Hullo !
What do these old sentences mean exactly ?? Is this structure still used nowadays ?? And what's the alternative structure for these sentences ??
I am gone !!
The hour is come !!
********** NOT A TEACHER **********
Hello.
(1) I
think that I
may have an answer.
(2) Hundreds of years ago, the English people used
be + past
participle in order to express the present perfect with
certain verbs.
(3) Later, the English people started to use
have instead of
be.
(4) Today we use this "old" English sometimes in poetry.
(a) Our President Lincoln used this beautiful old English in one
of his famous speeches when he said:
We are met on a great ....
(5) Professor George O. Curme in his
A Grammar of the English Language
gives these examples:
The tree is fallen. = has fallen.
The melancholy days are come. = have come.
Our friend is departed.= has departed.
The birds were flown. = had flown.
I am arrived. = have arrived
This one is very special:
...they say is kill'd [killed] tonight. = has been killed.
Why is it special?
Because you (Shakespeare) wrote these words in one of
your plays!!!
THANK YOU