Plain English Part 25

Idealism Pledge Ache Acre p.r.o.nunciation

+Sat.u.r.day+

Idle Idol Mutual Wealthy Neighbors

PLAIN ENGLISH

LESSON 8

Dear Comrade:

You have often read the words _organic_ and _inorganic_ but did you ever stop to think of the meaning of these words? We say a body is organic--a rock is inorganic; one grows from within, the other is built from without. A tree is organic; it grows. A house is inorganic; it is built.

The house was never a baby house, growing from a tiny house to a large one. But the tree was once a baby tree, a sapling, and grew branch by branch to its present height. So we have two cla.s.ses of things--those which grow and those which are made.

Language belongs to the cla.s.s of things which grows. It is organic. We have even used the same terms in speaking about language that we use in talking of a tree. We use the words ROOT, STEM and BRANCH to describe its growth.

Language, too, has its different terms of life like a tree, its youth, its maturity, its old age, its death.

So we have dead languages like Latin and Greek--languages which are no longer living,--no longer serving mankind. But these dead languages have left living children, languages that have descended from them.

The Italian language for example is the child, the descendant of the cla.s.sical Latin. We have many words in our English language from these dead languages. About five-sevenths of the words in our English are from these cla.s.sical languages. The remaining two-sevenths are from the Anglo-Saxon. We use the Anglo-Saxon words more frequently, however, in our every day speech.

And it is interesting to note that our best poetry--that which stirs our blood and touches our hearts--is written in the strong forceful Anglo-Saxon words.

These words we are studying have been through some interesting experiences as they have pa.s.sed from race to race down to us and the history of life is mirrored in their changes. How much more interesting they seem when we know something of their sources, just as we are more interested in a man when we know something of his boyhood and youth and the experiences through which he has pa.s.sed.

You may think that the study of verbs is rather difficult and involved, but it is more simple in English than in any other language. There are fewer changes in the verb form in order to express time and person. Do not rely on the memorizing of the rules. Rules never made one a fluent speaker. Write sentences in which the correct form is used. Read aloud from the best authors until the sound of the words is familiar and they come readily to the tongue. We have used for the exercises in these lessons excerpts from the best authors.

Study these exercises carefully and note the use of the different verbs especially, this week. Verbs, like all else, are yours to command.

Command them.

Yours for Education,

THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.

PROGRESSIVE VERB PHRASES

+132.+ We have learned how to form the three princ.i.p.al time forms, _present_, _past_ and _future_ and the perfect or completed form of each of the three, _present perfect_, _past perfect_ and _future perfect_.

And still we have such a wonderful language that we can express other shades of meaning in _time_.

+133.+ There is still another phase of action which we must have a verb phrase to express. Suppose you want to describe something you are now doing and are continuing to do, something not yet completed. To say, _I do it now_, is not satisfactory. Instead we say, _I am doing it now_.

You have by the verb phrase, _am doing_, described a progressive action, an action _going on_ in the present. You may also want to describe what you were doing yesterday, an action that continued or _progressed_ in the past. You would not say, _I built the house yesterday_ but, _I was building the house yesterday_. Again you may want to describe an action which will be _progressing_ or going on in the future. You do not say, _I shall build the house next week_ but, _I shall be building the house next week_.

So we have progressive verb phrases.

+134.+ +The present progressive describes an action as continuing or progressing in the present.+

+It is formed by using the present time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+

You remember that the present participle is formed by adding _ing_ to the simple form of the verb.

Present Progressive

_Singular_ _Plural_

1st. I am seeing. We are seeing.

2d. You are seeing. You are seeing.

3d. He is seeing. They are seeing.

+135.+ +The past progressive time form describes an action which was continuing or progressing in the past. It is formed by using the past time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+

Past Progressive

_Singular_ _Plural_

1st. I was seeing. We were seeing.

2d. You were seeing. You were seeing.

3d. He was seeing. They were seeing.

+136.+ +The future progressive describes an action which will be progressing or going on in the future. It is formed by using the future time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+

Future Progressive

_Singular_ _Plural_

1st. I shall be seeing. We shall be seeing.

2d. You will be seeing. You will be seeing.

3d. He will be seeing. They will be seeing.

+137.+ The perfect time forms also have a progressive form. There is a difference of meaning in the _present perfect_ and its progressive form.

You say for instance, _I have tried all my life to be free_. You mean you have tried until the present time and the inference is that now you have ceased to try. But, if you say, _I have been trying all my life to be free_, we understand that you have tried and are _still_ trying.

+138.+ +So we have the present perfect progressive which describes an action which progressed in the past and continued up to the present time. It is formed by using the present perfect form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+

Present Perfect Progressive

_Singular_ _Plural_

1st. I have been seeing. We have been seeing.

2d. You have been seeing. You have been seeing.

3d. He has been seeing. They have been seeing.

+139.+ +The past perfect progressive describes an action which was continuing or progressing at some past time. It is formed by using the past perfect time form of the verb _be_ and the present participle.+