Inclusive and Exclusive Processes

See pages 44—45.

The Beforepresent Dynamic and Current Relevance

See pages 43—44.

PROCESSES OBJECTIVELY ANTERIOR TO PRESENT TIME

The three basic functions of the Beforeprese.u Dynamic coincide with those of the Beforepresent Static (see pages 134—137).

Anteriority to Processes of General Validity (Cf. page 134). 1. "A man who has been three years biting his nails on a desert island, Jim, can't expect to appear as sane as you or me" (R. L. Stevenson); 2. "What's the matter with you, Keller? Don't you know when a man's been dream­ing about his woman?" (A. Maltz); 3. I do not now talk too much, except when I have been drinking, or when I meet someone who fougth with me in Texas (R. Graves)¹.

Purely Logical Conclusions (Cf. page 135): 1. Ron noticed that the labourer had sticking plaster beneath his chin. "What have you been up to?" he asked brightly. «Вееп arguing with that razor of yours?" (H. Smith); 2. "He has been buying things for children. There is a rattle which shows that one of them is very young" (A. C. Doyle); 3. "Not a bit of you visible — except —" He scrutinized the apparently empty space keenly. "You haven't been eating bread and cheese?" he asked, holding the invisible arm (H. G. Wells); 4. "Say, you've put on weight. Francis has been feeding you too good" (I. Stone); 5. When Tommy went back home that evening his mother saw the scratches on his face and the swollen nose, and said hopefully: "Have you been fighting" (D. Les­sing); 6. "Then, how do you know?" — "I see, I deduce. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant girl?" (A. C. Doyle)¹.

If, however, starting with a situation in the present, the speaker associates a verbal process with some particular circumstances in the past, he uses the Past Dynamic Tense, for example:

1. He crossed over and took her arm.— "No, no, no, "she said, "re­member what you were just saying. This is to be a real friendship, you want it that way" (Th. Dreiser); 2. "Everything seems to be secret these days," Joe said. "I was reading in the 'Courier' tonight they just passed that bill with this new law" (R. Gehman); 3. "You seem awfully sure about it." — "I was watching", I told him (E. Hemingway).

The Retrospective Beforepresent Dynamic (Cf. pages 136—137): 1. "Been getting careless about my-dictations. Slang. Colloquial. Cut it out" (S. Lewis); 2. "She and I have been going together a good deal" (Th. Dreiser); 3. "I'll tell you what, Julia — you've been getting con­foundedly sharp with me lately" (M. Arlen); 4. "He thinks he runs the town. It's too absurd the way that he's been having everything his own way here" (H. Walpole); 5. "Now let's come down to brass tacks. I've been making enquiries about you" (W. S. Maugham); 6. "But don't let me catch you with Moose Murray or Zel St. Clair," the Warden said. "I know they've been using your cabin, and if I catch them there you'll be taken in with them" (J. Aldridge).

Compare now the Beforepresent and the Past Dynamic in the fol­lowing examples:

1. "Vic, my dear," I can't stay. I don't know what you've been driving at — I doubt altogether if you know yourself" (E. Delafield) // "That's precisely what I was driving at" (P. Wodehouse); 2. In a few minutes the young man came back and led me into a long hall. In the corner Shri Ganesha sat in the attitude of meditation. "I've been expecting you," he said (Th. Dreiser) // As she appeared Dick said: "Ah, Jenny, all alone? We weren't expecting you yet awhile" (A. Kingsley); 3. "But why don't you go and see them? I've been talking to them, and they seem to be in a position similar to my own" (Th. Dreiser) // "They don't want any interference in this business. I was talking to Relihan and he says they won't stand for it all" (Th. Dreiser); 4. "I wonder indeed that you should care to acknowledge to any one that you have been spying at your window on the movements of some people." — "I may say that I was not spying in any sense of the word. I couldn't help it if the windows of my sitting-room looked down on Mr. Morris's house" (H. Walpole); 5. "I'll tell you what I've been thinking. I must have a hundred dollars, but I can't tell you for what now. I was thinking if I could get you to go to some good pawnshop with the things" (Th. Dreiser); 6. "Why, we've all been waiting to hear the news. I was waiting here to congratulate you" (A. Hope).

PROCESSES OBJECTIVELY ANTERIOR TO PAST TIME

Sometimes the Beforepresent Dynamic is used to represent verbal processes as anterior to objectively past processes which, in narrating vividly, the speaker represents as occurring in the present, for example:

1. A new thought pricks him and he turns his head. "Dedman? Are you still here?" — Dedman has been holding his cards in his lip and fanning through them. He looks up (J. Updike); 2. Leaving the lavatory he tries to enter that mind, to picture that hand. Zimmerman apparently has been waiting for him. He sidles from the stage entrance to the audi­torium. "George" (J. Updike); 3. The next night the same thing happens, so Paul decides to get his pistol and sleep in the bunkhouse himself. For a time things are quiet enough, and Paul finally decides that the men have been reading too many old mystery magazines and dozes off (B. Botkin).

PROCESSES OBJECTIVELY ANTERIOR TO FUTURE TIME

The Beforepresent Dynamic to refer to processes anterior to pro­cesses of objectively future time is used in the sources analysed only in object clauses, for example:

1. "I'll be so grown-up at the Morrises' this afternoon that they'll think I've been calling for years" (H. Walpole); 2. "When you get home, shall you tell Ann you've been driving with me?" (Th. White); 3. "They'll know I've been fooling them and they'll be sure to get sore" (Th. Dreiser).

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ADVERBIALS OF TIME COMBINED WITH THE BEFOREPRESENT DYNAMIC

The Beforepresent Dynamic combines with adverbials of time in 38.4% of its uses, 4.2% being temporal clauses or their equivalents.

The frequency list of adverbs and adverbial phrases of time (% of the total number of instances modified by an adverb or adverbial phrase):

for a year, etc. (40.6); all night, etc. (20.3); since six, ever since, etc. (7.7); lately, of late (6.5); just (6.1); long, how long (5.6); every day, often, etc. (2.2); today (1.7); during her absence, etc. (1.4); this winter, etc. (1.3); again, always (1.0, each); recently, tonight (0.8, each); already, constantly (0.7, each); at midnight, at night, in the past, now (0.3, each); before, earlier in the year, in the evening, just now, last night, meanwhile, this time (0.1, each).

A comparison of this list with that for the Beforepresent Static (page 138) reveals the facts that, first, the adverbs and adverbial phrases never, never before, never in my life, before¹, yet, ever, in my time, once, so far, long ago, suddenly and some others common with the Before-present Static are practically not used with the Beforepresent Dynamic, and, second, the adverbials denoting a period of time (for a year, all my life, etc.) are about 3—4 times more frequent with the Dynamic Tense than with the Static.

For a Year, etc.: see examples on page 169.

All Night, etc.: 1. "I've been dancing all night" (Th. Wolfe); 2. "What have you been doing with yourself all day?" (J. Braine); 3. "The car's been waiting all this time" (D. Parker).

Lately. Of Late (Lately — 96%, of late — 4%): 1. "What have you been doing lately?" (A. Cronin); 2. "Tell me all the gossip. Has he been making a fool of himself lately?" (Th. White); 3. "Now of late you have been looking stranger" (Mrs Hungerford).

Just: 1. "That's the book I've just been asking for" (H. Walpole); 2. "My sister has just been telling me about you" (Th. Dreiser); 3. "I've just been reading a book on the subject" (E. Wallace)¹.

Long, etc. How Long: 1. "Have you been waiting long?" (G. Gordon); 2. "I've been waiting long enough" (H. G. Wells); 3. "You've been saying that so long" (A. Cronin); 4. "Oh, come, you've been thinking it over too long" (Th. Dreiser). 5. "How longhave you been looking?" (Th. Dreiser).

Every Day, etc.: every day (37.8%); every (each) evening (18.8%); a day, afternoons, by the week, daily, every Sunday night, off and on, often (6.2%, each). Examples:

1. "They've been calling up every day to find out about him" (Th. Drei­ser); 2. "You've been going at this time every day for a week now, Ma­bel" (P. Abrahams); 3. She has been calling at the house almost every evening (S. Leacock); 4. "Haven't you noticed, Dinny, he's been drink­ing more each evening" (J. Galsworthy); 5. "I've been reading a good deal, eight or ten hours a day" (W. S. Maugham); 6. The gentlemanfriend with whom I have been walking afternoons asked me if he might call mornings (S. Leacock); 7. "Haven't you been paying him by the week?" (R. Lardner); 8. He told me to go ahead and ride Betsy, as I have been doing every Sunday night for two years now (E. Caldwell); 9. "It was just the awful pain that's been gripping me off and on for so long" (W. Saroyan); 10. "You're not exactly taken by surprize. I've been cal­ling rather often" (A. Hope).

Today: 1. "I have been bidding good-bye to some places today" (Th. Dreiser); 2. "Well, Dad, what have you been doing today?" (J. Gals­worthy); 3. "What's been happening today, Margery?" (J. Pudney).

During Her Absence, etc.: 1. "Strange things have been happening during my daughter's absence from the cottage" (G. Meredith); 2. "I see you and John have been quarrelling, Jane," said Diana, "during your walk on the moor" (Ch. Bronte); 3. "In point of fact I've been spending so little during the last few years, I must have quite a bit in hand" (W. S. Maugham).

This Winter, etc.: 1. This winter he has been putting the final touches to modernizing his equipment (D. Worker); 2. "I've been seeing mir­acles in that line this summer" (B. Tarkington); 3. "I haven't really been thinking about it all, this evening" (E. Delafield).

Again. Always. Recently: 1. Then she blurted out. "Dan's been smok­ing again" (J. Lindsay); 2. "I'll bet you've been talking to Ted Kirby again" (D. Carter); 3. "I know you'd say that. That's what you've always been saying to me" (A. Saxton); 4. "It's your future I've always been thinking of" (Th. Dreiser); 5. "I've been having a fairly exciting time recently" (J. Lindsay); 6. "I was just asking how you've been mak­ing out recently" (A. Kingsley).

Tonight. Already. Constantly: 1. "I've been feeling so introspective tonight" (A. Berkley); 2. "He's been talking to me about Harry tonight" (A. Hope); 3. "Now what you want is plenty of sun. Judging by the tan you've got, you've already been doing 4hat" (D. Cusack); 4. "I've been feeling the way with the other members of the School Committee already" (G. Gordon); 5. "I'll do what I can. Already I've been talking to Simon" (J. Pudney); 6. "I have been constantly admiring his discern­ment" (Miss Yonge).

At Midnight. At Night. In the Past. Now: 1. Queues for bread — which have been forming at midnight — are expected to be even larger this morning (D. Worker); 2. "Has he been burglarizing people's homes at night?" (I. Stone) (A purely logical conclusion made by the speaker who sees jewelry hidden in his son's room); 3. "We are together in this. I've been thinking of myself too much in the past" (H. Walpole); 4. "I've been taking eight to ten days to deposit them in the past. In a storm like this I'm entitled to move my pawns as best I can" (Th. Dreiser); 5. "Who's been doing anything to him now?" (Th. Dreiser); 6. "I've been phoning to them now" (J. Galsworthy)¹.

Before. Earlier in the Year. In the Evening: 1. "Now then, young lady, you can just cut out this Mr. Thompson, I've been meaning to mention it to you before"² (A. Kjngsley); 2. "He has been telling me that my pheasants have been causing you trouble earlier in the year" (J. Joyce); 3."My boy died last week and the boy I have now is a fool, so I haven't been dressing for dinner in the evening" (W. S. Maugham).

Just Now. Last Night. Meanwhile. This Time: 1. "Well, sometimes people like talking over their affairs with a third person — as Vivien has been doing with you just now" (A. Hope); 2. "I understand you know that young chop. He's been having grub with you in the Malabar last night — so I was told" (J. Conrad); 3. Meanwhile what has been happen­ing to Chinese? (S. Potter); 4. "I don't know what Rosalind has been saying this time" (R. Macaulay).

Time-Clause Modifiers. The Beforepresent Dynamic is modified by a time-clause or by a time-clause equivalent in 4.2% of its uses. In most cases the modifying clause contains a verb in the Past Static (84%). Other tenses are: the Beforepresent Static (6.9%), the Beforepresent Dynamic (5.7%), the Past Dynamic (2.3%), the Present Static (1.1%).

Time-Clause Modifiers with the Past Static: smcc-clause (92%); till' clause (4%), the-day-that clause, while-clause (2%, each).

A Since-Clause: 1. "I've been expecting something of this sort ever since I heard he was back" (J. Galsworthy); 2. "You have been hurting me since we were married" (M. Arnel); 3. "Whom else have you been talking to since I saw you?* (Th. Dreiser).

A Till-CIause. A While-Clause. A Time-Clause Equivalent: 1. "I have been thinking myself till I almost believed I heard John's voice under the window" (Miss Yonge); 2. "Well," exclaimed Annixter, "here you are at last. I've been watching that house till I was afraid the policeman would move me on" (F. Norris); 3. "While you were away I have been thinking" (P. Wodehouse); 4. "Jackson has been courting her ever since that day he took her out riding" (O'Henry).

Time-Clause Modifiers with the Beforepresent Static: 1. "Ever since he has been away he has been storming her with letters" (Th. Dreiser);

2. "Everything's been going to the devil while I've been away" (A. Hope);

3. "I have been thinking of this — every moment we have not been together" (H. G. Wells).

Time-Clause Modifiers with the Beforepresent Dynamic: 1. "Come on, now! You've had sleep enough. You've been sleeping as long as I have" (Th. Dreiser); 2. "It's what I've been living on while I've been studying art" (O'Henry); 3. "I know that all the time we've been going together you've been making love to her" (J. Braine).

Time-Clause Modifiers with the Past Dynamic and the Present Static: 1. "Do you know what I have been doing in there while the bastard was singing? I was praying" (G. Greene); 2. "All the time you were talking, I've been wanting this and I just couldn't bring myself to do it" (M. Wil­son); 3. "Ever since I can remember, we've been jumping and having setbacks" (J. Lindsay).

SIMULTANEOUS VERBAL PROCESSES

1. "The brute in man has been marking time and dreaming of pro­gress it has failed to make" (H. G. Wells); 2. "You have come out at last," he said. "Well, I have been waiting for you long, and listening" (Ch. Bronte); 3. "I've been working and supporting my mother since I was fifteen" (A. Maltz); 4. "Well, to be quite honest, I haven't been working very hard. Just seeing a few people" (H. Walpole); 5. "George, have you been listening to what I've been saying?" (J. Updike); 6. "Young gentlemen, I've finished the book while you've been barking at me" (G. Meredith); 7. "I've cleaned out the feed-pipe a couple of times, while you've been looking on" (S. Lewis); 8. "She's grown immensely since she's been lying down" (Miss Yonge).

SEQUENT VERBAL PROCESSES

1. A gossip-writer reports that Lord Hailsham has lately been jump­ing out of bed at 7 a. m. and cooking breakfast for his two schoolgirl daughters (D. Worker); 2. Mr. Pearce said today that many former Labour supporters have been coming up to him and congratulating him on his policy (D. Worker); 3. "You have been hiring and training foremen all your life" (I. Stone).

TYPES OF SENTENCES AND CLAUSES WITH THE BEFOREPRESENT DYNAMIC

51.4% of the instances of the Beforepresent Dynamic are uses in simple sentences, the frequency of different clauses being: subordi­nate clauses — 21.7%, independent clauses— 13.4%, principal clauses—10.8%, included (subject or predicative) clauses — 2.2%, parenthetical clauses — 0.5%.

Simple Sentences

75.5% of simple sentences are statements, 14.3% special questions. 10.2% general and disjunctive questions. Since statements have been sufficiently illustrated in this section, attention will be drawn below to special and general questions.

Special Questions. The frequency of special questions beginning with different interrogative words (figures in brackets indicate the number of instances and the percentage of the total quantity of special questions):

what (104:68%); who (16:10.4%); how!ong(14:9.1%); where (7:4.5%); how (6:3.9%); how much (2:1.3%); how many, which, why, since when (1:0.7%, each).

Thus, by far the most frequent interrogative word used in special questions containing the Beforepresent Dynamic is the pronoun what

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(104 instances from 153: 68%), how long and since when making only 9.1% and 0.7%, respectively.

The list below gives the number of special questions containing indicators that a verbal process takes place in a p e r і о d of time:

what (13); who (1); how long (14); where (4); how (1); how much (—); how many, which, why, since when (1).

The list shows that only 34 special questions from 153, that is only 22%, contain a linguistically expressed indicator of p e r і о d of time.

Examples of typical special questions with different interrogative words.

What. Special questions beginning with what contain the following verbs (figures indicate quantity):

do (63:60.6%); happen (9); say, tell, think (4, each); read (3); make (2); act, dream, drink, fill, get, give, go (on), hang (around), have, hold, live, play, teach, use, want, worry (1, each).

Examples:

1. "What have you been doing?" (Th. White); 2. He turned to my mother. "What have you been doing to this child?" (J. Updike); 3. "What have you been doing all the time?" (Th. Wolfe); 4. "What's been happen­ing to you?" (A. Cronin); 5. "What's been happening at home?" (A. Cronin); 6. "Nicholas came in to see me last evening." — "Oh yes, and what's Nicholas been saying?" (H. Walpole); 7. "What has he been telling you?" (J. Conrad); 8. "What have you been thinking about? Tell me" (K. Mans­field); 9. "What have you been reading?" — "Nothing," I said (E. Hem­ingway); 10. "You look like a cadaver. What have you been making to yourself?" (I. Stone); 11. What have you been dreaming of? (B. Shaw); 12. The patient did not awaken. "What's she been drinking?" the doctor asked (D. Parker); 13. "What sort of a mess have you been getting into?" (J. Lindsay); 14. "What's been going on here in the past year?" (M. Wil­son); 15. "Why've you been hanging around here all day?" (I. Shaw); 16. "What sort of weather have we been having?" (S. Leacock); 17. "What have you been playing at?" (A. Cronin); 18. "What have you been teach­ing to the little girl?" (Th. White); 19. "What dressing have you been using?" (J. London); 20. "And what fault is it if I do idle? What have I been wanting except to go off to London and make a decent living?" (H. Walpole); 21. "What have you been worrying about?" (S. Lewis).

Who. The following verbs are used in the sources analysed in 16 spe­cial questions beginning with who (whom):

talk (2); associate, attend, complain, do, fight, get, ill-treat, kill, knock, make (cause), play, put, speak, try (1, each).

Examples: 1. "Why," she cried, "Why, Jim, of course we'll live till spring." — "Who's been complaining?" (M. Le Sueur); 2. "Who's been putting such nonsense into your head?" (B. Shaw); 3. "What do you mean? Who has been speaking behind my back?" (A. Cronin); 4. "Whom else have you been talking to?" (Th. Dreiser).

How Long: go (on) (8:57%), feel, listen, look, sit, teach, work (1, each).

Examples: 1. "How long has this been going on?" (Th. Dreiser); 2. "How long have you been feeling like this?" (W. S. Maugham); 3. "How

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long have you been listening to that noise?" (G. Jenkins); 4. "How long have you been teaching at the University?" (A. Saxton).

Where: keep (oneself) (3); live (2); hide, play (1, each).

Examples: 1. "Where have you been keeping yourself?" (S. Lewis); 2. "Where have you been keeping yourself so long?" (Th. Dreiser); 3. "You're first time in the line for coal? Where have you been living? Buckingham Palace?" (J. Lindsay).

How (6): 1. (Father who had just returned home from Chicago): "And how's the bad girl been behaving herself since I left?" (Th. Dreiser); 2. (Bicket to Victorine who had been ill for some time): "How've you been breathing?" — "All right — much better" (J. Galsworthy); 3. (Eliza inquiring about her daughter's husband): "How's he been keeping?" (Th. Wolfe); 4. "How've you been keeping, Mr. Brandon?" — "Oh, I'm all right" (H. Walpole); 5. "Well, well," I said. "How are you, Hud­son?" — "I'm fine, Jones. How have you been keeping?" (M. Arlen).

How Much. How Many. Which. Why. Since When: 1. "How much sleep have you been getting?" (Th. Wolfe); 2. "How much have you been making as a travelling agent?" (S. Lewis); 3. "Who do you mean by 'everybody'? How many other ladies have you been consoling?" (S. Lew­is); 4. "I haven't seen you for four years. Which way have you been travelling?"—"Texas" (O'Henry); 5. "Why have you been looking so peaked lately?" — "Oh, I just don't feel very well" (S. Lewis); 6. "Since when have you been wearing glasses?" (M. Wilson).

General Questions. The following verbs in the Beforepresent Dynamic are used in the sources analysed in general questions:

talk (8 times); do (5); drink, go, make, play, take, work (3, each); eat, fight, follow, read, run, see, tell, wait, write (2, each); bite, bur­glarize, buy, check, court, dabble, dance, fish, flow, gallivant, gamble, give, hack, happen, have, hear, help, hit, kill, listen, look, miss, need, pay, pound, quarrel, quest, take, ride, rob, say, show, sing, sit, smoke, speculate, starve, suffer, think, try, watch, wonder, worry, wound (1, each).

Examples: 1. "Have you been talking to Hilary?" — "Yes" (J. Gals­worthy); 2. "What's the matter?" Have you been doing something wrong?" (Th. White); 3. "I think you're drunk. Have you been drinking?" (A. Maltz); 4. "My poor dear, you look half dead. Have things been going very wrong?" (Miss Yonge); 5. "Tell me all the gossip. Has he been mak­ing a fool of himself lately?" (Th. White); 6. "Have you been playing cards very much?" — "None at all" (E. Hemingway); 7. He looks so sick that Philips asks, "Have you been taking anything?" (J. Updike);

8. "You've got thinner. Have you been working too hard?" (D. Cusack);

9. "Have you been following the strike, Martin?" (A. Saxton); 10. "Have you been seeing lawyers much?" (J. Galsworthy).

Disjunctive Questions: 1. "Victor's been talking to you, hasn't he?" (J. Galsworthy); 2. "Oh!" he said: "So he's been trying to palm that off on you, has he?" (J. Galsworthy); 3. "I never saw you. You haven't been working over at the hotel very long, have you?" (Th. Dreiser).

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Subordinate Clauses

The frequency of different subordinate clauses (455 instances): object clauses (210:46.2%), attributive clauses (174:38.3%), adverbial clauses except those of time (38:8.3%), adverbial clauses of time (33:7.2%)'.

Object Clauses: 1. "George, I hear you haven't been feeling too well" (J. Updike); 2. "I've been told that you've been having a bit of trouble" (C. P. Snow); 3. "I know that you've been — how shall I put it? — seeing a bit of Patrick" (A. Kingsley).

Attributive Clauses: 1. "Well, I don't understand a word that you've been saying" (R. Stevenson); 2. "This land that we have sighted is the place we have been sailing to" (R. Stevenson); 3. "Listen, you're the very man I've been wanting to meet" (A. Cronin).

Adverbial Clauses (except those of time): conditional clauses (30.6%), clauses of comparison and manner (25.0%), clauses of reason (19.4%), clauses of concession (13.9%), clauses of result (11.1%). Examples:

1. "Have I been doing something wrong? I'm sorry if I have" (Th. White); 2. "If he has been telling lies why don't you have it out with him?" (H. Walpole); 3. "I don't feel we can go on as we have been doing" (Th. Dreiser); 4. "After all, he has been practising more than I have" (H. Walpole); 5. "I know it because I've been doing it" (S. Leacock); 6. "I happen to know he did because she's been giving David such a hell of a time lately" (H. Walpole); 7. "They can't pull this sword out at all, although they have all been trying hard" (Th. White); 8. "I'm a contr­alto singer. But things have been so bad lately that I've been doing little (K. Mansfhld).

Sentences with Included Clauses

Of 47 sentences with an Included Clause 32 contain a Subject Clause and 15 (32%) a Predicative Clause. Examples:

1. "Throw some pebbles in the water." — "That's what I've been doing" (A. Saxton); 2. "You look as though you've been sleeping in a hollow log" (D. Cusack); 3. "Oh, Mat! That's what I've been trying to tell you all along" (E. O'Neill); 4. "What you've been doing is really horrible" (D. Parker); 5. That she has been making fun of him is beyond doubt (Mrs. Hungerford); 6. "What she has been saying to me has made me feel hopeless" (Th. Hardly).