow.
67 and
Prol.
Caxt.
In
Bl.
215,
much emphasize an
rather
to
denote
whether as
Am.
C.
1804.
11,
17
the
periphrasis
moment:
actual
by
progression
does
not so
chief function
its
is
the idea of time,
itself,
a point or a length, being less
prominent and
only of a secondary importance.

This is decidedly the case in the following examples,
where the inherent progressive or durative nature

verbs has called the periphrasis into use:
2151; Rom.
in
and
II,
P. Pr. 751.
R.
1563; Ashby,
Sometimes the periphrastic present seems
meaning: Ashby, D & o 739 and Caxt.
rather
Bl.
vague
112, 24
192, 3.
In
PI.
of the
Gow. C. Am.
one case the tense has a
futural
meaning: Piers
Prol. 66.
Examples.
Piers Pi. Prol. 66. But holychirche and
The moste
wel
Pass. VIII, 18.
hij.
hoide better togideres.
mylsjchief on molde.
is
mountyng
faste.
Amonges
quod
vs,
{)e
Menours.
jat
man
is
And
dwellynge,
euere hath, as
hope, and euere shal
here-after.
Fer.
2735.
I)an
& loude hem

I)e sturne kyng
gan ascrye:
FalIeI) on hem |)ai b\x^ fleoyng we schulle|>
hem haue an hye.
cam Clarioun
Ch. C. T.
CI. T. 744.
My
peple
me
constreyneth for to take
Another wyf, and cryen day by day;
And
muche I wol yow

coming by the weye.
treweliche thus
My newe
wyf
is
seye,
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH (MIDLAND)
38
Ch. C. T. C. Y. Prol.
67.
That
seye,
al this
Til that
And pave
C.
Am.
II.
1804.
2151.
lord can swich subtilitee
to
Canterbury toun,
it up-so-doun,
of silver and of gold'.
clene turne
al
al
it
I
se no sped comende,
Ayein fortune compleignende
I am, as who seith,
everemo:
And thus forth he geth
Contorted of this evidence,
With the Romeins in his defence
Ayein the Greks that ben comende.
That
1379.
I,
And many
for
a fraude of fals conseil
Ther ben hangende upon

Lydg. T. o Gl. 3
1.
[p.
Ashby, P. Pr.
is
Abouten
R. 1563.
his Seil:
pleyne also vp-on lelusye,

The vile serpent, the snake tortyvous,
b,
That
Rom.
it
14].
so crabbit
is
&
frounynge of
his ye,
gras springing,
For moiste so thikke and wel lyking,

751.
Looke J)at your maters be with god standyng,
D &
o. 739.
If ye be to any man licencyng

To set his fote vpon youres areryng.
He wol after set his fote vppon your
Caxt. Bl. 112, 24. 'we holden on the crysten feyth,

yng in Ihesu cryste'
ground on which we been ryding.
we come
He coude
Gow.
my
192,
3.
&
as ye shall vnderstond by the historye,
nekke.
are byleu-
whiche
is
folowyng
215, 17. as phisicke
is
naught worth where the pacient
is
passing;
Remarks.
Rom.
R. 1563.
'Xou* entour point I'erbe menue,
Qui
The
vient por I'iaue espesse et drue'.
periphrasis
in
the
English version
to the progressive character of the verb.
the simple form

priate in this
Ashby,
D &
o.
would have been
is
due
In fact,
quite inappro-
connexion.
739. Micencyng'.
In the List of
Words
39
PAST TENSE
(by
an
as
given
Furnivall)
meaning
adjective,
judge of the
indeed
in several
as
in
this instance,
periphrasis
others from Ashby. This author seems to have
leave'.
'giving
great
do not
Bl.
feel
'are
have
not
form,
byleuyng'
with
to discuss.
the
periphrasis
might be
convey a meaning of duration or

suggesting a constancy of mind, which
intensity,
simple
upon
Here
to
employed
could
called
24.
112,
tenses:
a metrical point of view or not,
whether from
Caxt.
extended
the
for
predilection
to
difficult
is
It
the
been
but
chosen
is
simple
brought
may
it
form
about
by the
also be inferred that

of contrast
by way
mon-
'holden', to avoid
otony.
3,
192,
due
is
may be
conjectured that Ms folowyng'

if not
to a certain liveliness of conception,
to the progressive nature of the verb only.
The Past Tense.
2.
(i)
These
definitions.
instances,
or
length
of
('ay'),
P.
day'),
M,
T.
V,
2544
consist,
in
in
most
about
found with
cases,
half
number
the
of
time,
CI.
1
or adverbials, implying either point

or, occasionally, recurrence: Hav. 945
293
('allway'),
owre'), 96, 29
('{)enne'),
Ch. C. T.
89
Prol.
('al
the
('whylom'), Sh. T. 24 ('ever in oon'), Troil.
('ever-more'),
('thenne
is,
adverbs
of
A.
22
The tense
Defined.
3739
('yet'),
Gow.
C.
('still'),
Am.
Caxt.
127, 11 ('the
1645
II,
Bl.
same
Gen.
('ofte').
85,
tyme'),
('atte
God.
this
21, 17
yet').
about as many cases, the complement consists of

a clause, this especially towards the end of the period:
here, for the first time, we note the occurrence of the
In
40
LATE MEDDLE ENGLISH (mIDLAND)
periphrasis in clauses beginning with 'as', so characteristic

of Modern English: Per. 3611; Ch. C. T. Sq. T. 401; P.
10; Troil. II, 555; Gen. 5069 and 5662; Caxt. Bl.
17
and 101, 35; further 136, 6; 141, 7; 161, 31. Here
101,
the periphrastic past denotes actuality, as also in the other
Prol.
where the
cases,
definition
is
Rom.
clause:
Gen. 3746; Caxt. God. 51, 32.

Occasionally both adverbials
R.
1715;
and clause are to be
found, as in Caxt. Bl. 145, 2.
Examples.
Of
Hav. 945.
men was he mest meke,

Lauhwinde ay, and bli|)e
alle
A. P. CI. 293.
of speke;
J)enne in worlde watz a wyze wonyande on lyue,
Ful redy & ful rygtwys, & rewled hym fayre;
Piers PI. Pass. XI, 403.
Haddestowsuffred, heseyde.
J)Ow were,
sholdest haue knowen
s/e/7>'^
^)0
ôw
[)at
clergy can.
and conceiued more forugh resoun;

fus wyle was he on halle sittyngi with is puple atte
Fer. 2140.
mete,
Iian
com
per an he{)ene kyng
rydynge
atte
gete;
361 1
As he was pry kyng ouer an hul

him byful
A wykked
cas
J)er
wax al ateynte:
Embrouded was he, as
ys sted
it were a mede
whyte and rede.
Singinge he was, or floytinge, al the day
Kn. T. 507. And solitarie he was, and ever allone,
And wailling al the night, making his mone,
For he was yet in memorie and alyve,
1840.
Ch. C. T. Prol.
89.
AI
ful of fresshe floures,
And alway
M.
T.
1.
WHYLOM
crying after Emelye.
ther
was dwellinge
at
Oxenford
riche gnof, that gestes heeld to bord,

And of his craft he was a Carpenter.
With him
Sh. T. 24.
Amonges
ther
was dwellinge a povre
alle his gestes, grete
Ther was a monk, a
fair
man
scoler,
and smale,
and a bold,
PAST TENSE
I trowe of
thritty winter he wa^
That ever in oon was drawing to that place.
Amidde a tree fordrye, as whyt as chalk,

As Canacee was pleying in hir walk,
Ther sat a faucon over hir heed ful hye,
Ch. C, T. Sq. T. 401.
P. Prol. 10.
That with a pitous voys so gan to crye

Ther-with the mones exaltacioun,
I
Troil.
II,
mene
Libra,
alwey gan ascende,
As we were entringe at a thropes ende;

555.
It fel that 1 com roming al allone
Into his chaumbre,

as I was cominge,
V, 22.
Gow.
C.
AI sodeynly he lefte his compleyninge.

This Troilus, with-outen reed or lore,
As man that hath his loyes eek forlohe,
Was
Am.
Prol. 552.
waytinge on his lady ever-more

For evere whil thei deden wel,
Fortune was
And whan
hem
thei
debonaire.
deden the
contraire,
Fortune was contrariende.
II,
1645.
Rom.
R. 1715.
1477.
And as fortune wolde tho.

He was duellende at on
of tho.
Demetrius, which ofte aboute
Ridende was, stod that time oute,
The God
of Love, with
bowe
bent,
day set hadde his talent

To pursuen and to spyen me.
Was standing by a fige-tree.
And whan he sawe how that I
That
Gen. 1674.
He took an arowe ful sharply whet.

Whille he was stille in prisone a bideng,
3739.
thought was all on Clarionas;

were allway fightyng still opece
Ayenst Galad the kyng of Asirye;
So still opece he was ther abideng,
3746.
Vppon
his
2544.
ffor thei
a tyme the
In a
al
Ser luell
5069.
5662.
Was ware
And
as thei
And
ffuU sustely
as sche was
Of
hir
And
Sowdon was
alone.
garden was walkyng to and
fro,
therof anon,
were remevyng fro the place,

Sygrem callid lucydas,
comyng inward to his tent.
he was full gladde in his entente,
seid,
'mayde Mirabell, benedicite;
42

Caxt. Bl. 84, 30.
Euyn
atte
the
same oure
that the
two
vas-
be foughte / eche other / the proude mayden in

amours was lenyng at a wyndow, thorough whyche she
sawe pleynli the bataylle
selles
The doughter of Alymodes the kynge was atte

owre settynge byfore her pauillyon for to beholde {)e
batayll of |)e two champions.
Whan blanchardyn sawe the yong damoysell that
87, 20.
was there syttyng j he bowed hym self douneward vpon
85, 4.
this
hors
his
necke,
and toke the mayden by the myddes of
her body,
And that they sholde delyuere hym in his hande /

hym that it was he that had slayne Rubyon,
96, 29.
And
telle
his
byfore
brother,
Tourmaday, where
his
fader kynge
Alymodes was
yet kepyng the syege,

101, 17.
Ryght thus as the kynge was talkynge so wyth
blanchardyn / cam there a knyghte armed of al peces,
and alredy thou mayste see by me that they
101, 35.
be not
the
fer
And
127, 11.
her
from hens, for as
was commynge towarde
dyde fynde thyn enmyes byfore me,
herte
for
in
the
especyall
loue of
she
was sore discomfited
at
her frende blanchardyn, that
was
the same tyme wyth his felawe sadoyne sayllyng

vpon the see in grete gladnesse for the wynde & the see
that were peasible.
As she was thus talkyng wyth her maystres, and
136, 6.
that the vessayls beganne to com nyghe, and made redy
thynges to take lande, a south wynd rose vp sodanly,

he folowed daryus of so nyghe that he ouer re141, 7.
ched hym with his swerde, as he was fleyng at the right
all
syde of hym.
happed that one a day blanchardyn, Sadoyne,

wyff the fayer Beatrix, were sitiyng at the bord
takynge their recreacyon / The same tyme herde blanchardyn a voyce of a man that full pyteuosly lamented hym
145, 2.
and
It
his
self;
and noo playsure she coude taken in no thynge /

152, 19.
but was euer more sorowyng at the herte of her /
& as he was musyng vpon |)e werke, lokyng to
161, 31.
&
fro
out
at
see, he perceyued a right myghty nauey,

sadoyne, that was the same tyme lokyng
he
sawe the two oostes
a wyndowe
vpon the
193, 26.
Whan
gaf hymselfe gret meruayl.
43
PAST TENSE
Caxt. God. 21,
a parte of the muraylles whiche were thenne
17.
apperyng
yet
51, 32.
whan
pEter was goyng with the grete companye
cam
a messager
to
hym
rydyng,
Remarks.
The expression
Ch. C. T. Sh. T. 24.
Gow.
Am.
11,
logically,
C.
1477.
*tho'
definition
in
to
the
implies a habit.
first
clause
is,
The
'was duellende'.
emperor had many houses, between which he

spent his time.
1645.
*ofte
Ridende was' comprehends a
series of actualities.
Caxt.
Bl.
84, 30.
alterations,
This
several
example occurs, with

times in this work:
slight
it
is
sort of set pattern.
Undefined.
(ii)
attached
are
most
in
less,
actuality;
Ch. C.
45, 31,
to
When no
time-defining complements
is
the
periphrasis,
cases, a very well
this
T.
the
clearly
Kn. T. 560;
tense has none the
marked meaning,
viz.,
Oow.
where the periphrastic
C.
Am.
II,
1497; Caxt.
to
Sometimes, however, though not very often,

ing
is
BL
past, in indirect narration,
a present actual in the direct speech,

in
further
118, 21 and 119, 7; etc.
corresponds
of
seen, for instance, in Fer. 4657;
this
and
mean-
either very slightly perceptible or hardly admissible.
such cases one might rather speak of a certain idea of

duration, as in Gen. 1156 and Caxt. Bl. 62, 3; and also
In
in
ally
following examples, where the participle occasionassumes an adjectival meaning: Caxt. Bl. 56, 4; 150,.
the
20 and 152, 28.
44
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH (mIDLAND)
Examples.
Jos. 18.
Feole flowen for
fert.
out of heore cut)I)he
in-to
Augrippus lond. was heroudes
J)ere
monye lenginde weore.
eir,
forlet of
heore
oune.
Ys wyf was lyggynge on chylbedde For two

chyldren [)at sche |)o hedde
Fer. 4657.
Wy|)-inne per-on a kaue.

He fil in office with a chamberleyn,
The which that dwelling was with Emelye.
Ch. C. T. Kn. T. 560.
1097.
The
M.
4.
T.
Troil.
Ill,
statue of Venus, glorious for to see,

Was naked fleting in the large see,
With him ther was dwellinge a povre scoler,

So whan that she was in the closet leyd.
687.
alle hir wommen forth by ordenaunce

A-bedde weren, ther as I have seyd,
There was no more to skippen nor to traunce,
But boden go to bedde, with mischaunce.
If any wight was sieringe any-where,
And
And
Gow.
C.
Am.
I,
hem
late
slepe that a-bedde were.
The body, which was ded
2346.
For pure pite that
thei
ligende,
have
Under
II.
1497.
On
the grene thei begrave.

horse riden him ayein;
Till
it
befell,
upon a
plein
Thei sihen wher he was comende.
Gen.
1156.
4775.
And ther he was purposing to Abyde,

And ser Amelok Anon he ganne hym dresse,
Whiche with a knyght was playeng
Att
chesse.
Caxt.
Bl. 45, 31.
The man ansuered hym,
he sholde be lodged
proude pucelle
bre
in
And
that the
that
wyth grete payne

of armes of the
men
amours were comyng
in so grete
nom-
And many penoncelles, baners, and standardes that

wynde shok here and there, wherof the golde & the
56, 4.
the
vas glysteryng tyl vnto her eyen / bycause of the

bryght beines of the sonne that spred were vpon them.
Blanchardin, whiche was sore desyryng for to
62, 3.
proue hym self and shewe his strengthe and vertue

dyde putte hym self in the fore front,
And another of the capitayns had the charge
118, 21.
azure
4&
of the foure thousand archers, fote men / whiche yssued

oute at a posterne that was nyghe the see, & lepte anon
medowe where
in to the
the sayd bestes were fedyng
The fotemen thenne entred wythin the close

medowe, where the bestes were pasturyng,
Caxt. Bl. 119,
7.
ther
139,
24.
that
folowed
that
daryus,
were tenn thousand Cassydonyens

hym, and yssued out of the towne wyth
was rydyng before hem all vpon a right
myghty courser
But by
143, 31.
of
preeste
the
assembled anone,
the
comaundement
of Blanchardyn the
men that were dwellynge

and made redy many tubbys
crysten
there
nauey was apparelled & redy made, stored

garnyshed wyth good men of werre, & wyth artylarye
as was perteynyng to suche a thyng,
152, 28. and as she dyde cast alwayes her syght towai-d
the
20.
150,
&
/
the
she
see,
shippes
that
trowed to haue seen a grete nombre of

and cam
were appyeryng vpon the water
/
sayllynge
kynge Alymodes, that was in grete affraye to knowe

occasion wherfore they of the cyte were
suche
a
makynge
gladnesse, assembled his barons
161, 18.
the
cause and
God.
91, 12.
And sayde
Nycene / ffor to abyde

comyng on the waye /
they wold drawe them to
there the other Barons that
ward
were
Remarks.
Oen. 1156.
The periphrasis seems
pression
the
of
simple
to give the im-
a set purpose, so to speak,
form
would perhaps have
which
failed to
suggest.
Caxt.
Bl.
62,
3.
'desyryng'; with an under-meaning
of intensity, further enforced
3.
The Imperative and the
by
'sore'.
Infinitive.
These forms are strongly durative, very often implying

a frame of
mind or a
habit.
46
Example
(i)
D &
Ashby,
o. 715.
(ii)
Examples
Ch.
Troil.
of the Periphrastic Infinitive.
1138.
Ill,
your counsail be quick and ay wakyng.
In
But
for the love of
In thus
good
plyt, lat
Ben hanginge
Ashby, P. Pr. 285.
Do
youre
D &
689.
967.
1097.
o. 594.
sin
and
man
is
ye be brought
now non
in the hertes of
selfe
Truste to no
god
all
shall
hevy thought
tweye:
be obeying,
yow
execucion,
A kyng sholde be fyrst kepynge his lawe;

Al other must doo the same for his awe.
Showying theim semblance of love euery day,

Corogeng theim to be to you lovyng.
On erthe ther is no thing so vnsemyng
As a kynge to be in predacioiT,
Or by compulsion to be taking,
And who that to [un]nedy wolbe graunting.
Is not accepted as for man witty.
Remark.
Ch.
Troil.
Ill,
1138.
The
periphrasis
is,
take
it,
quite indispensable here: the simple form would
altogether
fail
to
convey the proper meaning.
Additional Remark.
The
participle
sometimes approaches
in
meaning
to
an adjective. In many cases it is nearly impossible to

draw any line of distinction between the verbal and the
adjectival character.
The
latter is
commonly
to
be inferred where the par-
a real adjective, or
juxtaposition
when the periphrasis is defined by adverbs of perpetuity,
namely, in expressions involving the idea of a frame of
ticiple
occurs
mind or
with
in
habit,
and also
in cases
where the
finite
verb

is
not
The following
expressed.
is
47
illustrative
very
example:
Lydg. T.
o. 01. 3 b, 1.
[p.
The
That
And
The French
pleyne also vp-on Jelusye,

snake tortjrvous,
\4].
vile serpent, the

is
participles in -aunt
verbal force and are to be looked

Caxt. Bl. 28, 12. the yron of
have quite
upon as pure
spere whiche
my
his ye,
suspecyous,
lost their
adjectives:
is full
sore tren-
*wel
the
syttynge'
of
the
following example,
a direct translation of the French *bien scant':
is
Caxt.
Bl.
14.
17,
vnto
goode & riche swerde, that longed

whiche afterward was to hym
ryght
the
kynge
wel syttynge,
I
&
was so dolaunt, & so replenyshed wyth sorow
170, 10. he
Also
and,
frounynge of
chaunt
which
&
so crabbit
euere grochynge
his fadre,
suppose, the *wei doand'
in
Rom.
R. 2707:
shal hir telle how they thee fand

Curteis and wys, and wel doand.
They
Northern Dialects.
B.
Occurrence.
In
comparison
Southern texts the Scottish works
with
the Midland and
exhibit, with
one or two
exceptions, a fairly considerable frequency, although rather

small as
In
in
compared
the
the
modern usage.
Barbour's Bruce
the five
first
Wallace.
we
have not a few examples: thus

to be found not less than
books there are
a score, and the

of
to
same number
Also
in
the
is
afforded by books
works
of
Lyndesay and
in
Complaynt of Scotlande the periphrasis has a compa-
ratively frequent occurrence.
48
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH (NORTHERN)

In
other
the Kingis Quair and in Dunbar's poems, on the
we
hand,
mer, which
note a more scanty use of
it:
in the for-
to be sure, only a small text (1400 short
is,
lines), only 4 instances are on record, and Dunbar's poems

(about 280 pages) have not furnished more than 12 in-
stances.
*
On
the whole, however, one
extended
tenses
England.
Also,
were more
in
in
'Lowland
held their ground

the present time:
safely say that the
may
in
vogue
Scotch', they
fairly well, as far as
to
Engl.
remarks
Kriiger
172): 'In schottischen
p.
II,
Scotland than
seem
to
in
have
frequency goes, up
(Schwierigk. des
Romanen
finde ich einen
Gebrauch der Form, z. B.

derartigen
am hearing you are a poor man. There's more than
I
could name, but it is
one eligible girl in Shawbridge
auffallend
starken
not
for
me
be choosing for him.
to
will
be hearing of
(The Mischief-Maker, by Leslie Keith, Times Weekly

Ed. Jan.-April 1898)'.
Alexander Bain, (Higher Engl. Gr. p. 187 a. f.), has
you?
some remarks
to the
same
effect:
When,
therefore, without
wishing to signify continuance or occupation,

a progressive
tense,
we
violate
The expressions, 'The master
the
we employ
best English usage.
is calling
you', 'he
is
speaking to you', ^were you ringing? 'I was supposing', 'he is

not intending' are Scotticisms for 'the master calls', 'he
speaks to you',
Murray, questioning the possibility of Celtic influence

on the Scottish dialects, ventures the following suggestion,
(The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland,

'Of grammatical changes,
which can be
^
the
either
in
inflection
p. 54):
or syntax,
attributed to Celtic influence, there are per-
Speaking about certain verbs, which by their nature avoid

such as: like, love, be fond of, hate, please, dislike,
periphrasis,
scorn, etc. (p. 171.)
PRESENT TENSE
haps no traces
in the
in the
modern
are rare, though they are probably to be

fondness for periphrastic verbal forms, such as
be gaan',
Ye'll
Even
literature.
these
dialects
seen
in Scottish
49
and a
certain
Vm
for
sayan',>>
indirectness
in
the
You
matter
will go,
say;
of tense, thus,
What was ye wantan'?> I was wantan' to see you just

for a minute,
etc., for <What do you want? I want to
see you.s'
1.
(i)
The Present Tense.

Defined.
It
either
expresses
actuality,
enforced
by the adverb 'now', as in Ly. Mon. 5354, and others, all

from the same author, or else, where the definition is an
adverb of perpetuity,
it has this function, as in K. Qu. 173

and
Du.
sen
Man,
('ay')
thy lyfe etc. 1 ('evir').
In one instance we have a futural meaning, namely
in Ly. Mon. 5502, where the adverbial 'in those dayis'
applies to the future.
Examples.
K. Qu. 173.
From day
to day so sore here artow drest,

That with thy flesche ay walking art
in
trouble,
And
Du.
Man, sen thy lyfe
sleping eke;
ay in weir,
deid is evir drawand neir,
[Man, sen thy lyfe etc. l.J.
is
And
Ly.
Mon.
5354.
Mony
prelatis ar
now
ryngand,
The
5502,
quhilkis no more dois vnderstand

Quho that bene leuand, in those dayis.
5890.
Father,
May
tell
quod
Quhare
Quhilk
I,
of terrabyll affrayis:
declare to me
sail
our Prelatis ordorit be,

in the warld leuand;
4
now bene
50
Now cumyng
Ly. Pap. 174,
ar,
said scho, the faitall houris;

now mon I thole the schouris.
Off bitter deth
now bene lansyng vpe
So, ge, that
353.
Tak
the ledder,
tent in tyme, fassinnyng gour fingaris faste.
Remark.
Ly.
Mon.
'bene leuand' might be rendered by:
5502.
who)
'(those
futural
shall
meaning
rather
chance to
live (then)'.
essential, the durative
is
weak, and
to
(ii)
same
element
be inferred
mainly
being
from the nature of the verb. There
instance of this
The
is
another
example in 5523.
Without definitions
Undefined.
denote the present actual,
in the
it is
employed to
same way as we have it
Modern
English, especially in the instances furnished

by Lyndesay and the Complaynt.
By virtue of the progressive sense of the verb it is
in
used
tion
in
B.
etc.
40,
these
Ill,
'ar
which
passivality
In
Br.
681 ('rynnand'), and
in
Du. The
peti-
spruning' ('are sticking out') denotes a

naturally accounts for the construction.
two cases Modern English would
likewise have
chosen the periphrasis.
Examples.
B. Br.
Ill,
25Q.
Tharfor men, that werrayand [ar],

Suld set thar etiyng euir-mar
To stand agayne thar fayis mycht,

Wmquhile with strenth, & quhile with
681.
That
is
ane He
And may
in[to] the Se;
weill in
mydwart be
Betuix kyntyr and Irland:

Quhar als gret stremys ar rynnand,
IV, 226.
For thai wat weill and wittirly,

That thai that weill ar liffand heir
Sail
wyn
the segis,
slycht
PAST TENSE
W. Wa.
Du.
Now
IV, 745.
My
beikis ar
haiff
51
man
lost the best
leiffand
is;
spruning he and bauld.

[The petition of the gray horse, auld Dunbar, 40.]
Ly.
Mon.
se nocht ellis bot troubyll infinyte:

Quharefor, my Sonne, I mak it to the kend,
This warld,
C.
4235.
The warld
The thondir
o. Sc. 60, 5.
&
So, be this compt,
5312.
is
wait,
drawand
slais
mony
ane man that

din dede, and his ene close;
quhen
slais
it
vs
of
mony
135, 16.
ar
drawand
is
may be
it
is
to ane end.
kend.
neir ane end:
beystis
on the
feildis;
sleipand, he sal be fun-
beggand our meit athourt the
cuntre,
Remarks.
B. Br.
Ill,
259.
werrayand
who
use
not
is
It
impossible that 'men, that
ought to be interpreted: 'men

But the
war', 'war-faring men'.
[ar]'
to
ordinary
(of actuality) is by no means excluded: 'when they are engaged in a war'.
'heir'
IV, 226.
might be regarded as a restricidea
tion
equivalent
to an adverb of time, denoting
actuality.
W. Wa.
Modern
IV, 745.
living' or 'the best
C.
o.
bad
when
man
that
from
is
now
man
best
living'.
an
exposition of
state of affairs in Scotland at the time
Sc. 135, 16.
the
This
'the
English:
the
is
Complaynt was
written.
The
peri-
present is here aptly chosen to give

heightened colour to the passage.
phrastic
2.
(i)
The Past Tense.

Defined.
The
adverbial expressions.
definitions
consist
These express
of
adverbs or
either point of time,
52
as
B.
in
Br.
964
('be this'), V,
or,
II,
ther
540
II,
W. Wa.
('then'),
('be that'), C.
IV,
469
o Sc. 76, 9
somewhat more seldom, length of time,

('ay'), and others where perpetuity is
B.
Br.
723
XIX,
('all
that
as in B. Br.
implied, fur-
Mon. 3542
Ly.
day'),
643
that tyme'),
('at
570
in
Cgeitt'),
('fourtye geris'), these being examples of limited duration.

The definition consists of a clause. Here the periphrasis serves to express actuality in almost all instances
found:
B. Br.
Ill,
237; Du. Of a Dance

ing
of
the
etc.
king,
50;
V, 89; 145;
quenis chalmer, 40; The
in the
which the periphrasis has

clause; further in C. o Sc.
In
W. Wa.
716; IV, 189; 632;
Ly.
its
9,
Mon. 764;
place in an
27 and 76,
number
wow-
1539, in all of
'as'-
or 'quhen'-
13.
examples an idea of
perhaps more prominent: B, Br. II, 167 and
rather
duration
is
Ly Mon.
1215.
limited
of
Examples.
B. Br.
167.
II,
Thusgat maid thai thar aquentance,

That neuir syne, for nakyn chance,
Departyt quhill thai lyffand war.
540.
Then war the wiffys thyrland

With pikkis, quhar the
the wall
[assaileours] all
and dystroyit the tour,

Bot worthy lames off dowglas
Ay trawailland* and besy was;
Entryt,
570.
For to purches the ladyis mete;

[trauellde he H.]
Ill,
716.
670.
on mony
He wes dredand for
Nocht-for-thi,
Quhen
thai the land
wes
wyss,
tresoun ay:
rycht ner hand,
And quhen Schippys war
IV, 189.
632.
A
And
sailand
ner,.
The Se wald ryss on sic maner,

And as in-to northumbirland,
He wes with his [gret] rowt Rydand,
Seiknes tuk him in the vay,
apon the land
as the king
53
PAST TENSE
Wes gangand
Till that his
vp and doun, bydand

menghe reddy war,
com rycht till

alsua doutand ay
His hostes
And he wes
B. Br. V, 34.
XIX, 723.
XX,
That his lord suld pass the se.

day caryand thai war
With
W. Wa.
men
cartis,
that slayne
IV, 469.
V, 89.
Be this the host approchand was full ner;

As thai war best arayand Butleris rout,
145.
Betuex parteys than Wallace ischit out;

Kerle beheld on to the bauld Heroun,
643.
237.
as he
Out
817.
%4.
1024.
was lukand doune,
wpwart him tuk that tide,

As he was thus walkand be him allayne
Apon Ern side, makand a pytuous mayne,
suttell straik
men
fra his
Haldyn he was
of
Wallace had a
sicht.
wer the worthiast man,

In north Ingland with thaim was leiffand than.
Be that Wallace was semland with the laiff.
The power than with Wallace wes cummand;
off
Thai entryt
Du.
thar.
dowglass
With few folk, that he passit wes
All the folk that wes chassand then.
geitt feill on fold was fechtand cruelly:
Schyr Jhone Butler,
war
fer chassit the lord
Vpon Fawdoun
thar.
All that
So
431.
hym
in,
Quhen scho was danceand bysselye,

Ane blast of wind soun
Quhen men
fra hir slippis:
[Of a Dance in the quenis chalmer, 40.J

dois fleit in joy maist far,
Sone cumis wo, or thay be war;
Ly.
Mon.
764.
Quhen carpand wer thir two mostcrowss,

The wolf he ombesett the houss,
[The wowing of the king, etc. 50.)
And quhen Adam wes slepand sounde,
He
1215.
1539.
3542.
tuke ane Rib furth of his syde,
Adam wes leueand,

The peple did obserue command;
And, quhen the Flude was decressand,
Thay wer left welteryng on the land.
And quhow that peple wandrand wes
So lang as
in wyldernes.
sauerne baris vytnes of his delegent vailgeantnes, that he maid contrar the iminent dan-
Fourtye geris
C. o Sc.
6,
16.
The toune
of
54
cummand on
vas
geir that
the realme of France, at that

infinit nummir of men of
tyme quhen ane multitude and
discendit fra the hicht of germanye.

ande quhen he aperit to be solitar, than he vas
speikand vitht hym self anent his auen byssynes,
veyr,
C. o. Sc.
9, 27.
the prudent quintus cincinatus, quha vas chosyn

be the senat to be dictatur of rome, at that samyn tyme
he vas arand the land vitht his auen hand at the pleuch.
for al iherusalem ande mekil of iuda vas put tyl
76, 9.
extreme desolatione. At that tyme, ane man of Israel
44, 2.
callit
matathias,
fine
thir
76, 13.
tione
or under certain circumstances {actualstated or in close connexion with the
at a certain time,
not
ity),
directly
periphrasis,
but,
definitions
rect
a rule, to be gathered from the con-
as
The case where
text.
in
actual,
when
is
this
past.
it
W. Wa.
The verb used here

worth
most independent
is
it
corresponds to the present

which we have some instan-
mentioning
verb under
is
104; V, 11; Ly.

'coming': by the bye,
Ill,
we
this
heading to only
may be mentioned:
377; Du. This nycht,
etc. 1;
Mon. 2025.
it
might be
have no less than 9 instances
that
As other good examples
phrasis
of such indi-
indirect narration, of
ces: B. Br. VI, 466;
of
The tense expresses what was going
Undefined.
(ii)
var soir vepand for the desolaThan matathias there
bredir
father said to them,
on
sittand on the hil of modin,
ande iherusalem.
iuda
of
vas
B. Br. XVIII,
Ly.
for the defined
of this function of the peri-
114;
Mon. 1531; C.
W. Wa.
Ill,
o. Sc. 70, 19.
in a few
progression
cases, no special point or length of time being thought
of: B. Br. I, 59 and 95, where the function of the exten-
Chiefly
or
implying
duration
ded form seems perhaps somewhat doubtful;

416 and
Ill,
43.
probably
also
in
B.
Br.
Ill,
further: IV,
728 and
W. Wa.
55
PAST TENSE
Examples.
B. Br.
I,
For thar mycht succed na female,

Qhill foundyn mycht by ony male
59.
[That were in lyne] ewyn descendand ;

This ordynance thaim thocht the best,
For at that tyme wes pess and rest
79.
Betwyx Scotland and Ingland bath;
And thai couth nocht persawe the skaith

That towart thaim wes apperand ;
Haid ge tane keip how
95.
at that
king
Alwayis, for-owtyn soiournyng,
Trawayllyt for to
And throw
Ill,
379.
wyn
senghory.
his
mycht till occupy

Landis, that war till him marcheand,
As walis was, and als Ireland;
The king saw how his folk wes stad,
And quhat anoyis that thai had;

And saw wynter wes cummand ner;
585.
war doand, knycht and knawe;

nane that euir disport mycht have
Fra steryng, and fra rowyng,
The thingis that thar fletand war
Thai tuk; and turnyt syne agayne,
For
all
Wes
630.
728.
Quhen
the folk, that thar
Saw menn
IV, 113.
416.
The
He
cry raiss hydwisly and hee,

thai, that
that schir
For to hunt
XII, 15.
dredand war
amer wes cumand
hym
out of the land,
With hund and horn,

And quhen the kyng wist
In haill battale
XVIII, 114.
at thai
cummand
His battale gert he weill aray.

For the laiff hass thair vayis tane
That
XIX, 661.
weir
so neir.
Till the erische kyngis, that
to de,
Rycht as bestis can rair and cry,

And quhen he tald had that tithing,
How
catell,
tuk a culter hat glowand.

That het wes in a fyre byrnand,
For
VI, 466.
wer,
in thar cuntre
Aryve in-to sic quantite,

Thai fled in hy, with thar
wonnand
Armys
off
And
in haill battale
with licht of the
ves thar,
war.
howand
litill
fyre.
56

That
wes byrnand schyre,

the luge a fox he saw,
Schir Richart had thre sonnys as I yow tald.
in the luge
In-till
W. Wa.
Ill,
43.
Adam,
Adam,
Bot
104.
thai rycht
Rychart, and
Symont
was growand
eldest,
sone raturnde
was
that
in
bald.
curage;
in agayne,
To Wallace tald that thai war cummand fast.

377.
Gret rowme he maid, his men war fechtand fast;
IV, 115. The schirreffis court was cumand to the toune.
And he as ane for Scot of most renoune.
V, 11. Wallace thaim tauld that new wer wes on
125.
The Inglismen was

Sternys, be than,
began
The day was donne, and prochand wes
This nycht in
my sleip
Me thocht
Me
wes
agast,
the Devill
wes tempand
that
that
1.]
as beis thik,
my
sleip,
etc.
101.]
him gour markis,

He turnis to me again, and barkis,
As he war wirriand ane hog:
schawe
to
[Of James
Quhen
speik
till
e heff a dangerouss
Dog
him
Dog!
etc. 5.]
freindlyk.
He barkis lyk ane midding tyk,

War chassand cattell through a
Madame, ge
Mon.
fast
aithis of crewaltie;
folk with wayis sle;
[This nycht in
Quhen
the nycht;
thai askit his consaill rycht.
[This nycht in my sleip, etc.

thocht the Devillis, als blak as pik,
Madame,
Ly.
net;
987.
Ay tempand
apper.
531.
SoUstand wer
toune cummande.
Als Kerle wyst, gyff Wallace leyffand war,

Fra tyme thai wyst that Wallace leiffand was,
415.
The peple with
til
The Inglismen was cummand wondyr
At Wallace
Du.
off the
for
heff a dangerouss
bog:
Dog!
[Of James Dog etc. 13.)

Bot with the branche scho did returne,
That Noye mycht cleirly vnderstand
That felloun Flude was decressand:
Bot Noye had gretast displesouris,
Behauldand the dede Creatouris,
1488.
1531.
Seyng thame ly vpone the landis,

And sum wer fleityng on the strandis:
57
PAST TENSE
Ly.
Mon.
1853.
fynd no man, in to that lande,

His tyrrannie that durste ganestande,
Bot Habraham, and Aram his brother:

That disobeyit 1 fynd none vther,
Quhilk dwelland war in that cuntre,
2025.
Quhen that the Babilonianis,

To gidther with the Caldianis,
Hard tell Kyng Nynus wes cumand.
3327.
And
Maid proclamationis throuch the land,

woman he wes cled,
With wemen counsalit and led;
And schamefullye he wes syitand,
With Spindle and with Rock spinnand.
as ane
C. o. Sc. 68, 18. sche vas in grite dout ande dreddour for
ane mair dolorus future ruuyne that vas operand to suc-
cumb
hyr haystylye,
The
70, 19.
halbert
sittand in
kepand
plat on
88, 2.
be
to
kyng
eldest
of
them vas
ane chair, beand
grite
his
granite,
syde on the cald
ane
in harnes, traland
The sycond
behynd hym,
clethd
of hyr sonnis vas
in
ane sydegoune,
hyr gongest sone vas lyand

eird,
alcibiades persauand that lacedemonia vas operand

superior of athenes, he said to the prouest of
darius,
Remarks.
B. Br.
I,
79.
meaning
'apperand' seems here to have the
same
as 'coming'.
'Marchen' means 'border upon'.

95.
The expression 'dredand war to de'
IV, 416.
strongly adjectival in meaning, and the whole
that-clause with its antecedent might be regarded
is
as a circumlocution for 'cowards'.

Ly.
Mon. 3327.
'wes
It
syttand'
appears
applies
sions; hence, 'he
C. o Sc. 68, 18.
from
the
context
that
to several different occa-
used to
sit'.
Cp. the remark to B.
Br.
I,
79.
58
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH
C. o Sc. 70, 19.

of
tion
88, 2.
The passage describes the situa'Dame Scotia's' meeting with her sons.
The occurrence of the periphrasis may
be accounted for by the general sense of proHere we

gression contained in the expression.
might also infer a slightly futural meaning: 'was

about to
'was going to '. Cp. also
',
B..Br.
I,
Examples
3.
79 and C.
o. Sc. 68,
Be amyable with humble
Du.
18.
And
face, as angellis
with a terrebil
tail
apperand,
be stangand as
edderis;
[Tua mariit
wemen
etc. 265.]
Turne to thy freynd, beleif nocht in thy fo,

Sen thow mon go, be grathing
[O Wreche, be war!
4.
to thy gait;
3.]
Examples of Cases where the
Participle
is
of
an Adjectival Nature:
B. Br.
Ill,
696.
And by the mole thai passyt gar,

And entryt sone in-to the rase,
Quhar
that the strem sa sturdy was,
That wawys wyd
[that]
brekand* war
Weltryt as hiliys her and thar.

I'bolning H.]
K.
Ly.
Qu.
161.
Mon.
And quhilum
223.
C. o. Sc. 34,
In hir chiere thus a lyte
Louring sche was;

Quhilkis bene to plesand Poetis conforting.
6.
al
thir
creat of, ar ouer
C.
elementis that this last varld
seuyn
abundand
is
vitht in oure affligit realme,
Survey.
The Midland and Southern

function of the definite tenses
is
Dialects.
The
to denote actuality.
chief
59
SURVEY
The point
of time
may be
diredly expressed, for the
present
tense, as a rule, by 'now'; for the past tense, by
various
adverbs
or
especially towards the
clause,
of
adverbials
end
time,
very
often
by a
of the period, the peri-
phrasis then usually occurring in an *as'-clause.

But even in the instances where no direct statements
are given, this idea
Some
time
is
felt
is
there
instances
are,
of (either as a point or as a length), the
thought
periphrasis then being
due
meaning of the
The definite tenses
gressive
duration,
enough in most cases.

indeed, where no special
strongly
to the inherent durative or pro-
verb.
are also used to denote qualified
this function is strongly
though
on the decrease:
now, almost exclusively, confined to the rather scanty

number of instances where the complements are adverbs
it
or
is
of time-length, either denoting perpetuity or
adverbials
limited duration.
Very seldom has the periphrasis any additional meanhave only found one instance where it has a proing:
nounced idea of futurity.
I
The verbs employed are mostly durative or progressive

by themselves: more than half the number of the instances met with have a verb of rest or motion, and of these
'dwelling'
and 'coming' are the most common.
The Northern
same here and do not

may,
Things are very much the

It
for many further comments.
Dialects.
call
be observed that the most
however,
common
verbs
are here 'coming' and 'living'.
Summing
to
assume
up: the definite tenses are
their
more and more

meaning,
i.
e,,
modern
functions.
now
Usage
beginning
is
getting
very seldom vague in

encroaching on the domains of the indefisettled:
they
are
60
nite
LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH

tenses;
in
fact,
one can
safely say that this
use
quite discarded in favour of the idea of actual duration
progression,
rather
more
and
the
cases
where the
is
and
participle partakes
of an adjectival character than of a verbal, are
likewise comparatively few in number.
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH.
III.
During this period also the periphrasis

sparingly used in comparison with recent
Occurrence.
seems
be
to
English.
impression may, to a certain degree, be due to
This
nature
the
style
of the
works
does not come
where the
investigated:
the periphrasis
in,
is
narrative
very seldom met
first 110 pages of Fisher's Works

have not gathered more than 4 instances, and the same
small number from the first 140 pages of Starkey's Enghave likewise read a large part of Ascham's works
land.
Thus from
with.
the
without finding more than half a dozen examples.

An exception from the texts of this category
ded by Latimer's sermons, where the construction

sented
in a fairly great
number
Some
of cases.
is
is
affor-
repre-
of these,
however, are stereotyped sermon-phrases or repeated quotations from the Bible.
The
plays, which,
on account
of their form, afford
no
wide
range
have
likewise only furnished a scanty amount of material.

holds good no less for the earlier than for the later
This
part
of
Doister,
the
and
the
especially the past,
tenses,
narrating
period, with the exception perhaps of Shake-
The
speare.
in
the
to
periphrasis
it
is
very
does not occur
rare
at all,
in
so
UdalPs Roister
far as
can find,
Ferrex and Porrex of Sackville and Norton.

Barring such a case as that quoted on p.
81,
The
62
contemporaries of Shakespeare
and Greene
Peele
Marlowe, and
are very sparing in
their
more
still
use of the
those plays of Marlowe which

have
amount
to
about
a
score.
gone through they only
Shakespeare has perhaps favoured the construction
extended tenses;
in
somewhat more than most of

the period; but still it must be
the authors belonging to

said that the difference
is
between the frequency in his works and in such as

belong to our days, a fact which is also remarked by Franz
great
(Sh.
Or.
be und
2nd
dem
Heidelberg 1909: p. 499, 622): *Von

partizip des prasens, der sogenannten proed.
coming), macht Sh. einen verhaltnismassig sparlichen gebrauch, sie kommt erst spater hauThe occurrence is, in his works,
figer zur verwendung'.
gressiven zeitform (he
is
somewhat uneven: thus the periphrasis is seldom met with

some of his plays, e. g. in Mids., Mu. Adoe, and Tw.
N.; in others it is somewhat more common, as in Me.
in
C, HamL, King
Wives, Jul.
L.,
Temp, and above
in
all
Taming, Cor. and Hy. VIII.
The Present Tense.
1.
Defined.
(i)
seldom
in
The
periphrasis
occurs
comparatively
the present tense with definitions.
These may
consist of adverbs, for the Pre-Shakespearean period chiefly
while
'ever',
cases
In
and
Shakespeare
has
'now'
in
a great
many
'still'.
not a few instances the time-defining element
lies
connection with another clause, as in Fisher, Works,

In
60, 23, where the periphrasis denotes limited duration.
the other cases it has rather the function of actuality, '[as
in the
for instance in Sh.
Temp.
II,
1,
228.
6Q
PRESENT TENSE
Examples.
Fisher,
Works, 60, 23. To whome we anfwere that yf a dogge

hauynge a grete ftone bounde aboute his necke be caft
downe from an hygh toure, he feleth no weyght of that
ftone as longe as he
Heyw.
is
fallynge downe,
Then tell me thys; are you

drynkynge?
Perfyt in drynkynge, as may be wysht by thynkynge.
Then, after your drynkynge, how fall ye to wynking?
Syr, after drynkynge, whyle the shot is tynkynge,
Some hedes be swymmyng, but myne wyll
be synkyng;
The Four
P's.
11,
I,
Pot.
perfyt in
Ped.
Pot.
Ped.
And, upon drynkynge, my eyse wil be

pynkynge;
For wynkynge to drynkynge is alway lynkynge.
Lat.
Serm.
PI. [Sk. Sp. 246, 296] he is euer appliynge his

busynes, ye shal neuer fynde hym idle, I warraunte you.
Sev. Serm. 112. for the deuyll, the greate maieftrate, is
verye busy nowe, he is euer doynge, he neuer ceafeth to

go about to make them like hymfelfe.
166.
One of her neyghbours mette her in the ftreate, and
fayed meftres whether go ye, Mary fayed she, I am goynge
to S. Tomas of Acres to the fermon, 1 coulde not flepe
al thys lafte nyght, and I am

fayled of a good nap there,
The
180.
fayethfull
goynge now
thether,
can not lacke, the vnfaythfull
neuer
is
euer
lackynge,
much
like as if I oughte another man .XX. M.

poundes, and fhulde paye it out of hande, or
elles go to the dungen of ludgate, and when I am goynge
to pryfon, one of my friendes fhould come, and afke,
191.
It
is
[thoufand]
Lyly,
whether goeth thys man?

77.
But alas Euphues, what truth can there be
found in a trauailer? what ftay [trust] in a ft[r]aunger?
whofe words and bodyes both watch but for a winde,
Anat.
whole
feete are euer fleeting,
78. the Mirlin ftriketh at the Partridge, the
peth at the
which
JWarl.
Ed.
II;
Fly,
are the
V,
1.
men
Eagle often fnap-
are alwayes laying baites for
weaker
women,
veffels:
For such outrageous passions cloy my soul,

the wings of rancour and disdain,
As with
Full often
To
plain
am
me to
I
soaring up to heaven.
the gods against
them both.
64
Marl.
Tamb.
2.
look to
5.
Ill,
hide his crown

Sh. Anth.
1,
Tamb.
now
ye see he
is a king:
are fighting^ lest he
as the foolish king of Persia did.
Well,
him, Theridamas,
when we
Hee's speaking now,

where's my Serpent of old
5, 29.
Or murmuring,
Nyle,
Ill,
(For so he cals me:)

He hath given his Empire
6, 73.
Up to Whore, who now ar levying

The Kings o'th'earth for Warre.
A Roman, by a Roman
IV, 15, 73.
Valiantly vanquish'd.
As,
Why we
Cor.
and
is
party,
are hearing a matter betweene

you chaunce to bee pinch'd with the
if
C.
Jul.
Ill,
1,
King
it
pat,
II,
1,
now
also.
now he
is
passm^
28.
Hee's
What
is
are going,
same Pulpit whereto
my
speech
is
am
going,
ended.
Have you not spoken
'gainst the
Duke
Cornewall?
camming
hither,
now
i'th'
night,
i'th'
haste,
Me. Wives,
III,
3, 28.
advantage: and
now
Mu. Adoe,
3,
II,
shee
is
beginning
Oth.
I,
1,
he gives her
going to
she's
130.
Leo.
folly
my
motion and
wife,
This sales shee
now when
to write to him,
Even now, now, very now, an old blacke
96.
Ram
Is
it
Caius,
shall unfold to thee, as
of
we
we
To whom it must be done.
And you shall speake
277.
L.
That must
Bru.
362.
1,
II,
After
do
of this world.
In the
Say his long trouble
VIII; IV, 2, 209.
my
might
praying,
Hy.
Mummers,
like
Now
Ham.
3, 80.
III.
Out
greasie.
you make faces
Collicke,
Haml
still
When you
74.
1,
II,
party
are
you know are
Pels
Spirit is going,
Instance, briefly: come, instance.

handling our Ewes, and their
Clo.
2, 51.
III,
Cor.
Now my
can no more.
Taming,
II,
1,
tupping your white Ewe.

402. That she shall have, besides an
Argosie
That
now
is
lying in Marcellus roade:
PRESENT TENSE
Sh. Taming, IV,
3,
198.
Pet.
You
4,
are
Bap. Not
be seven ere
shall
It
Locke what
65
I
go
to horse:
speake, or do, or thinke to doe.
still
crossing
it,
house Lucentio, for you know

Pitchers have eares, and I have manie
54.
my
in
servants,
Besides old Gremio
And
Temp.
harkning
happilie
Mir. Hevens thank
206.
2,
I,
is
we might be
pray you Sir,

For still 'tis beating in
reason
still,
interrupted.
you
And now
for't,
II,
your
For raysing this Sea-storme?

Ant. Noble Sebastian,
228.
1,
my minde;
Thou
thy fortune sleepe: die rather:

wink'st
let'st
Whiles thou
art
waking.
Remarks.
in
Note
Serm. 166.
Lat. Sev.
example, and also
this
in
191, the occurrence of the periphrastic tense
side
with
side
by
the
apparently being used

in which the clause
'there',
of
which
below:
in
both
present
is
in
is
simple form, the latter

cases parallel to those
introduced by 'here',
have given some examples
these
employed
in
instances
the
indefinite
questions beginning with
'whether'.
The expression 'when
191.
to
refers
supposed
am goynge
actuality,
and thus has a
slight suggestion of futurity.
Lyly, Anat. 78.
'are
alwayes laying
pare
Taming,
frequent
Marl.
Tamb.
we
IV,
3,
198.
The
'.
pression involves the idea of iteration.
ex-
Com-
This type
is
very
in recent English.
2.
Ill,
5.
The context shows
that
'when
are fighting' refers to the future.

5
66

Sh. Jul. C.
a
HI,
The
277.
1,
periphrasis here acts as
as
future-equivalent,
clearly seen
is
from the
defining clause.
Mu. Adoe, 11,

have found
1
of the
with
periphrasis
This
130.
3,
is
the
first
instance
Modern English use
verbs
of the
denoting the beginning
of an action.
Undefined.
(ii)
Apart from some few instances, from
where the periphrasis seems mostly

due to the nature of the verb, with no regard paid to any
ideas of time, namely in Fisher, Works 64, 12 and 93, 8
the
earliest
authors,
('abydynge') and further in Heyw. The Four P's I, 12,

where the participle is perhaps more an adjective than a
verb, one may say that the tense is employed in close con-
modern usage.
The most salient feature
formity with
is
the remarkably great
fre-
quency of the verbs 'coming' and 'going', especially the

former, the instances having one of these verbs amount-
more than
ing to rather
In
many
half of the
cases the meaning
is
whole number.
not quite that of actual
present, but has a shade of futurity to
As regards
'coming',
first,
it
it.
seems natural
to sup-
pose such a meaning when there are no indications as to

direction or point of arrival, in short,
way,
pression
in
gets
more
questions, as for
Taming
IV, 1,
On
where the ex-
and generalized, as especially

instance in Sh. Jul. C. Ill, 1, 316 and
abstract
18.
the other hand,
where the context furnishes the
periphrasis with certain complements, as in Ud. R. D. IV,
2 ('yonde'), Sh. Haml.

('hearke
you').
indicate that
^
This
we
King
II,
L.
I,
2,
3,
347
10
('hither'),
('I
Hy. V;
III,
heare him'), these
6,
84
may
have to do with the pure present ^
does not,
of
course,
exclude the idea that sometimes
67
PRESENT TENSE
As examples
Peele,
given
of the real present with 'going'
may be
Old Wive's T. 448: 2 and Sh. Taming
I,
2,
decidedly futural meaning Sh. King L. H, 4,

and
for
a use which might be pronounced to be the
326,
intermediate link between them both, Marl. Tamb. 1, V, 2.
for
165;
Here the
interval
between word and
act
is
all
but im-
perceptible.
Of
future
140: 2
noting
still
which Sweet terms the immediate
the construction
we
'
have two instances, namely Greene, Look.-Gl.
Me.
and Sh.
that
both
in
Wives,
IV,
3,
3.
It
is
worth
these cases the idea of motion
may
be attached to the verb 'going'.
Examples.
Works,
Fisher,
64,
The
12.
partes
of
my
fleffhe
wherin the
nouryffhynge of fleffhely volupty be refydent & abydynge,

are replete & fulfylled with mockes & fcornes.
Heuen
93, 8.
dent
aboue
is
abydynge,
Heyw. The Four P's. I,
Lat.
Sev.
vs,
wherin almyghty god
is
refy-
&
12.
For wyll or
skyll
what helpeth
it,
Where frowarde knaves be lackynge wit?

Serm. 78.
Wherefore we maye be luer yat God
bleffed
thys
whofe
ruler
Realme,
is
althoughe
vnder
chyld,
he curffed ye realme,
the officers be
whom
cUmbynge and glenynge, fturynge, Jcrachynge, and fcrapyng, and

go by walkes.
132.
What is nowe behinde? we be eatynge and drynckynge as they were in Noes tyme, and Mariynge I thyncke
We be buildynge, purcfiaas wyckedly as euer was.
of Goddes worde.
in
the
contempte
planting
chinge,
For when I am in presence

whether I speake, kepe silence,
sit, stand, or go, eate, drinke, be merie, or sad, be sowyng,
plaiyng, dauncing, or doing anie thing els, I must do it,
as it were, in soch weight, mesure and number.
Asch. Scholem.
[Sk. Sp. 305, 27].
either of father or mother,
makes the futural meaning more prominent, as, for

Macb. IV. 3, 215.
Compare 'here will I speak' and 'I am going to speak'.
the context
stance, in Sh.
^
in-
68

Ud.
D.
F^
M. Mery. Nowe
fomewhat
1.
Ill,
Which
fay thys againe:

to dooing
he hath
followeth the trace of one that
is
wowing,
men
But what two
IV, 2.
are
yonde camming hither-
warde?
Lyly, Alex.
1,
Aris.
3.
must be gone, the philosophers are
Here cometh Alexander.
Hephestion, that these philosophers are here

attending for us.
V, 4. Alex. But here cometh Apelles. Apelles, what piece
see,
work have you now
of
None
Apel.
coming.
Alex.
But
3.
1,
in
hand,
hand?
it
like
your majesty; but
devising a platform in my head.

Anat. 80. for you have given vnto
knot
me
am
a true loue[r]s
and you deeme that

might haue my coulours chaunge-
of chaungeable Silke,
wrought
am
deuifing how
able alfo.
Marl. Ed. II; IV, 6. Bald.
I
in
if
Spencer,
see our souls Rte fleeting
hence;
Faust.
Ill,
Good
4.
Frederick, see the
rooms be voided
straight,
Tamb.
1,
His majesty is coming to the hall;

V, 2. Pray for us, Bajazet; we are going.
How now, madam, what are you doing?

Olymp. Killing myself, as I have done my son,
Peele, Old Wive's T. 448: 2. Fan. Gammer, what is he?
Madge. O, this is one that is going to the
Ther.
2, 111, 4.
conjurer:
457:
My
1.
blood
Greene, Look.-Gl. 140: 2.

1
speak with him.
First Lord.
Adam.
is
my
pierc'd,
breath fleeting away,

is, and here will
Adam. This way he
Fellow, whither pressest thou?
press nobody,
sir;
am going
to speak with a
friend of mine.
Sh. Anth.
I,
3,
4.
Cleo.
Whose
I
See where he is.

with him, what he does:
did not send you.
Say
If
you finde him sad,
am dauncing:
What are the Brothers
I
Ill, 2, 2.
Agri.
parted?
Eno. They have dispatcht with Pompey, he is gone,
The
5,
other three are Sealing.

Eros. He's walking in the garden thus, and
16.
spumes
PRESENT TENSE
The rush
69
that lies before him.
Cries Foole
Lepidus,
And threats the throate of that his Officer,
That niurdred Pompey.
Sh. Anth. IV, 15. 27.

I
Ant. I am dying Egypt, dying; onely

heere importune death a-whiie, until!
Of many thousand kisses,

I
lay upon thy lippes.
Ant.
55.
the poore last
am dying Egypt, dying.

Give me some Wine, and
let
me
speake a
little.
V,
Dol.
392.
2,
Caesar, thy thoughts

their effects in this:
Touch
Thy
selfe art
camming
To
As,
Orl.
1,
I,
32,
Now
Oli.
Sir,
am
what make you heere?

make any thing.
not taught to
mar you then sir?
Nothing:
What
Oli.
am helping you to mar that which God

Marry sir,
a poore unworthy brother of yours with idlenesse.
109. Le Beu.
I
wil tell you the beginning: and if it
Orl.
see perform'd the dreaded Act which thou

to hinder.
So sought'st
made,
2,
please your Ladiships, you may see the end, for the best
is yet to doe, and heere where you are,
they are camming
to
You must if you stay heere, for heere is

the place appointed for the wrastling, and they are ready
to
performe it.
Le Beu.
138.
performe
it.
Yonder sure they are camming.

Cor. I, 3, 55. Val. How do you both? You
house-keepers. What are you sowing heere?
Cel.
HI, 2, 158.
Pray be content:
Carta.
Mother,

3, 6.
What,
are manifest
am gaing
to the
Market place:
Looke, I am gaing:
he come?
will
Enter an Edile.
Edile.
Bra.
Hee's camming.
How
IV, 6, 72.
Mes.
accompanied?
Enter
The Nobles
Messenger.
in great earnestnesse are
All to the Senate-house:
camming
That turnes
their
gaing
some newes
Countenances.
is
70
Sh. Cor. V,
Haml.
Ill,
O my
2, 72.
fire for
are they
2, 95.
Son! thou
art pre-
paring
comming to offer you Service.

Enter King, Queene, Polonius
Ham. They are comming to the Play:
be
my
Son,
us: looke thee, heere's water to quench it.

on the way, and hither
11, 2, 347. wee coated them
Get you a
Hy. V;
I,
But
297.
2,
must
idle.
place.
within the wil of God,
this lyes all
To whom
do appeale, and
Tel you the Dolphin,
in
whose name
am comming
on,
To venge me as may,
King. Or else what followes?
1
II,
4, 106.
Exc.
Bloody constraint:
for
if
you hide the
Crowne
in your hearts, there will he rake for it.
Therefore in fierce Tempest is he camming.
Even
In Thunder and in Earth-quake, like a Jove:

hearke
you, the King is comming, and I must
Ill,
speake with him from the Pridge.
6, 84.
Hy. VIII;
I,
Enter the King

Cham. Sweet Ladies
4, 31.
you
Place you
sit;
Sir
will
it
please
Harry
that side,
lie
take the charge of
this:
His Grace
II,
Vaux.
1, 124.
entring.
Prepare there.
The Duke
is
is
comming: See
the Barge be
ready;
4,
that
252.
The
committed
daringst Counsaile which
had
to
doubt,
did entreate your Highnes to this course,
And
Which you
IV, 2, 132.
V,
Grif.
Pati.
I,
81.
King.
To
4, 71.
Jul.
C.
Cham.
1,
2.
are running heere.

She is going Wench. Pray, pray.
Heaven comfort her.
What
say'st
thou?
Ha?
pray for her? What, is she crying out?

Mercy o'me: what a Multitude are heere?
They grow still too; from all Parts they are

comming,
As if we kept a Faire heere?
194.
Enter Caesar and his Traine.
Bru. The Games are done,
71
PRESENT TENSE
And
Caesar
Sh. Jul. C.
III.
3,
1,
/.
by,
Rome.
What
fCit.J
Whether
2. fCif.J
Cin.
21.
Cinna.
your name?
is
are
you going?
my name? Whether am
am going to Caesars
Directly
Glou. He hath bin out
35.
What
14.
is
King L. I, 1,
and away he shall againe. The King
Sennet. Enter King Lear,
2,
7.
returning.
Plucke Caska by the Sleeve,

Is thy Master comming?
316.
He lies to night within seven Leagues
Ser.
of
is
As they passe
Cassi.
135.
How now
Edg.
nine yeares,
comming.
is
Edmond, what
Brother
contemplation are you in?

Bast. 1 am thinking Brother of a prediction
other day, what should follow these Eclipses.
3,
When
10.
69.
4.
smell
him
326.
Glo.
Madam,
will not
heare him.
there's not a nose
and
serious
read this
he return es from hunting,
speake with him,

He's comming
Ste.
11,
going?
Funerall.
twenty, but can
among
that's stinking;
The King is in high rage.

Corn. Whether is he going?
He
Glo.
cals to Horse, but will
know not
whether.
III.
4.
1,
Kent.
know you: Where's
the King?
Contending with the fretfull Elements;

Bids the winde blow the Earth into the Sea,
Advice the Duke where you are going, to a most
Gent.
7,
12.
we are bound
Newes Madam,
festivate preparation:
IV, 4, 26.
Mes.
The
Cor.
Brittish
'Tis
to the like.
Powres are marching hitherward.
knowne
Our
before.
preparation
stands
In expectation of them.
L. L. L. IV, 3, 2.
Bero.
The King he
hunting the
is
Deare,
am
coursing my selfe.
They have pitcht a Toyle,
I
am
toyling in
a pytch, pitch that defiles;

Master, let me take you a button hole
V, 2, 770. Page.
lower: Do you not see
bat:
what meane you?
Pompey
is
uncasing for the com-
72

Sh. Macb.
I,
5,
The King comes here
Mess.
33.
Thou'rt
Lady.
mad
to say
to Night.
it.
So please you, it is true: our Thane

comming:
One of my fellowes had the speed of him;
Who almost dead for breath, had scarcely
more
Then would make up his .Message.
Mess.
is
75.
IV, 3, 215.
He
that's comming,
Must be provided
Now
for:
the time of helpe: your eye in
is
Scotland
Would
create Soldiours,
make our women
fight,
To
doffe their dire distresses.

Bee't their comfort
Male.
We
are
comming
thither:
Gracious England
hath
Lent us good Seyward, and ten thousand men,

Me. Wives, 111, 1. 25. Sim. Yonder he is comming, this
way. Sir Hugh.
M. Ford. Why (alas) whafs the matter?
3, 93.
M. Page. Your husband's comming hether (Woman) with
all
the Officers in Windsor,
M. Ford. Tis not so,

hope.
M. Page. Pray heaven it be not so, that you have such
a man heere: but 'tis most certaine your husband's comming, with halfe Windsor at his heeles,
But is my husband comming?
IV, 2, 83. Mist. Ford.
Mist. Page. 1 in good sadnesse is he, and talkes of the
1
basket too,
Bar.
3, 3.
horses:
the
Sir,
the
Duke
Germane
desires to have three of your
himselfe will be to
and they are going to meet him.

Thou coward,
Mids. Ill, 2, 430. Rob.
morrow
art
at Court,
thou bragging
to the stars,
Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
And
wilt not
come?
Snug. Masters, the Duke is comming from

the Temple, and there is two or three Lords & Ladies
IV,
2,
17.
more married:
Mu. Adoe, II, 1, 77. Leon. The revellers are entring
brother, make good roome. [All put on their masks.]
73
PRESENT TENSE
Enter Prince, Pedro,

48.
The Qenerall and his wife are talking of it,
And she speakes for you stoutly.
Taming, 1, 2, 165. Gre. And you are wel met, Signior
Sh. Oth.
1,
Ill,
Hortensio.
Trow you whither

Ill,
truchio's
Bap.
Is
Bap.
When
IV,
will
Cur.
18.
1,
is
am
going?
not newes to heard of Pe-
it
sir.
Bion.
he be heere?
Is my master and
his wife
comming
Grumio?
for he is comming
Enter Petruchio.
181.
Away, away,
Temp.
1,
II,
Ill,
2,
16.
157.
5,
II,
17.
strike.
it,
is
and
after
comming downe this

[Throws down a letter.]
Malvolio's
there:
[Exeunt.]
going away,
do our worke.
Mar. Get ye all three into the box
Lets follow
Tw. N.
hither.
Seb. Looke, hee's winding up the watch
By and by it will
Trin. The sound
of his wit.
no
What then?
He is comming.
Bap.
Why,
comming?
he come?
Why
Bion.
Bion.
37.
2,
tree:
walke,
lye thou
for heere comes / the
Trowt, that must be caught with tickling.
Exit
Enter Malvolio.
Ill,
But
4,
9.
Mar.
He's
in very strange
comming Madame:
He
manner.
is
sure possest
Madam.
Remarks.
The Four Fs.
Heyw.
I,
12. 'be
lackynge
wit',
'are
stupid'.
Note the alternating

occurrence of the simple and periphrastic forms
in this instance. There does not seem to
Asch. Scholem.
exist
Lyiy,
[Sk. Sp. 305, 27].
any tangible difference between them.

When pre4. 'here cometh '.
Alex. V,
ceded by 'here', 'there' or 'where', 'come', as a

Among
rule, does not take the periphrasis.
the
numerous examples
pick out a few:
74
Marl. Ed.
Leave
II; II, 1.
Greene, Look.-Gl. 137:
Marl.
Tamb.
V,
1,
burlaine,
come
master comes.
my young
are uttered
we
by Tamhave the
Exeunt Tamburlaine, Techelles,
The meaning
392.
2,
O, here
2.
directly after 'going'
stage-direction:
Sh. Anth. V,
1.
The words
2.
and
my lady comes.
See where she comes:
off this jesting, here
Peele, Dav. and Beths. 466:
now
yourself and
'You
is:
find that
have
is
per-
formed'.
As,
I,
One might
109.
2,
at first
be tempted to
as an example
regard 'comming to performe

of an immediate future with 'come', the expresif
sion
form
being on a par with 'going to perBut on a closer examination it will
thus
it'.
appear,
take
original
that the verb retains
it,
meaning, and
that
ered to act as an auxiliary.
V,
then,
going
Cor.
to
the
2,
158.
full
Compare
also Anth.
347.
'Come',
developed any parallel con-
had not yet
struction
Haml.
392 and
2,
its
cannot be consid-
it
II,
2,
nowadays very common
'be
to'.
Ill,
example: the
first
This
'I
am
is
very
going'
is
interesting
decidedly futu-
meaning (I have made up my mind to go

be
directly), the second 'I am going' may either
ral
in
regarded
as
anticipated
actuality
actuality,
('Looi<e
in
this
short interval between the
ance and the
actual

case
moment
departing.
')
or as an
with a very
of the utter-
That such an
however slightly felt, is shown

by the words which follow: 'commend me to
my wife', which, of course, must be spoken
interval
exists,
just before parting.
75
PRESENT TENSE
Sh. Cor.
6.
3,
Ill,
taking into consideration that
If,
'coming' often implies an anticipation, we suppose

person in question had not yet actually
started, but was only just about to, one is led
that the
conclude
to
that
speaker
use
pression
of
opposed
to the
come?'
do
to
the
a
with
sure futurity as
vague and uncertain 'will
such
In
and
near
more
the
tense to give the im-
definite
very
made
has
Shakespeare
we
case
have, then,
sharpening, admirably brought

about by the periphrasis, of the futural meaning
lying in the question.
note
meaning
much
*he
actuality:
that
in
In
extended tense
the
ever,
case,
in
of
'will
is
all
is
probability,
here
already on
how-
used to de-
his way',
and
the gap between the

come' and Ms coming' is
course,
wider.
Tw. N.
Ill,
4,
After
9.
one or two speeches:
Enter [Maria, with] Malvolio.
The Past Tense.
2.
Defined.
(i)
Only
one instance
in
is
the definition
an adverb, namely in Sh. Hy. VIII; III, 2, 182, where 'now'

denotes what had recently taken place. In Sh. Macb. II,
3,
25 the periphrasis
is
defined by an adverbial, marking
up to a special time, and in two more examples

have likewise adverbials, namely in Lat. Sev. Serm. 127
('In the tyme of Noe') and Sh. Oth. IV, 1, 150 ('the other
day'), but it may be questioned whether it is not rather
duration
we
the
following
use
in these
The
defined
clause
that
has
two cases than
called the periphrasis into
the adverbials.
great bulk of the instances
by another clause; especially
show
it
the periphrasis
occurs
in
clauses
76
introduced
was
by
taking
'when',
*as',
place,
or
'whilest'
when something
this idea
else
to denote
happened
what
(simul-
very seldom, further sharp-
is, though
ened by such an adverb as 'yet': Lyly, Anat. 52 and
taneousness);
71.
Examples.
Hawes, Passet. of
PI.
XXXIII,
ISk. Sp. 122.]
16.
And
was
as he
his stroke discharginge,
from hym full quickly,

For as I was goynge to hys Sermon, I remembred me that I had neither fayed maffe, nor mattens.
In the tyme of Noe, they were eatynge and drynk127.
ynge, buyldynge planiynge and fodaynely the water came
lept asyde
Lat. Sev.
Serm. 108.
vpon them, and drowned them:

In the tyme of Lothe alfo, they weare eatynge and drynkynge. etc. And fodenlye the fyre came vpon them, and
And nowe we
are eatynge and drinkynge.

fcarcher in londgn, which executynge
difpleafed a marchaunt man, in fo much that
deuoured them.
Ther was
152.
his
office
when he was doinge

Sp. F. Q. VI,
3, 25.
The
his office, they
Where, as
2, 9.
chaunst to
wood was bearing

when Calidore,
Into the
Him
5, 35.
And
wordes,
it,
her apace
overtooke
therein he likewise
Whenas
at
Beast,
were
day I was enraunging

meete this Knight
this
was praying now,
these Knights arriv'd,

into the chamber came
6, 30.
At
6, 37.
his Love was sitting all alone,

There whilest he thus was setting things above,
7,
10, 39.
23.
he up
Whereas
last
He gan bethinke him

Thus whylest they were debating diverslie,
The Salvage forth out of the wood issew'd
It fortuned one day, when Calidore
Was fiunting in the woods, as was his trade,
lawlesse people,
The dwelling
of these shepheards did invade;
PAST TENSE
Who
Sp. F, Q. VI, 12, 15.
Was
77
morning, when
in a
(lighting her,
this
Maiden
faire
Chaunst to espy upon her yvory chest

The rosie marke,
As The was yet talking, fupper was let on the
Lyly,
Anat. 52.
bord, then Philautus [pake thus vnto Lucilla.

71.
But whileft he was yet fpeakinge, Ferardo entered,
whome
82.
duetifully welcommed home,

wer thus pleafauntly conferring
all
they
As
they
one
the
with the other, Liuia (

) entered into the Parlour,
Marl. Ed. II; V, 4. Sol. He would have taken the king away
perforce.
As we were bringing him to Killingworth.

Faust. IV, 6. Cart. I'll tell you how he served me: as
was going to Wittenberg t'other day - he met me
was coming alongst the
Greene, Look.-Ol. 141: 1. Sir, as
I
port-royal of Niniveh, there appeared to me a great devil,

Sh. As, III, 2, 279. Jaq. By my troth, I was seeking for a
Foole,
when
found you.
Ophe. My Lord, as
I was
sowing in my
Camber,
Lord Hamlet
he comes before me.

Hy. V; V, 2, 229. Now beshrew my Fathers Ambition,
hee was thinking of Civill Warres when hee got me,
Haml.
II,
1,
86.
Hy. VIII;
III,
2,
King. Good my Lord,

of Heavenly stuffe, and beare
182.
You
are
full
the Inventory
Macb.
I,
7,
Of your best Graces, in your minde; the

which
You were now running o're:
65.
would, while it was smyling in my Face,
Have pluckt my Nipple from his Bonelesse
I
Gummes,
II,
3, 25.
Macd. Was
it
so
late, friend,
ere
you went
to Bed,
That you doe

Port.
lye so late?
Faith Sir,
we were carowsing
till
the
second Cock:
IV, 3, 148.
What
Is thine,
and
am truly
my poore Countries to command:
I
Whither indeed, before they heere approach

Old Sey ward with ten thousand warlike men
78
Already
Now
Sh.
betweene the
mes
the Bauble,
and threw the sops all in ihe Sex2, 169.

having no other reason, but that his beard
grew thinne and hungerly, and seem'd to aske him sops
as hee was drinking:
Taming,
tons
3,
Jul.
With the exceptions
where 'floryschyng'
than
adjectival
C.
III,
face:
Undefined.
887,
more
sheete.
Oth. IV, 1, 150. Cassio. She was heere even now: she
haunts me in every place. I was the other day talking
on the Seabanke with certaine Venetians, and thither co-
I,
setting foorth:
Mu. Adoe, II, 3, 136. Leon. O when she had writ it, &
was reading it over, she found Benedicke and Beatrice
(ii)
was
at a point,
wee'l together,
22,
2,
Ill,
is
to
verbal, Sp. F.
of Starkey, Engl.
be regarded as rather
Q. VI, 12, 3, and Sh.
where the periphrasis
is
chiefly
the character of the verb, the undefined tense
is
due
to
used, just
as in recent English, to mark the state of things at a certain time or
under certain circumstances, these being
cated in the context in a
more or
less direct
way.
indi-
We
here several interesting examples where the periphrasis is chosen in order to depict, in a lively way, a given
situation, even in the works from the earlier part of the
find
period,
as
in
IIQ;
Asch.
Mag.
Ind. 3.
Heyw. The Four
Scholem.
I;
Tox.
P's.
I,
157,
18;
Serm.
Lat. Sev.
and Sackv.
Mirr. for
Examples.
Starkey, Engl.
I,
3,
887.
when
thys land
was more floryschyng
then hyt ys now.
Heyw. The Four
P's.
I,
18.
never sawe devylls so well
appoynted.
The master devyll sat
And
Lat.
Sev. Serm. 119.
in his jacket;
the soules were playinge at racket.

and there was fyr Roberte Cunftable, the
all
Lorde Huffye, the Lord
Darfy.
And
the Lorde Darfye,
PAST TENSE
79
was tellynge me of the fayethfuU

done the kynges maieftye
Lat. Sev.
Serm. 183.
fines,
For ludas the twelfte was a boute his buhe was occupied aboute his marchaundife, and was
prouydyng among the bylhoppes and

Asch.
hadde
feruice that he
preiftes,
Hir parentes, the Duke and

the Duches, with all the houshould, Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, were huntinge in the Parke: I founde her in her
Chamber, readinge Phaedon Platonis
Tox. 26. kept my mynde fo occupied, that it had no
Scholem.
I.
[Sk. Sp. 305.]
leilure to loke to
my
For
feete.
was reding howe fome
foules being well fethered, flewe alwayes about heauen

145.
Some make a face with writhing theyr mouthe and
countenaunce
what:
157.
The
as
fo,
though they were doyng you wotte
on
feeldes
bothe
fides
almoft yearde depe with fnowe,

fun fhone bright and clere, the
Sackv.
a lofte,
Mirr. for
Mag.
Ind. 3.
were playne and laye

That morning the
winde was whiftelinge
[Sk. Sp. 284.]
Hawthorne had
lost his
motley lyverye,
The naked twigges were shivering
for
all
colde:
Sp. F. Q. VI, 12,
And had endured many
3.
In
bloudy
The
Sh.
Haml.
II,
2,
battell for a
a dreadfull stoure
Ladie deare,
fayrest Ladie then of all that living
were
Sword
Which was declining on the Milkie head
Of Reverend Priam, seem'd i' th' Ayre to
For
501.
loe, his
sticke:
Hy. VIII;
II,
3, 64.
The
L. Cham.
Good morrow
what wer't worth to know
Ladies;
secret of your conference?
An.
My good Lord,
Not your demand; it values not your asking:
Our Mistris Sorrowes we were pitfying.
C. Ill, 2, 22.
Had you rather Caesar were
and dye i\\ Slaves; then that Caesar were dead,
all Free-men?
Jul.
living,
to live
King L. I, 2, 32. Glou. Why so earnestly seeke you

put up that Letter?
Bast. I know no newes, my Lord.
Glou. What Paper were you reading?
I
told him of the Army that was Landed:
IV, 2, 6.
to
80
He
smil'd at
it.
told
him you were
comming,
Sh.
His answer was, the worse.

Mis Ford. Mistris Page,
1, 29.
Me. Wives, II,

was going to your house.
Page. And
looke very ill.
Oth. Ill, 4. 172.
Mis.
trust
me,
was comming
me,
trust
to you:
you
Beshrew me much, >tmilia,

was (unhandsome Warrior, as am)
I
Arraigning his unkindnesse with my soule:

But now I finde, had suborn'd the Witnesse,
1
193.
And he's Indited falsely.

Cassio. What make you from home?
How
with you,
is't
my
Indeed (sweet Love)
most faire Bianca?

was comming to your
house.
Bian.
Temp.
II,
at the
Gon.
96.
1,
garments seeme
3.
And
was going
to your Lodging,
Cassio.
now
Sir,
we were talking,
when we were
as fresh as
that
our
at Tunis
marriage of your daughter,
of the Periphrastic Infinitive.
Examples
Heyw. The Four
P's.
I,
22.
But,
where ye dout, the truthe nat
knowynge,
Lat.
Belevynge the beste, good may be growynge.

In judgynge the beste, no harme at the leste;
In judgynge the worste, no good at the beste.
Serm, PI. ;Sk. Sp. 239.] Therfore preache and teach and
let your ploughe be doynge;
let your plough therfore be going & not cease, that the ground maye brynge
foorth fruite.
muste
4.
styll
The Adjectival Meaning.
Represented
ever,
muste the prelates and ministers

the fedinge of the soule: boeth the ploughes
be doynge, as mooste necessarye for man.
[Sk. Sp. 242.] so diligently
labour for
occurring
in
in
not a few cases, most of them,
Shakespeare,
how-
and thus the frequency
ADJECTIVAL MEANING
81
might partly be attributed to the comparatively considerable

mass of material collected from this author.
The most notable

'living'
ring'.
(in
sense
the
are 'wavering' (fickle, inconstant),
of alive),
and
'loving', 'fitting'
Note also the curious instance of a
'stir-
participle in
-ant (Lat. Serm. PI. Sk. Sp. 241).
Examples.
PI.
I
knowe them, and haue bene
[Sk. Sp. 241.]
conuersant wyth some of them.
Ud. R. D. II, 1. Yea and extempore will he dities compofe,
Foolifhe Marlias nere made the like I
Lat.
Serm.
suppofe,
Yet muft
As
we
fing them, as
vndertake,
for fuch a pen
man
is
good
ftuffe
well fittyng to
make.
Sackv.
&
Nort. Ferr. and Porr. V,
So giddy are the
1.
common
people's mindes,
So glad of chaunge, more wavering than

the sea.
he finde thee wanton before thou be wofojed,

he wil geffe thou wilt be wauering when thou art wed-
Lyly, Anat. 59.
if
ded.
Marl. Ed.
II;
II,
Spen. Our lady's
Y.
1.
first
love
is
not
wavering;
My
Sh. Cor.
II,
3, 216.
life
Brut.
for thine she will have Gaveston.
Did you
perceive.
He did sollicite you in free Contempt,

When he did need your Loves: and doe you
thinke,
That
his
When
Haml.
Fran.
2, 149.
I,
1,
14.
Contempt
shall
not be brusing to
you.
he hath
Barn.
power to crush?
Have you had quiet Guard?
Not a Mouse stirring.

So excellent a King,
that
was
to this
Hiperion to a Satyre: so loving to my Mother,

That he might not beteene the windes of
heaven
Visit her face too roughly.
82
Camp. Put your maine cause into the

Kings protection,
Hee's loving and most gracious.
Macb. II, 3, 45. Macd. Is thy Master stirring?
Our knocking ha's awak'd him: here he comes.
Sh. Hy. VIII;
1,
III,
109.
Good morrow, Noble Sir.

Macb. Good morrow both.
Macd. Is the King stirring, worthy Thane?
Macb. Not yet.
Me. Wives, III, 1, 14. Evan. 'Plesse my soule: how
of Chollors I am, and trempling of minde:
Lenox.
Oth.
full
26.
Cassio. Prythee keepe up thy Quillets,
poor peece of Gold for thee: if the Gentlewoman that attends the Generall be stirring, tell her
Clo. She is stirring sir: if she will stirre hither, I shall
seeme to notifie unto her.
Temp.
2,
II,
Do
Ant.
1,
Ill,
ther's
115.
1,
220.
Seb.
What?
art
thou waking?
you not heare me speake?"

Tri. I tooke him to be kil'd
with
but art thou not dround Stephano:
strok;
a thunder-
And
art
thou living Stephano?
The Periphrasis
5.
Expressing a Subjective
Feeling.
some
In
period,
we
cases, especially
from the
latter part of
the
find the periphrasis used to suggest a subjective
on the
sometimes implying a
certain softening of the expression, but sometimes also
conveying a meaning of quite an opposite nature. In
feeling
all
part of the speaker,
cases the essential function
is
to
throw
in
a degree of
personal interest, which could not have manifested

the indefinite tenses on account of their
more
itself in
neutral
and
matter-of-fact character.
Examples.
Lat.
on the hollye day, they can not

to come to the Temple, to the
fynde
blefled communion, they must be working at home.
Sev.
Serm. 179.
in
their
Yea,
hertes
83
SUBJECTIVE USE
I
will omitte that, and feing that we had both
rather be talking with them, then tailing of them, we will
immediately goe to them.
Lyly, Anat. 68.
Marl. Ed.
II;
Rice.
IV, 6.
My
lord,
be going; care not for
these,
Sh. As, IV,

Orl.
Am
87.
1,
I
not
some
take
your Rosalind?
joy to say you are, because
would be
talking of her.
Cor. 11, 1, 87.
the wagging of your

It
is not woorth
so honourable a grave,
not
deserve
and
Beards
Beards,
your
as to stuff e a Botchers Cushion, or to be intomb'd in an
Asses Packe-saddle; yet you must bee saying, Martins is
proud: who in cheape estimation, is worth all your predecessors,
Hy. Vlll; V,
Ore. Saving your tale Petruchio, I

II,
1, 78,
us that are poore petitioners speake too? Bacare,
you are mervaylous forward.
Pet. Oh, Pardon me signior Gremio, I would faine be
Taming,
pray
let
doing.
Gre. I doubt
He scratch your heads; you must be

you looke for Ale, and Cakes
11.
4,
seeing Christenings? Do
heere, you rude Raskalls?
Ill,
2, 207.
it
not
sir.
But you will curse
Your wooing neighbors:

Kate. Nay then,
Doe what thou canst, will not goe
I
to day,
morrow, not till I please my selfe,

The dore is open sir, there lies your way,
You may be jogging whiles your bootes are
No, nor
to
greene:
V,
1,
Carrie
92.
Baptista,
this
mad knave
to
charge you see that hee be
the Jaile:
/
/
forth
father
camming.
Remarks.
Lat. Sev.
Serm. 179.
indignation
'must
work'
'must
be
working'
expresses
disapproval. The simple form

would mean a bare and objective
and
statement that such a necessity really existed.

Compare the similar instances of Sh. Cor.
1,
87 and Hy. Vill; V,
4,
11.
II,
84
Lyly,
The
Anat. 68.
the
to
in
occupation
element
durative
periphrasis seems
lying
and not
itself,
its
the interest of the persons in question.
pare
Sh.
also
serves
As,
in
the
be introduced to show that

results, is
Com-
where the periphrasis

make the wish more modestly
IV,
to
1,
87,
expressed.
Marl. Ed.
The extended tense is certainly

make the demand more polite;
simple form 'go' would be too abrupt in its
II;
chosen
the
IV, 6.
here
shortness.
length
for
will
that
to
But that
it
produces
seen from
be
gone', which
is
not
not mainly the greater

the impression sought
is
comparison with 'be

shorter but sounds
much
decidedly curt and harsh: evidently the chief

thing is the idea of gradual progression lying in
the periphrasis.
Compare the interesting in-
stance
in
periphrasis
Sh.
is
Taming, III, 2, 207, where the

used by way of irony.
THE COMPOUND TENSES.
IV.
The Perfect and the Pluperfect.
1.
do not occur
These tenses
Ihe
earlier part of the
in
Old English, nor
in
subsequent period.
Later on, they creep slowly into existence
even as
Shakespeare they are strikingly scarce; but they are
late as
now employed
(i)
frequently enough.
When
Defined.
or the context,
defined,
express
they
more seldom, actuality.

The former category
is
by adverbs, adverbials,
either qualified duration or,
represented by Sh. Hy. VIII;
where perpetuity is implied, and further

by Ch. C. T. Kn. T. 69 Cal this fourtenight'), Asch. Tox.
82 Clonge'), Sp. F. Q. VI, 7, 38 ('two whole yeares'), Sh.
Hy. Vni; II, 3, 101 ('sixteene yeares'). Milt P. L. 11, 933
HI, 2,
226
('ever'),
135 ('who knows how long Before'),

Pep. 68 [62-63] ('long'). Bun. Pilgr. 124, 7 ('this twenty
years'), Congr. Bach. 1, 1 ('all the morning'), Def. Rob.
<*to
this
194
('a
<'long')
IX,
hour'),
Fortnight'),
and
S.
St.
Mont.
J.
302
Ill,
('all
71
('long'),
Joh. Rass. 50
this while'),
which
all
are
more or
less
examples of limited duration.
The
latter
category, actuality, comprises,
decidedly, Congr.
221 and Mont.

In Def.
Ill,
W. W.
I,
2; Spect.
39 [Add.]; Def. Rob.
179.
Rob. 112
'often'
marks an
iterated occupation.
THE COMPOUND TENSES
86
Examples.
And certes, lord, to abyden your presence,
Here in the temple of the goddesse Clemence
We han ben waytinge al this fourtenight;
Ch. C. T. Kn. T. 69.
Asch. Tox. 82.
them
am
werie to talke of
them, and partlye bycaufe
hate
am
even as it were a man that had
bene longe wanderyng in ftraunge contries and would
fayne be at home
Q. VI, 7, 38. So now she had bene wandring two whole
I
Sp. F.
But as for the Turkes
partlye becaufe
now affectioned
yeares
Yet had she not

Saved but two;
Sh. Hy. VIII;
2,
this
it
is:
two yeares space
See, see,
have beene begging sixteene yeares
(Am
Ill,
Why
101.
3,
II,
in all these
226.
yet a Courtier beggerly)
in
Court
Can nothing render but
Allegiant thankes,
Prayres to heaven for you; my Loyaltie
Which ever ha's, and ever shall be growing,
My
Till
Milt. P. L.
II,
933.
death (that Winter)
kill
it.
Fluttering his pennons vain,
plumb-down
he drops
Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour
Down had been falling, had not, by ill
chance.
The strong
To me
IX, 135.
Pep. 68 [62
63].
rebuff
be the glory sole among

The Infernal Powers, in one day to have
marred
What he. Almighty styled, six nights and days
Continued making, and who knows how long
Before had been contriving?
I have long been building, and
my house to
shall
my great content is now almost done.

Bun. Pilgr. 124, 7. When I was at home in mine own Country
I
heard as you now affirm, and, from that hearing went
out to see, and have been seeking this City this twenty
years: but find no more of it, than 1 did the first day I
set out.
Congr. Bach.
I,
1.
What
fine lady hast thou
been putting out
87
PERFECT TENSES
conceit with herself, and persuading that the face she
of
had been making all the morning was none of her own?
Congr. W. W. I, 2. Mean! why he would slip you out of
this chocolate-house, just when you had been talking
to him as soon as your back was turned whip he
was gone!
have been walking in his fields I have
Spect. 39 [Add.]. As
I
observed them stealing a sight of me over an hedge,

Def. Rob. 112. I had a great mind to bring it Home if I could;
for I had often been musing, Whether it might not be
possible to get a Kid or two,
I
gave him a Cake of my Bread, and he eat it like
ravenous Wolf, that had been starving a Fortnight in
194.
Snow:
the
After this I had been telling him how the Devil

was God's enemy
Well, says Friday,
Mont. Ill, 71. The confounding of all ranks, and making a jest
221.
has long been growing in England

inclined to be of the opinion that nobody
makes their own marriage or their own will: it is what
I
have often said to the Duchess of Marlborough, when
she has been telling me her last intentions,
Joh. Rass. 50. I have been long comparing the evils with the
advantages of society, and resolve to return into the world
to-morrow.
of order,
179.
Then I solemnly declare, said the lady, blushing,

have
been making love to me all this while.
you
Undefined.
(ii)
or
state
past, either
verb
by
less
was
itself,
closely,
is
just
now
PI.
on
the
in the
Pass. V,
the durative 'dwellynge'), or else

rule
the tense
representing the action as bordering,
understood
is
some time
indefinitely, as in Piers
(where
and this may be regarded as the
'lately'
*I
not accompanied by any temdenote that such and such an
of things has lasted for
somewhat
the
fined
or
When
complements, they
poral
action
am
S. J. 302.
St.
129
present:
and Sh.
Sher. Riv.
Oth.
Ill,
3,
talking' (Je viens de parler)
Ill,
49,
may
1,
is
de-
more
where
meaning
be picked
out as specimens for the two main types.
Not
infrequently, in instances belonging to the
'just'-
88
THE COMPOUND TENSES

the
type,
over
inner
to
stress glides
the
sense
the
background,
to
so far that
in
with
which
last
In
cases
like
fresher
out
the
short,
its
138
Spect.
336, in
considered, thrown into
Com-
it
certainly took
still
some space
of
listening to 'the dismal
and above
[Budg.]
example not a
is
all
S. J.
St.
trace of duration
is
left.
these the periphrasis is chosen to give

livelier colour to the expression, to bring
and
idea
strictly
and thus also of
deliver
history',
is,
sometimes more, sometimes less.

66, where the idea of duration
Rass.
admissible,
time
duration
of
pare Joh.
from the idea of occupation

insomuch that
idea of *just-now-being-done',
this
time, not as a length but as a point: in
of
function
here that of actuality.
is
Examples.
Piers PI. Pass. V, 129.
Amonges Burgeyses haue
be. dwellynge
At Londoun,
And
gert bakbitinge be a brocoure. to
blame
mennes ware.
Lyly, Alex.
II,
How
Alex.
2.
now, Apelles,
is
Venus's
face yet finish'd?
Apel.
Alex.
Not
yet:
let it rest unperfect; and come you with me,

where I will shew you that finish'd by nature, that you
have been trifling about by art.
Greene, Look.-Gl. 138: 1. Adam. By my troth, sir, I cry you
mercy; your face is so changed that I had quite forgotten
Well,
you: well, master devil, ve have tossed over
many
a pot
of ale together.
Adam.
vil,
Faith,
sir,
cup of
ale:
and now good-man dehave been tossing many a good
ray old friend,
you know you and
How now my Lord?

have bin talking with a Suitor heere,
A man that languishes in your displeasure.
Spect. 44 [Add.], the bell rung to dinner, where the gentleman
I
have been speaking of had the pleasure of seeing the
Sh. Oth.
Ill,
Des.
3, 49.
huge jack
89
PERFECT TENSES
Roger de Coverley told me the

he had been reading my paper upon
Westminster Abbey, in which, says he, there are a great
many ingenious fancies.
138 [Budg.]. he had just received a letter from his ste-
Spect. 86 [Add.].
other night,
My
friend Sir
that
ward, which acquainted him that his old

nist in the country, Sir
visit to
the
rival and antagoDavid Dundrum, had been making
widow.
214 [Add.]. Or, if we believe, as many wise and good

men have done, that there are such phantoms and apparitions as those I have been speaking of, let us endeavour
told me they had been musing very much upon
had discoursed with them of, the last Night, and
Def. Rob. 38.
what
they came to make a secret Proposal to me;

Sw. Gull. 242. he said, he had been very seriously considering
my whole story,
Mont. II, 137. I have been running about Paris at a strange
rate with my sister, and strange sights have we seen.
66.
Here Imlac entered and interrupted them. ImRass.
Joh.
lac, said Rasselas, I have been /aA"/n^ from the Princess
the dismal history of private life,
1
was a small tribute, I told her, which I could
not avoid paying to virtue, and would not be mistaken
St. S. J. 336.
I
had been rendering it to for the world
have been considering that I grow old and
infirm, and shall probably not trouble you long.
2.
Sir'L. Hah my little ambassadress
upon my conscience, I have been looking for you;
O gemini! and I have been waiting for your
Lucy.
worship here on the North.
C. Abs. I have been revolving, and reflecting, and
Ill, 1.
in the
Sher. Riv.
person
II,
1.
considering on your past goodness,

A. Abs.
Well, sir?
1
have been likewise weighing and balancing
what you were pleased to mention concerning duty,
To what fine purpose I have been
C. Abs.
IV, 3.
C. Abs.
plotting]
Remarks.
Greene, Look.-Gl. 138: 1. It is somewhat difficult to
recognize any decided difference in function be-
QO
THE COMPOUND TENSES
tween the simple form on one hand and the

periphrastic on the other in this instance. It
might be conjectured, however,
speech
also,
Adam recalls
am tempted to
occasions
merry
with more liveliness, and

say, tenderness, the
many
Mark, by the
affectionate terms in the
referred
much more
the
bye,
that in his last
to.
speech as opposed to the rather cold-sound-
last
ing statements in the
first.
This, then,
would
account for the periphrasis here, but the change

may also be due to a desire to avoid monotony
of expression.
The expression does not
Spect. 86 [Add.]
necessarily
imply that he had read the whole of the paper

but only that he had just been engaged in read-
perhaps
it:
ing
had perused but a small
he
of it.
The choice of the periphrasis
here might be ascribed to Sir Roger having aimed
at a very cautious statement; and if this is really
part
the case, one must say that he has couched his
meaning
in a
very happy turn.
Additional Remarks.
(i)
In
its
degree,
between
of
*as
some
cases the verb *be' seems to retain, to a certain
own
that
meaning,
and the
inner stress being divided
the
participle,
which
latter
forms a sort
supplement, expressing the occupation or the errand:

he had been at G. to take his leave' (Pep. 52), 'where
the
King
'where
Rob.
himself
had
been
had
been
before
and
and
gathered'
had
(Pep.
169),
been peering' (Def.
79).
he was then drunk, having been taking his

Gravesend the night before, and so could not
remember what it was that he said.
Pep. 52 [6061].
leave
at
91
PERFECT TENSES
Pep. 169 [6263].
this
year,
eat
some
of the first cherries
have eat
where the King himself had been
the tree
off
gathering some this morning.

went all over that part of the Island, where I
1
Def. Rob. 79.
had been before peering in every Corner, and under every
Rock, to see for more of it,
338.
When La Fleur told
me
St. S. J.
had been enquiring

curred
the Lieutenant de Police
the thing instantly re-
When alighted at the hotel, the porter told me a

young woman with a bandbox had been that moment
enquiring for me
later
is
style
me,
359.
(ii)
in
after
As
have mentioned before, the periphrasis has,

times, been chosen where a certain Hveliness of
I
aimed
terest, or the
at,
or particularly to express a personal in-
like.
The compound tenses
offer
many examples
of this
An Advanced
use of the periphrasis.

Engl.
Onions,
the
has
a
remark
to
134
following
113,
c,
p.
Syntax,
effect: 'The Continuous forms are sometimes used idiomain
without implying anything 'continuous', e. g. 'What

have you been doing to that picture?', 'Someone has been
tically
tampering
with
this
These are
lock'.
different
from have
you done, has tampered; they give an emotional colouring

to the sentence and express surprise, disgust, impatience,
or
the
like'.
It
is
clear that
the
such cases as these may
way
many difficulties
To my mind, however, most
in
offer
tion.
of a correct interpretaof
them seem to imply
rather a softening of the expression, than the contrary. In

Pep. 42 [63-64], for instance, 'he had not been drinking'
might
be
regarded as a euphemism for 'he was not
drunk' ^
Fearenside holds that this
is
'a
common enough
phrase',
and
suggests a recent and continuous action which would

naturally end in the state described in the past participle'.
adds:
'to
me
it
92
THE COMPOUND TENSES

This day, W. Bowyer told me, that his father
and died by being drowned in the river,
coming over in the night; but he says he had not been
Pep. 42 [6364].
is
dead
lately,
drinking.
How
now, George, where hast thou been

and entertaining company like a
What fine lady hast thou been putting
physician,
out of conceit with herself, and persuading that the face
she had been making all the morning was none of her
Congr. Bach.
1.
I,
snarling odious
truths,
own?
D. D.
3.
Mask. You
with my Lady Plyant?
I,
Lady Touch.
think
Sher, Riv.
Jack
have:
have
she
already
ready for any impression
is
fit.
Ill,
1.
been tampering
damn your demure
you have been lying
face!
ha'n't
come, confess,
you? You have
been playing the hypocrite, hey? I'll never forgive you,

if you ha'n't been lying and playing the hypocrite.
IV, 2.
What, you have been treating me like a child!
Til be hanged if that
V, 1. You have been cryingl
Faulkland has not been tormenting you!
What's going on here?
3.
So you have been quarrell-
ing too,
warrant.
Examples of the Future and the
2.
Preterite
Future.
Above
several
(in
sections
III)
cases of combinations of
periphrastic
infinitive,
viz.,
have already dealt with
'shall'
where
and
have
'will'
and the
considered the
be chiefly of an adjectival nature, or generally

combination does not seem to constitute a real
participle to
where
this
The
tense.
however,
to
line of difference
and
therefore
the instances
all
may be
think
it
very difficult to draw,
best to recall attention
before given \ and to expand the
list
These are: Ae. L. XII, 268; V. a V. 37, 6; 107, 15; 121, 9;

23
121,
(p. 24); Ashby, P. Pr. 285; D & o. 594; 1097 (p. 46); Lyly,
Anat. 59; Sh. Cor. II, 3, 216 (p. 81); Sh. As. IV, 1, 87; Taming, II, 1, 78
'
(p. 83).
93
FUTURE TENSES
by giving some additional examples. As for the instances

do not make any distinctions at all, but
quoted here,
I
simply
that the
forms
the
give
although
readily
admit
rather sweeping.
is
heading
below,
Lydy. T. o Gl. 53
And
36].
[p.
eke
sone Cupide,
my
[)at
is
so
blind,
Ashby,
D &
o.
He shal ben helping, fulli to perfourme

our hole desire, |>at noJ)ing behind
Ne shal be left:
691. Thus your glorious iame shal he springing
To high
Caxt.
8c
lowe,
Duryng the tyme that the goode kynge of

Blanchardyn and Sadoyne, and their folke shall be
thus saylynge towarde Tourmaday
We shall retorne to
speke of the tyraunte,
Heyw. The Four P's. I, 11. Ped. Syr, after drynkynge, whyle
Bl.
151, 20.
fryse,
the shot
is
tynkynge,
Some hedes be swymmyng,
but
myne
wyll
be synkyng;
my
And, upon drynkynge,

pynkynge;
Sh. Hy. V;
III,
Const.
King
will
not
let
have part
have
is
and he
activitie,
No
Foole.
4, 151.
I,
is
simply the most active
of France.
Doing
L.
He
Orleance.
100.
7,
Gentleman
eyse wil be
me,
if
had
and Ladies
an't,
still be doing.
Lords and great
will
faith.
monopolie
too,
out, the
will
they
not
men
would
let
my
be snatching; /
Mu. Adoe, I, 1, 113. Beat. I wonder that you will still
be talking, signior Benedicke, no body markes you.
Con. Dog. A good old man sir, hee will be
Ill, 5, 34.
all
the foole to
selfe, they'/
say,
when
the age
Othe.
These
Letters give (Jago) to the
talking as
they
God
helpe
us,
Oth.
Ill,
2, 2.
my
is
in,
the wit
is
out,
Pylot,
And by him do my duties to the Senate:

That done, I will be walking on the Workes,
Repaire there to mee.
Taming,
III,
Hort. [Bian.]
52.
1,
I
Bian. [Luc.] Mistrust
must beleeve
you,
my
it
not, for
master, else
promise
94
THE COMPOUND TENSES

should be arguing
But let it rest,
I
Sh.
Temp.
Fie,
Alon.
Gon.
He
Mass. O. D.
that doubt.
pre-thee spare.
Well,
Seb.
upon
27.
Gon. Therefore my Lord.
what a spend-thrift is he of his tongue.
1,
11,
Ant.
still
have done: But yet

be talking.
will
II,
still be babbling
your meat freeze on the table?
Met with Mr. Spong, who still would be
Will you
2.
Till
Pep. 106 [60 61J.

giving me counsel of getting my patent out,
156 [63 64j. Their fleet for Guinea is now, they say,
ready and abroad, and will be going this week.
Bun. Pilgr. 40, 14. Also he would be often reading in the Roll
one of the shining ones gave him,

Thus he went on a great while, yet still the flames
would be reaching towards him;
Congr. D.-D. Ill, 2. Sir Paul, what a phrase was there! You
will be making answers, and taking that upon you which
ought to lie upon me!
Sometimes he will be lengthening out averse
Spect. 51 [Add.].
that
1.
60,
in
the singing psalms, half a minute after the rest of the
congregation have done with it;

64 [Add.]. Sir Roger told me,
people
would be tossing her
with her every day,
periments
that
into a
if
it
the country
pond and trying exwas not for him and
his chaplain.
Mont.
Ill,
251.
have not tasted a drop of punch since
we
parted; I cannot bear the sight of it; it would recall too

tender ideas, and 1 should be quarrelling with Fortune
for our separation,
Remarks.
Caxt.
Bi.
a very interesting passage.
is
The course
of
the reader
requested to keep
situation,
Sh.
This
151, 20.
Mu. Adoe,
is
is
suddenly cut
the narration
until
III,
events
5,
34.
Here the
an intensive character (closely

of repetition).
is
Compare
off,
and
mind a given
taken up again.
periphrasis has
in
allied to the idea
Temp.
II,
1,
27.
95
FUTURE TENSES
Sh. Oth.
151,
the
20,
One might
actuality
this case, as also in Caxt. Bl.
In
2, 2.
Ill,
tense
hold
is
that
defined by the context.

in both these instances
the main function of the periphrasis:
is
the durative element, however,
is
also very pro-
minent.
Congr. D.-D.
2.
Ill,
clear instance of the 'emotional
Compare
colouring'.
where
Spect. 64 [Add],
the periphrasis represents the actions referred to

as
never
but always on the
undertaken
really
or sooner, only expresses that the

it,
verge
persons in question 'had a great mind to do it'
of
(would be for tossing

the above examples a
jective
these
may
are
would
tive
feeling
).
In several of
faint
shade of
this sub-
be
inferred,
although
also
so very
tangible that it
things
be next to impossible to fix the respec-
meanings
in
little
words.
General Remark.
and
Roughly
taken, the function of the periphrastic future
preterite
future
is
to
express duration
in the future,
seldom very strong unless in any way

enforced by definitions. Otherwise it is, in most cases,
Compare Western ( 17): 'Disse
very little prominent.
but
idea
this
tider
betegner,
11,
nar
de
omskrives,
egentlig,
hvad der
vil
en naermere bestemt fremtid, f. eks.

ga
should be quarrelling with him all the time (Ward, Grieve
eller vilde
1
is
17);
talen
tiden,
men da begrebet
er
ningen
for sig
varighed gjerne traeder tilbage, nar

de iaimindelighed blot betydfremtiden,
fremnoget, som vil (vilde) indtraeffe engang
om
af
far
'
CONCLUDING SURVEY.
The main functions
all
of the definite tenses have,
periods, been the same, namely actuality
and
through
qualified
duration.
These have been treated
in
detail
above, and
shall
only mention here one or two things concerning their mu-
during the development of the periphrasis.
tual relations
The most
ment
say,
that
of
has
these
striking fact
is
a very interesting displace-
taken
in
the range of action, so to
two
place
Old and Early Middle

comparatively more represen-
categories:
English qualified duration
is
In
ted than actuality, while in Late Middle and Early Modern

English this latter function is decidedly preponderant and
must be looked upon as the chief one. In this connec-
may be brought
compound tenses have,
tion
to
it
mind
that the later
developed
to a certain degree, their part in
change. Thus in Modern English the function of

qualified duration has, to a great extent, been taken over
this
by the
definite perfect
and pluperfect: especially when dealways imply limited duration.
fined, these tenses nearly
Western
(see
2213, 2221,
2222)
9,
10)
both
and Sweet (New Engl. Or.
deny
that the definite tenses
as
for
instance
being reserved for the indefinite

in: he writes a letter every day
(Western),
or:
he goes
to
can express
tenses,
repetition, this
Germany once a year
(Sweet).
CONCLUDING SURVEY
*a
'When', says Sweet,
definite tense
is
used
in
a con-
implying repetition, the definite tense does not share
text
in
Q7
this
meaning
repetition
(for
is
expressed by indefinite
2213), but keeps its own; thus his temper only

failed him when he was being nursed means *on each occasion when he was being nursed' that is, the definite
tenses,
each of the repeated phenomena singly'.

it: 'Derimod kan selve den situation,
tense
applies
as Western has
Or
to
hvorunder noget
when
sker, gjenta sig.
Siger jeg saledes: Yester-
was writing, and the day before

came,
day,
came, he was also writing, and the day
yesterday, when
before that, when
came, he was also writing etc., sa kan
he
dette samles
alt
ting,
Whenever he was
det ene udtryk:
till
wri-
came' ^
like
Expressions
these imply what
would term
itera-
ted actuality.
tion
clear
is
It
such
in
that the periphrasis is quite out of ques-
cases
as
those
first
spoken
writes a letter every day; he goes to
we have
but
by
should not hesitate to ascribe to them
namely, where a 'point-verb' is dea perpetuative adverb or the like,

quote an
iterative
fined
Germany
once a year;
a type of the definite tenses, where, at least
in particular cases,
an
namely: he
of,
function,
example from Western's collections: The great

swing-door into the street was for ever opening and shutillustrative
remember his wife a great many years ago,

when she was always having children.
There exists, however, a marked difference between
ting,
or:
category of iteration and that

writes a letter every day the iterated
this
first
of.
spoken
phenomena
In he
are directly
stated as having intervals: this iteration might be described
as
distributive
or analyzing iteration.
The
latter
should prefer: Whenever I came, he was writing.
category,
98
CONCLUDING SURVEY
represented by 'was for ever opening and shutting' and

'was always having children' I would term comprising or
generalizing iteration. The intervals are not dwelt upon:
on the contrary, by using the durative form one is brought

to ignore them, to feel them as little as possible: such
expressions tend rather to convey the meaning of uninter in other words, duration. But this is a gerupted action
neralizing
on the
part of the speaker, an emotional
putting things: logically seen,
we
way
of
have to do with a series
of repeated actions.
On
we
the other hand,
have not, or need not have,
do with iterated actuality here: this instant the swingdoor opened, next instant it shut again, and so on; she had
a child that year and the year after she had another, etc.
to
Such cases are not foreign to previous stages of the

language. They originate in Old English and occur, though
sparingly, also in Middle and Early Modern English.
Sweet (New
'The
definite
only
in
ever,
not
Gr.
Engl.
present
also
is
2232) has this remark:

used in a future sense, but
II,
combination with verbs of motion'.

only
such verbs that occur with
It
this
is
how-
meaning;
compare Kriiger (Schwierigk. des Engl. II, p. 171) and the

examples given there: 'Zuweilen behauptet der Sprechende,
er sei schon bei etwas begriffen, das er thatsachlich noch
nicht angefangen hat, um den andern des unmittelbar be-,
vorstehenden Erfolgens der Handlung zu versichern; auf
diesem Wege wird die progressive Form eine Form, die
tiahe Zukunft auszudriicken.
/ really must be getting home,
ril be
going
komme
jetzt
my ways now
schon,
wirklich
gleich!
gehen.
(schottisch).
am
coming, ich
must be going now,
What
is
going
to
ich
muss
be the upshot of
this China affair?

She is getting a good husband. We
are having a ball next mouth'. I can add another exam-
ple:
And Banghurst had
given ten thousand pounds, and
QQ
CONCLUDING SURVEY

Banghurst was giving five thousand pounds,
(Twelve Stories and a Dream, by H. G. Wells, Macmillan's
further,
Sixpenny
London, 1Q04,
Series,
p.
5).
As
how-
a rule,
ever, the verbs employed are verbs of motion.
ern
use of the periphrasis originated in Early ModEnglish, where verbs of motion, especially come and
go,
are,
This
so
as
far
can ascertain, the only verbs to take
the periphrasis in this sense of a near futurity.
Of the construction
the immediate future, the
'to
first
be going to do something',
examples found are in Greene
See besides p. 67 ^
can add
Shakespeare.
have really found two examples with 'come':
here that
and
when
saw him pursued by the whole Body;

and now
expected that Part of my Dream was coming to
and
that
he would certainly take Shelter in my Grove;
pass,
as
thought
(Def. Rob. 205) and: Ay, master thought another
gout was coming

that
During
this
use
the
of
to
make him a
period
visit (Sher.
we
also
definite tenses
the
find
which
Riv.
first
of the
fit
I,
1).
cases of
have termed
'the
subjective feeling'.
The
inchoative
meaning
(see p. 27) has died out with
Old English.
In close relation to the character of the definite tenses
they cannot, as a rule, be employed

with certain verbs which are quite devoid of a durative or
stands
the
progressive
copulas,
fact
that
element and
unless
are
they
time
thus ordinarily serve as timeless

specially sentence-stressed, so
becomes prominent, when they

admit of the periphrasis, as well as other verbs under similar circumstances.
I
shall quote some authors on this
the
that
idea
of
point.
Sweet (New
And
Engl.
Gr.
the remark to Sh. As,
II,
I,
2218): 'There are
2,
109 (p. 74).
some
CONCLUDING SURVEY
100
which occur only
verbs
the indefinite tenses.
in
which express
especially the case with verbs

cal
and mental perceptions
feel
he
ill;
element
the
likes
such as
etc.,
This
is
feelings, physi-
feel,
like,
think: I
But as soon as
being here; I think so.
becomes prominent, the

rights: compare it hurts with
of volition or action
definite tenses re-assert their
him; he doesn't see it with he is seeing the

sights; I hear a noise with / am hearing lectures'.
Kriiger (Schwierigk. des Engl. II, p. 171 f.): 'Zeitworter,
he
is
hurting
einmalige schnelle Akte bezeichnen, wie to accept, de-
die
cline,
refuse,
convince,
pardon, forgive, see, apprehend, obtain,

grant, mean, oder solche aussere Zustande
reject,
infer,
schlechthin wie to
own
besitzen, possess, surround, inclose,
Oder innere Vorgange, welche mehr etwas Zustandliches

als sich Entwickelndes an sich haben, wie to like, love, be
fond
hate, please, dislike, scorn, detest, abhor, contemn,
of,
grudge, consider (fiir etwas halten), under^

nicht.
comprehend, believe, erlauben sie demnach
condemn,
stand,
Das
envy,
im gewissen Zusammenhang
haben: / can hate; I remember
schliesst nicht aus, dass
auch
solche
Verben
sie
once lying sleepless, when I was hating
Sodann
night.
By
declining
findet
the offer
sich
sie
noch
my enemy
in
the whole
folgender Gestalt:
you are declining your fortune; hier
vorangehende Gerundium die ahnliche

Form herbeigefiihrt zu haben. Doch ist eine Neigung bemir
scheint
das
merkbar, sie zu gebrauchen, wo

lichen Natur nach kaum erwarten:
wir
Mr
sie ihrer urspriing-
Robertson
substantial reward for any information that
regard
to the
me
order
let
gesse
ja
missing boat.
some fresh
Mother
ganz.)
But
am
offering
forgetting; you will
(Aber ich verbe wondering where we are'.
coffee for
will
may
is
be given in
you?
Mogen es nun aussere oder innere Vorgange sein, die sie

bezeichnenden Verba konnen die progressive Form haben, sofern der
'
allmahliche Verlauf derselben ausgedriickt werden
soil.
CONCLUDING SURVEY
Murray (The Dialect of the Southern
also
Compare
Counties of Scotland,
med by
p. 220):
'The Present Actual
is
for-
prefixing the present tense of the verb be to the
present
in
101
participle,
as
hey's gaan' thruw the wud.
But
verbs expressive of sensuous or mental impressions, as

fynd,
heir,
sey,
fancie,
leyke, heate, also bey, hce, there is
only one form for these two senses, as wey sey them eennuw, an' wey sey them at aa teymes; with which contrast,
thay're syngan't een-nuw, an fhay syng'd at aa teymes'.
On
the
other hand,
only natural that the periphrasis should be specially favoured by verbs possessing a
durative or progressive meaning, and this has also been
the case throughout
all
it
is
the periods of the language.
Thus, although it cannot be denied

English and the Modern English definite
some
yet
that
the
Old
tenses exhibit
differences as to their respective syntactical functions,
it
mental
English
must also be admitted

idea
can
that not only
is
the funda-
Modern
Old English period,
the same, but also the main uses in
be
traced
back
to
the
through an uninterrupted existence during the stages lying

between these two extremes. Wherefore, it may be safely
inferred that the
tical
with
its
Modern English
periphrasis
Old English counterpart.
is
really iden-
^:^-:a
'x^
ii

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FOREIGN

THE DEFINITE TENSES

PH. LINDSTEDTS UNIV.-BOKH.

W. HEFFER ft SONS, LTD.

THE DEFINITE TENSES

BY DUE PERMISSION OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY OF LUND

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

PRINTED BY BERLINGSKA BOKTRYCKERIET

an abridged form, was

40 (IQOQ), under the title: 'The Origin and Development of

interest in the subject

diverging views on the origin of the definite tenses in

Thus much may suffice to say here concerning these

and are of opinion

also the case in texts be-

longing to northern dialects in Middle English; other schol-

on the contrary, hold that their origin is to be sought

proper but the verbal noun.

interested in the various uses of the periphrastic

while to deal with them

comparatively exhaustive way,

In the present treatise, therefore,

back on the verbal noun question.

fact that the construction

Modern English is morphologically, if not historically,

the end a section

short, the treatise

place, a history of the periphrasis (in the active voice) from

clusions on this point, towards the formation of an opinion

the point of view of the verbal-noun expressions, by giving

words: a history of the 'a-phrases'

and vulgar speech,

the rise and

account also comprising

of the passive definite tenses.

of Lund, University, for

and encouragement he has given me

formerly English Lector in the University of

proof with a view to normalizing

the officials of the University Library at

Landskrona, September IQIL

The Present Tense

of the Periphrastic Infinitive

Periphrasis Expressing a Subjective Feeling

THE COMPOUND TENSES

The Present Tense

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

Midland and Southern Dialects

LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH

Perfect and the Pluperfect

Higher English Grammar, 1896.

Einenkel, Streifziige durch die mittelenglische syntax, Miinster 1887.

Erdmann, Essay on the

and modern use of the verbal forms

in -ing in the English language,

Franz, Shakespeare-Grammatik, Zweite Auflage, Heidelberg 1909.

Growth and Structure

of the English Language, Leipzig 1905.

Murray, The Dialect of the Southern