The subject of history of English

37.Structures with Auxiliary do in Early Modern English

The verbs do and have are the most persistent in

keeping this old ending, at least they are used with it more frequently than the

others, especially in the function of an auxiliary.

The use of the second person singular ending is limited insomuch as

the pronoun falls out of use. Still, if the pronoun is used, the predicate verb

agrees with it. Notably, in Old and Middle English this ending in the past

tense was found only with the weak verbs, now strong verbs also take it.

The use of to be + the present participle of the verb is rare in the early modern English period, and the modern use, indicating immediate present action, is absent. Such uses as are found appear to intensify the action: ‘let your plough therfore be going and not cease’ (Hugh Latimer, 1549). There existed a gerundial construction which was similar in form—he is a-praying—and which may have influenced the development of the progressive use. The to be + present participle construction had no passive: ‘the ark was being built’ was expressed by the active the ark was building or the gerundial the ark was in building or a-building.

The use of the periphrastic construction in affirmative declarative sentences (I do or did love), however, declined rapidly in the late sixteenth century. After the do-construction had completely displaced the non-periphrastic one in questions and negatives, its use in affirmative declaratives became, in the eighteenth century, a marker of emphasis.