Miscellaneous

To be Going + Infinitive (see also page 107): 1. I felt suddenly that something was going to happen (J. Braine); 2. In a few minutes the group of men had laid logs where the walls of the house were going to stand (W. S. Gray); 3. And he began thinking, stroking his upper lip, where the moustache was going to be (Th. White); 4. "What were you going to say?" (J. Galsworthy).

In American English, the verb to fix is also used sometimes in this construction, as:

He was fixing to light his cigar when he heard a sound behind him (E. Allan).

References to Facts of Objective Reality (see also page 107): 1. Added to this there was the fact that it was getting dark (Th. White); 2. "The baby's crying," she said, and went out, though she hadn't heard any­thing, and in fact the baby was slumbering, at peace with the world and his own stomach (J. Lindsay); 3."As a matter of fact, I was just telling the inspector that I don't remember it" (A. Berkley).

Successive -ing Forms: 1. He didn't understand what she was doing lying there (G. Greene); 2. Wilson, who was ahead, was kneeling shoot­ing (E. Hemingway); 3. It was dusk and I was lying looking at the rows of beds (E. Hemingway); 4. She was sitting talking to one of the girls (I. Shaw); 5. He was sleeping standing (H. Walpole); 6. A young man was standing scowling over us (J. Braine); 7. He was smiling, showing, his yellow teeth (G. Gordon); 8. Bains was urging, hoping, entreating commanding, and the girl looking at the tea and crying (G. Greene); 9. He was learning printing and binding (R. Macaulay).

The Past Dynamic + Just. The Past Dynamic frequently combines with the particle just having the meaning only, merely. Examples:

1. "That you, Ronald? I was just going to ring you up, my man" (A. Berkley); 2." I was just looking for you" (Th. Dreiser); 3." Well —what a surprise!" —"So you aren't sleeping?" —"I was just reading for a bit" (M. Arlen); 4. "All right. I'll leave the details. I was only testing cred­ibility" (G. Gordon); 5. "I know that. I was merely thinking of the strangeness of it" (Th. Dreiser).

To be Dying + Infinitive (see page 108): 1. I was dying to hear the news (P. Joyce); 2. He protested that he didn't want to, when in reality, he was dying to tell (Th. Dreiser).

The Past Dynamic in the Till-clause: 1. "He didn't answer till we were crossing Piccadilly Circus" (E. Wallace); 2. The frost held for many weeks, until the birds were dying rapidly (D. H. Lawrence); 3. For two years the battle raged until both men were hanging by a thread over the pit of bankruptcy (M. Quin).

To Be Sitting Down, Standing Up, Lying Down, etc. The verbs kneel, lean, lie, sit, stand in the Past (as well as in the Present) Dynamic, when combined with such adverbs as back, down, up, are commonly used to express not the process of assuming but the process of being in the position indicated by them. For example:

1. "Anthony," she shouted, "I'm going up town." — Anthony, who

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was kneeling down at the side of the duckpond and breaking its frozen surface, hurried eagerly to join him (G. Gordon); 2. "I saw the dark figure of Lew. He was leaning back with both his elbows on the rail" (E. Wallace); 3. The bear was lying down some fifty yards away and afforded a poor shot (E. Seton-Thompson); 4. I left them and went back to Aymo. He had two girls on the seat with him and was sitting back and smoking (E. Hemingway); 5. "My lady was sitting down under a bush resting a little" (H. G. Wells); 6. She looked then at the bed. Miss Beringer, propped with pillows, was sitting up, her woolen waist-coat tied up by the sleeves around her neck (H. Walpole); 7. He wasn't, to be quite accurate, kneeling at all; he was standing up, very tall and broad, waving his hands (S. Lewis).

Practically the only exception is to sit + down (to dinner, break­fast, etc.) which is used in the meaning to be about to have dinner, etc., as in "They arrived at lunch time. Lady Mont was just sitting down, and greeted them with: 'My dears, but how provoking!" (J. Galsworthy).