Author: Alfred Akerlund

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-04

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9781330682340

Excerpt from On the History of the Definite Tenses in English The following investigation, in an abridged form, was originally meant to appear as part of a more comprehensive work, announced in the 'Englische Studien', band 40 (1909), 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 Modern English. Thus much may suffice to say here concerning these views: some scholars recognize in the -ing-form the present participle with the new ending, and are of opinion that they have developed directly from corresponding periphrastic forms in Old English, where we have to do with the old participle - which is also the case in texts belonging to northern dialects in Middle English; other scholars, on the contrary, hold that their origin is to be sought in such expressions as 'he is a-going', a standing for the preposition on, and the form in -ing being not the participle proper but the verbal noun. Later on, when working out my material, I grew more and more interested in the various uses of the periphrastic forms, be their origin what it may, and 1 thought it worth while to deal with them in a comparatively exhaustive way, while I was about it. In the present treatise, therefore, 1 altogether turn my back on the verbal noun question. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.