Plain English - Part 28
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Part 28

They will have seen. They will have been seen.

+146.+ But these are not all the phases of time which we can express. We have progressive, continuous action. So each of these six time forms has a progressive form.

+PRESENT PROGRESSIVE+

+Active+ +Pa.s.sive+

_Singular_ _Singular_

I am seeing. I am being seen.

You are seeing. You are being seen.

He is seeing. He is being seen.

_Plural_ _Plural_

We are seeing. We are being seen.

You are seeing. You are being seen.

They are seeing. They are being seen.

+PAST PROGRESSIVE+

+Active+ +Pa.s.sive+

_Singular_ _Singular_

I was seeing. I was being seen.

You were seeing. You were being seen.

He was seeing. He was being seen.

_Plural_ _Plural_

We were seeing. We were being seen.

You were seeing. You were being seen.

They were seeing. They were being seen.

Only the Present and Past Progressive forms have a pa.s.sive form. The rest of the Progressive forms are expressed in the active forms only.

+FUTURE PROGRESSIVE+

_Singular_ _Plural_

I shall be seeing. We shall be seeing.

You will be seeing. You will be seeing.

He will be seeing. They will be seeing.

+PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+

_Singular_ _Plural_

I have been seeing. We have been seeing.

You have been seeing. You have been seeing.

He has been seeing. They have been seeing.

+PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+

_Singular_ _Plural_

I had been seeing. We had been seeing.

You had been seeing. You had been seeing.

He had been seeing. They had been seeing.

+FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE+

_Singular_ _Plural_

I shall have been seeing. We shall have been seeing.

You will have been seeing. You will have been seeing.

He will have been seeing. They will have been seeing.

Exercise 3

Write the four following sentences in their active and pa.s.sive forms, as the sentence, _War sweeps the earth_, is written.

1. Education gives power.

2. Knowledge frees men.

3. Labor unions help the workers.

4. The people seek justice.

+Present+ _Active_ War sweeps the earth.

_Pa.s.sive_ The earth is swept by war.

+Past+ _Active_ War swept the earth.

_Pa.s.sive_ The earth was swept by war.

+Future+ _Active_ War shall sweep the earth.

_Pa.s.sive_ The earth shall be swept by war.

+Pres. Per.+ _Active_ War has swept the earth.

_Pa.s.sive_ The earth has been swept by war.

+Past Per.+ _Active_ War had swept the earth.

_Pa.s.sive_ The earth had been swept by war.

+Fut. Per.+ _Active_ War shall have swept the earth.

_Pa.s.sive_ The earth shall have been swept by war.