Expanded tenses in the old English orosius a syntactic strengthening*

Abstract

The present chapter reports the investigation into certain aspects of the periphrastic construction to be +present participle (e.g. NE: "he is teaching"; OE. "he is laerende") viewed as an example of a syntactic strengthening. The construc­ tion is usually referred to as "continuous tenses/form" or "progressive tenses/form", whereas Nickel (1966) uses "expanded form". Coming closest to this latter term, the "expanded tenses" employed here seems a convenient label for two reasons: a) the use of expanded tenses is not restricted to the expression of verbal aspect (Aspekt) or mode of verbal action (Aktionsart), which is implied by the use of either the term "continuous tenses/form" or the term "progressive tenses/form"; b) the expanded tenses are integrated into the English tense system, in the sense that they can be substituted with the respective non-expanded tenses without any change in the syntax of the clause, e.g.