Part 1: The History of English

Topics:
1. OE
1.1 Inflection
1.2 Tenses
2. ME
2.1 Possessive forms
2.2 Comparisons
2.3 From synthetic to analytic
3. EModE
3.1 Use of expletive do
3.2 Loss of thouing
4. ModE
Prescriptive grammar
 3. EModE

3.1 Use of expletive [εksplí:tɪv] ‘do’

=semantically empty, dummy
 The use of expletive DO
(Uniqueness of ModE)
 How to say “I have no idea” in modern European languages?:
[English] (I don’t know)
[French]
Je (ne) sais pas. ｼﾞｭ･（ﾇ）･ｾ･ﾊﾟ (I know not)
[German]
Ich weiß nicht. ｲｯﾋ･ｳﾞｧｲｽ･ﾆﾋﾄ (I know not)
[Dutch]
Ik niet wiet. ｲｯｸ･ﾆｰﾄ･ｳｪｰﾄ (I not know)
[Russian]
Я нe знaю. ﾔ･ﾈ･ｽﾞﾅｰﾖ (I not know)
 Use of expletive do:
one of the unique features of English as a
modern European language
Unique features of English:
1. Capitalization of 1st-person singular pronoun [= I ]
2. Use of an expletive auxiliary [=do]
3. (with/Armenian) Loss of grammatical gender
4. (w/Italian, Spanish) Use of the progressive [=be V-ing]
Ex.
1966 French-American film:
Is Paris Burning? Paris brûle-t-il ?
(Paris, does it burn?)

[ < Based on Hiltler’s own question Brennt Paris?]

(Does Paris burn?’)
a touch-me-not

Q1. What’s this?

 Waste not, want not
(If you don’t waste, you won’t lack anything.)

forget-me-not
Ans 1. touch-me-not
勿忘草（わすれなぐさ）
鳳仙花（ほうせんか）
 Expletive do at 17th century stage
 From Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611):
do-less construction:
Heard you this, Gonzalo?
Work not so hard.
Wherefore weep you? (Q2. What does this mean?)
How came you hither? (Q3. What does this mean?)
Move not.
do construction:
Do not forego the purpose. (forego =go without)
Do you love me, master?
Dost thou think so, spirit?
When did you lose your daughter?
 Expletive do:
Treated as a grammatical requirement in the 18th cent.

 From Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611):

do-less construction:
Heard you this, Gonzalo?
Work not so hard.
Wherefore weep you? (Ans 2. Why do you weep?)
How came you hither? (Ans 3. How did you come here?)
Move not.
do construction:
Do not forego the purpose. (foregó =go without)
Do you love me, master?
Dost thou think so, spirit?
When did you lose your daughter?
 Relics of pre-Modern DO-less
construction
-How come?2) -colloquial (< How comes it about…?)
-( Q4 )
-informal AmE ( < How do ye?1))
-How góes it? (=How are things?) -Now rare

-Waste not, want not. –proverbial

-Judge not, that ye be not judged. -Biblical

-forget-me-not /touch-me-not -flowers
-I kid you not. (=I am telling the truth.) -Spoken
-How say you? (=What is your verdict?) -Legal
addressed to the jury when requesting its verdict
----------------------------------
J. F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961):
“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can
do for your country.”
 Relics of pre-Modern DO-less
construction
-How come?2) -Pre-Modern BritE (< How comes it about that-clause?)
-( Howdy? )
-informal AmE ( < How do ye?1))
-How góes it? (=How are things?) -Now rare

-Waste not, want not. –proverbial

-Judge not, that ye be not judged. -Biblical

-forget-me-not /touch-me-not -flowers
-I kid you not. (=I am telling the truth.) -Spoken
-How say you? (=What is your verdict?) -Legal
addressed to the jury when requesting its verdict
----------------------------------
J. F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961):
“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can
do for your country.” -Introduced to give formal attire to his speech
 1) How do ye? > Howdy?
ME ModE
main verb

ModE
(1066-1400) (1400-1700) (1700-2024)
How do ye? How do ye/you?
until c1400 How do you do? How do you do?
☞ye [jí:] =older form of
nominative you

Expletive do
2) “How comes it about that the Operations of Sense, and
Reason, vary so much?” -OED, s.v. ‘come’
(=How comes it about that-clause?)

☞“This (see above) authentic pre-modern British English

expression was brought over by the original English settlers
to Virginia in 1607 and spread among the negro slaves.”(OED)

How comes it about that you behaved like that?

S V
(Negro slaves reformed [not deformed] the sentence by shortening it.)
How come you behaved like that?
S V -non-inversion
question
Cf. Why did you behave like that?
v S V -inversion question
 (Relics of pre-1400 DO-less construction)
-How come? -Colloquial
-Howdy? [háudi] -informal ( < How do ye?)
-How góes it? (=How are things?) -Now rare
-Waste not, want not. -proverbial
-Judge not, that ye be not judged. -Biblical
-forget-me-not /touch-me-not -flowers
-I kid you not. (=I am telling the truth.) -Spoken
-How say you? (=What is your verdict?) -Legal
addressed to the jury when requesting its verdict
----------------------------------
J. F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961):
Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can
do for your country.
Three main reasons for the
development of expletive DO

(1) Metrical filler theory

(2) Placeholder theory
(3) Encouragement theory
Expletive DO developed in the 15th-
17th cents. for three main reasons
(1) “Auxiliary do originally functioned as a metrical filler
in verse.“ –Brinton and Arnovick, 2006, p. 353
Ex. Fader why do ye wepe. (Chaucer, Monk’s Tale, c1405)
‘Father, why do you weep?’
---------------------------------------------------------
In this part of the verse (i.e., Monk’s Tale), the poet is required
to compose a 7-syllable-long line:
X ) Fader why wepe ye. [6 syllables]
1 2 3 4 5 6
✓) Fader why do ye wepe. [7 syllables]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(2) “The move to S-V-O word order (in the 12th cent.) may have
promoted the use of do.” (Blake, 2002, p. 121) and “The preference
for do may have been motivated by the wish to avoid inversion.”
(Blake, 1996, p. 224)

Murdered the king’s men Thomas à Becket?

V S O

placeholder
(=gap filler) Did the king’s men murder Thomas à Becket?
(v) S V O
SOV SVO
(OE) (ME) (EModE)
12th cent. c1400

The king’s men murdered Thomas à Becket. (1170)

S V O

canonized (=regarded as authoritative)

(3) ”The development of do as an auxiliary verb may have
been encouraged by the growth of preterite-presents.”
-N. F. Blake, 1996, p. 120

shall, will, can, may, must, ought, dare: main verbs in OE

-----------------------------------------
ME. You shall die a shameful death. (11th cent.)
ME. He will shoot no more (14th cent.)
ME. Those people may pay for cleaning of their clothes.
late ME: They do admire da Vinci☟ (Cf. ModE: I do beseech you.)
non-emphatic emphatic
☞“In Middle and Early Modern English do was more often used in
regular affirmatives [=non-emphatic affirmative declaratives], e.g.
I did see him (=I saw him).” -Gelderen, 2014, p. 135

A relic of non-emphatic DO in an affirmative declarative:

1926. Well do I remember the anguish I caused him.
-OED, s.v. ‘do’
 3.2
Loss of Thouing

1. Thou vs You
2. Biblical thou
3. Consequences of the loss of thou
 1. Thou vs You
“Thou was maintained into the 20th century only among the
Quakers.” -A. C. Baugh and T. Cable, 1951
“In the usage of older-generation members of the Society of
Friends (Quakers), thee serves for both the subject and the
object functions as in Thank thee and Thee should go first.”
-Thomas Pyles and John Algeo, 1982
------------------------------------
Theoretically: nominative - thou [ðau]
possessive - thy [ðai]
objective - thee [ði:]
absolute possessive – thine [ðain]

Standard EModE sentences: Thank thee and Thou should go first

 Tutoyer (or Thouing):
The use of familiar forms of 2nd-person singular pronoun

Russian Spanish German French English

polite ВЫ usted Sie vous ye/you vousvoyer
formal ヴーヴォワイエ
/vý/ ｳｽﾃ ｼﾞｰ ｳﾞｰ
form ヴイ
あなた
familiar ТЫ tú du tu (thou) tutoyer
intimate チュトワイエ
/tý/ ﾄｩ ﾄﾞｩ ﾁｭ [ðaʊ]
form
きみ
トゥイ Lost c1700

VOUSVOYER: Je vous aime. (I love you.) S’il vous plaît. (If it pleases you.)
TUTOYER: Je t’aime. (I love thee.) S’il te plaît. (If it pleases
thee.)
 Th-forms to inferiors and equals
(Y-forms to superiors)
Q. Answer an appropriate TH-form for each blank:
Frailty, ( 1 ) name is woman. -Shak., Ham
Shall I compare ( 2 ) to a summers day? -Shak., Sonnet
18
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art ( 3 ) Romeo? -Shak., RJ
( 4 ) shin’st in every tear that I doe weepe. -Shak., LLL
Tutoyer (=Thouing) Vousvoyer
Nominative thou [ðau] you
Possessive thy [ðai] your
Objective thee [ði:] you
Absolute possessive thine [ðain] yours
 Th-forms to inferiors and equals
(Y-forms to superiors)
Frailty, (thy) name is woman. -Shak., Ham
Shall I compare (thee) to a summers day? -Shak., Sonnet
18
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art (thou) Romeo? -Shak., RJ
(Thou) shin’st in every tear that I doe weepe. -Shak., LLL
=You shine in every tear that I weep/shed.
Tutoyer
(=Thouing) Vousvoyer
Nominative thou [ðau] you
Possessive thy [ðai] your
Objective thee [ði:] you
Absolute possessive thine [ðain] yours

Thine cannot be the answer here. (See the following agreement):

-Thine (e.g., thy face) shineth or shin‘th.
English speakers could switch between
y-forms and th-forms
(=vousvoyer) (=tutoyer)

only between 13th and 17th centuries.

(See the next slide)

TH-forms were lost toward

the end of the 17th cent.
 Due to the influence of French vous (pl. > sg.),
ye was singularized
OE early ME late ME – EModE
(449-1066) (1066-1200) (13th-17th cents.)
TH-forms thū /ðu:/ thou /ðau/ thou [intimate]
（きみ、おまえ）
ye > (later) you [polite]
(singular) （あなた）

Y-forms yē /je:/ ye /ji:/ ye > (later) you

(plural)
 Thou art wert

Ques: Singular YOU agrees with plural are, were. Why?

Ans: Because YOU is a plural pronoun historically
(Singular specific TH-forms were lost in the 17th cent.)

S V Agreement in ModE
sg. I am was (1) 50% regular

You are were (2) 100% irregular

he/she/it is was (3) 100% regular
pl. we are were (4) 100% regular
you are were (5) 100% regular
they are were (6) 100% regular
 you
…is a plural 2nd-person pronoun
historically. Yet currently it is both
singular and plural.
 Here is one case where we as ModE
speakers/writers have to use thou

holier-than-thou (*holier-than-you)
Ex.
1918. His holier-than-thou attitude irritates the officials.
-OED
=characterized by moral superiority
 2. Biblical thou

The King James Bible, 1611

(=The Authorised Version of the Bible)
 The Teen Study Bible (1993)

-In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let

me never be put to shame. Rescue me
and deliver me in your righteousness.
(Psalm 71: 1-2)
-Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name, your kingdom come. May your will
be done on earth as it is in heaven.
(Luke 11: 2)
The Rule of the EModE Game:
1. Th-forms to inferiors or equals
2. Y-forms to superiors

Tutoyer (=Thouing) Vousvoyer

Nominative thou [ðau] you

Possessive thy [ðai] your

Objective thee [ði:] you

Absolute possessive thine [ðain] yours

Breaching
the rule! The King James Bible (1611):
Th-forms are used up the hierarchy

Q:
-In ( 1 ), O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put
to confusion. Deliver me in ( 2 ) righteousness.
(Psalms 71: 1-2)
-Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be ( 3 ) name.
( 4 ) kingdom come. ( 5 ) will be done, as in heaven,
so in earth. (Luke 11: 2)
(Nom) thou [ðau] God
(Poss) thy [ðai]
(Obj) thee [ði:]
(Abs poss) thine [ðain]
Believers
Breaching the The King James Bible (1611):
rule
Th-forms are used up the hierarchy

A.
-In (thee), O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put
to confusion. Deliver me in (thy) righteousness.
(Psalms 71: 1-2)
-Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be (thy) name.
(thy) kingdom come. (Thy) will be done, as in heaven, so in
earth. (Luke 11: 2)

thou you
God
thy your
thee you
thine yours Believers
 Biblical thou

In the King James Bible (1611), th-forms are used for

addressing God for two reasons:
-1st reason: endearment (Tindale Bible, King James Bible)
-2nd reason: archaism (King James Bible)
1st reason: endearment (=act of
expressing affection, fondness, love)

“O oure father which arte in heaven halowed be

thy name. Thy kyngdome come. Thy will be fulfilled
even in erth as it is in heaven.”

–Tyndale Bible (1526), Luke 11: 2

It is said by biblical scholars
as well as linguists that…

…Tyndal Bible’s th-forms (used for

endearment) have been passed down to
the King James Bible.
2nd reason (applicable specifically to the King James Bible 1611) :
archaism:
an old form found in poetry, biblical translations, legal documents, etc.
Ex. damsel (for ?), hence (for ?), spake (for ?), oft (for ?), unto (for ?),

yonder (for ?), ‘tis [tíz] (for ?), Whither socialism? (for ?), methinks
(for ?), etc.

Th-forms, which were in decline in the 17th

century, came to be associated with archaism and
were used in contexts favoring formal language,
e.g., to God, to a king.
 past form of
speke (=speak)
archaisms:
Ex. damsel (for girl), hence (for for this reason), spake (for spoke),
oft (for often), unto (for to), yonder (for over there), ‘tis [tíz] (for
it’s), Wither socialism? (for Where does socialism go?), methinks1)
(for it seems to me), etc.

Th-forms, which were in decline in the 17th

century, came to be associated with archaism and
were used in contexts favoring formal language.
E.g., to God, to a king.
 þ (thorn) > th

1) þencan (#1) vs þyncan (#2)

OE 16th cent. ModE

#1. thencan (‘consider’) think think

#2. thyncan (superseded by think x
‘seem’ of Old Norse origin in 13th c.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archaic or humorous (NOAD, ‘methinks’):
 Life has been rather hard on her, methinks. [=(it) seems to me]
 Methought you knew all about it. [=(It) seemed to me]

☞Dummy subject it comes to be used in the 13th century.

 “A word constituting half of a compound has
been lost, so that the whole compound in
Wise saying #5 question is no longer transparent.”
(Elly van Gelderen, 2014)

Old English – 1325 1375 to date

wer (OE, ‘man’) > wer(e)wolf [weə-]
[weə] =a man who, in stories, changes into a wolf
in the full moon

Latin, vir 'man’ > OE, wer [weə]

love + lorn > lovelorn

lose-lost-lorn =unhappy due to unrequited love
(till 1876) > forlorn =completely lost
me + thinks > me thinks > methinks
=seems =seems to me
Cf. Rains. (for ‘It rains’)
Snows. subjectless
Blows. sentences ☟
☞ Dummy subject it comes into use in the 13th cent.
3. Consequences of the loss of thou
(c1700)

3.1 Termination of the age of Thouing

-From 13th century to 17th century, English speakers could

switch between th-forms (tutoyer/thouing) and y-forms
(vousvoyer) like continental Europeans.
 3.2 Common practice from late 16th to late 18th century,
yet condemned by prescriptive grammarians
(“an enormous Solecism [=mistake]” –R. Lowth)

SINGULAR S Present V Past V

Thou art wert/wast (till 17th cent.)
You is was
You are were (Review slide 25)

PLURAL S Present V Past V

You are were
“At night you was clear.” (James Boswell 1740-95)
“I wish you was still more a Tartar…” (Horace Walpole, 1978)
 3.3 Creation of new plural forms of you:
Ex. youse (Scottish, Irish, etc.): (sg.) you / (pl.) youse
Newly created
plural forms
you all You all little fellows skeered? (1871)
you-all [jɔ:l] -How are you-all /jɔ:l/? (US Southern
-We are honored to have you-all’s and Midlands)
company. (OED, 1934)
y’all [jɔ:l] -What y'all call this room?’ I asked
him. (2018)
you guys Hey you guys! Where are you going?” (US spoken)
(Longman)
you lot You lot think you’re clever, don’t you? (used in a
(New Oxford American Dict.) critical or
dismissive
way)
you uns Why did you uns have to stop here? (US
3.4 To make up for the loss of th-forms, ModE has
developed a number of vocatives called ‘terms of
endearment’ (or ‘saccharine terms’)

dear, darling (< dear + ling) , honey, sugar, love,

sweetheart, sweetie, sweeting (archaic), mate,
baby/babe, honeybunch, buddy, lad, angel, pal,
princess, homey, gal, chick, cutie, dude

Contributed by students
Ex.
(To a little child) “What do you want, honey?”
Modern French:
-Je vous aime. (vousvoyer)
-Je t’aime. (tutoyer)

Modern English:
-I love you.
-I love you, my dear. (sounding like TUTOYER
‘Je t’aime’)
 Part 1: The History of English
Topics:
1. OE
1.1 Inflection
1.2 Tenses
2. ME
2.1 Possessive forms
2.2 Comparisons
2.3 From synthetic to analytic
3. EModE
3.1 Use of expletive do
3.2 Loss of thouing
4. ModE
Prescriptive grammar
 4. Prescriptive grammar
In the history of English, the 18th century is the
age of prescriptive grammar. (Its influence
remains felt in the 19th century.)

As a countermovement, descriptive grammar

emerges in the 20th century and becomes
powerful in the 21st century..
 An overview of the history of English
(Old English) (Middle English) (Early ModE) (Modern English)

OE ME EModE ModE

449 1066 1500 1700

Germanic Norman Conquest
Invasion The age of
prescriptive
grammar
Transitional
Viking raids period
(787-1016)
4. Prescriptive Grammar
4.1
Three grammars condemned by pres. grammarians
4.2
Prescriptivism vs Descriptivism
4.1 Three grammars condemned
by prescriptive grammarians
Which part of each sentence did pres.
grammarians condemn?:

1. That’s the man I was talking to.

2. I need to really make an effort.
3. This stuff is different than that one.
-Source: R. L. Trask, Language Change, 1994
------------------------------
Trask (1994, p. 40) says “All of them (see above) were in fact
perfectly normal in English before the prescriptive
grammarians set to work.”
Q1. Which part of Sentence 1 did the grammarians condemn?
(Which alternative did they suggest?)

1. That’s the man I was talking to.

2. I need to really make an effort.
3. This stuff is different than that one.

-Source: R. L. Trask, Language Change, 1994, p. 40

 preposition stranding/
Answer to Q1: stranded (=dangling) preposition
(Condemned) That’s the man I was talking to.
(Alternative) That’s the man to whom I was talking.
pied-piping

Pied-Piper of Hameln (=to)

a group of rats (=whom)

 Pres. grammarians were premised on the two assumptions:
-English has the preposition only; the preposition should be
preposed (=put before its object)
-the postposition is a grammatical ghost1)☟

(whom)

(Condemned) That’s the man I was talking to.

(Alternative) That’s the man to whom I was talking.
prepositional object

☞Robert Lowth [láʊð]: “Prepositions are so called because they

are commonly put before their objects.”
(R. Lowth, A Short Introduction to English Grammar, 1762, p. 91)
1) Pres. grammarians:
‘English has prepositions only.’

Historical linguists:
‘English has both prepositions and postpositions.’
 Relics of postpositions

The following relics of postpositions

are still used in ModE:
postposition

ac ðis we willa her æfter areccean. (OE): genuine postposition

=But this we will relate hereafter. (ModE): relic of the postposition
=after this

Relics of the postposition found in ModE:

hereafter (‘after this’), herein (‘in this’), hereto (=to this),
thereupon (‘on that’), therefore (‘for that’)
whereby (‘by which’), etc.
 Conclusive point made by historical linguists

PDE speakers are using the postposition as

linguistic legacy when they say’:

[Genuine postpositions:]
-”Where are you from?”
-“What are you talking about?”
-“Which language do you dream in?
-“That’s the man I was talking to.”
(whom)

Why condemn the above sentences?

Q2. Which part of Sentence 2 did grammarians
condemn? (Which alternative did they suggest?)

1. That’s the man I was talking to.

2. I need to really make an effort.
3. This stuff is different than that one.

-Source: R. L. Trask, Language Change, 1994, p. 40

Answer to Q2:
infinitive splitting or
split infinitive

(Condemned) I need to really make an effort.

(Alternative) I really need to make an effort.
Pres. grammarians condemned the infinitive
splitting. Especially flagrant [fréigrənt] (shocking) to
them was the intrusion of NOT into TO + infinitive.

More examples of infinitive splitting:

-Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out
new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone
before. (from Star Trek)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-He considered it his duty to get the low-down on me, and to not
let himself be pumped about radical affairs while he was doing it.
(OED as 1929 )
-He told Dad and Mum to be kinder to me, to not shout, not beat,
not restrict me, to not quarrel amongst themselves. (OED as 1991)
Q3. Which part of Sentence 3 did grammarians
condemn? (Which alternative did they suggest?)

1. That’s the man I was talking to.

2. I need to really make an effort.
3. This stuff is different than that one.

-Source: R. L. Trask, Language Change, 1994, p. 40

Answer to Q3:

(Condemned) This stuff is different than that one.

(Alternative) This stuff is different from that one.
 Latin served as a model for pres. grammar:
Ex. “Tense sequence is among the transfers from Latin.”
(Manfred Görlach, 2003, p. 100)☟

Pres. grammarians advocated that people say,

(✓) different from (x) different than/to
REASON:
different contains Latin prefix dis-, meaning ‘from’
(✓) averse from☟ (x) averse to
REASON:
averse contains Latin prefix ab-, meaning ‘away from’
---------------------------------
☞In PDE (1900-2024), averse from is rare.

☞ “Tense sequence is among the transfers from Latin.” (Görlach, 2003)

I know he is ill.  I knew he was ill.
present present past past
 Trask (1994, p. 40) says “All of them (=1-7 below) were in fact
perfectly normal in English before the prescriptive
grammarians set to work.”

 EModE:  Pres. Grammar

1. I will be twenty-one next year. 1. I shall be twenty-one next
2. The one you want is me. year.
3. Who did you see? 2. The one you want is I.
4. I don’t have no money. 3. Whom did you see?
5. That’s the man I was talking to. 4. I don’t have any money.
6. I need to really make an effort. 5. That’s the man to whom I
7. This stuff is different than was talking.
that one. 6. I really need to make an
effort.
7. This stuff is different from
(Source: R. L. Trask, 1994) that one.
 4.2 Prescriptivism vs Descriptivism
規範主義 記述主義

 The assumption underlying  The assumption underlying

prescriptivism: descriptivism:

Correctness should Usage should

prevail over usage. prevail over
correctness.
 Descriptivism (20th-21st cents.):
holds that linguistic facts should be described as they are observed
to exist.

 Prescriptivism  Descriptivism

(18th and 19th centuries) (20th and 21st centuries)

Ex. Ex.
-The thing is is that I don’t -I’m loving his new show.1)
know her number. (Spoken English. ‘I like it a lot.’)
-The problem is is who’ll be -Sorry about the confusion. It’s
the starter. (M. McCarthy, my ( Q ).
Discourse Analysis for Language (AmE spoken informal. ‘It’s my fault.’)
Teachers, 1999) -The dog licked it’s tail.
(in place of its)

Don’t contaminate
our language! Interesting! I’ll
Stop saying that. write it down.
 Descriptivism (20th-21st cents.):
holds that linguistic facts should be described as they are observed
to exist.

 Prescriptivism  Descriptivism

(18th and 19th centuries) (20th and 21st centuries)

Ex. Ex.
-The thing is is that I don’t -I’m loving his new show.1)
know her number. (Spoken English. ‘I like it a lot.’)
-The problem is is who’ll be -Sorry about the confusion. It’s
the starter. (M. McCarthy, my (bad).
Discourse Analysis for Language (AmE spoken informal. ‘It’s my fault.’)
Teachers, 1999) -The dog licked it’s tail.
(in place of its)

Out of the question! Interesting! I’ll

Stop saying that. write it down.
Insight
1) Progressive forms are increasing in PDE. (Even stative
verbs are used in their progressive forms.)

Examples of stative verbs used progressively:

-All the people are remembering the days of their childhood.
-The matron at Guy’s Hospital does not know all she should
be knowing about this affair.
-It is not at all clear what the Chancellor is meaning by that
last statement.
-We are all understanding the situation better now.
-My son is hoping to spend Easter in Switzerland.
-Grandpa is forgetting names nowadays.
(Source: Simeon Potter, Changing English, 1969)
-I’m loving his new show.
End of Insight

S. Potter (Ibid.) says…

“Progressive forms are increasing at the expense
of simple forms (…) because people desire to make
what they say more lively and vivid.”
Potter compares the increasing use of progressive to
HISTORIC PRESENT (e.g., ‘Napoleon retreats from
Moscow.’).