| Future Perfect Progressive | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| 1st. I shall have been seeing. | We shall have been seeing. |
| 2d. You will have been seeing. | You will have been seeing. |
| 3d. He will have been seeing. | They will have been seeing. |
Exercise 1
In the following sentences mark all the progressive forms, and note whether they are present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect or future perfect.
- The old order is passing.
- Men will be struggling for freedom so long as slavery exists.
- The class struggle has been growing more intense as wealth has accumulated.
- The workers are realizing their power.
- He had been talking for an hour when we arrived.
- Next Monday I shall have been working for one year.
- The workers will be paying interest on war debts for generations to come unless they repudiate.
- While Marx was writing his books, he lived in abject poverty.
- The Industrial Relations Commission has been investigating industrial conditions.
- Ferrer was martyred because the Modern Schools were educating the people.
- The nations of Europe had been preparing for war for many years.
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
141. Notice carefully the following sentences; select the subjects in these sentences which show who or what performed the action; select the subjects that show who or what receives the action. Do you notice any difference in the meaning of these sentences? Do you notice any difference in their form?
- The engine struck the man.
- The man was struck by the engine.
- The system enslaves men.
- Men are enslaved by the system.
- Leaders often betray the people.
- The people are often betrayed by leaders.
Let us look carefully at the first two sentences. You remember when we studied transitive verbs we found that every transitive verb had an object which was the receiver of the action expressed in the verb. Now you notice in this first sentence, The engine struck the man, we have the transitive verb struck. Engine is the subject of the verb and man is the object of the verb, the receiver of the action expressed by the verb struck.
Now in the sentence, The man was struck by the engine, we have the same thought expressed but in a different manner. The word man, which was the object of the verb struck in the first sentence, has now become the subject of the sentence, and we have changed our verb form from struck to was struck. In the first sentence of the subject, engine was the actor. In the second sentence, The man was struck by the engine, the subject of the sentence, man, is the receiver of the action expressed in the verb.
142. So we have thus changed the verb form from struck to was struck to indicate that the subject of the verb is the receiver of the action. Struck is called the active form of the verb because the subject of the verb is the actor. Was struck is called the passive form of the verb because the subject receives the action. Passive means receiving. In the passive form the subject is the receiver of the action expressed in the verb.