UNIT 7

DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

FUTURE CONTINUOUS

Future continuous, form
The future continuous is made up of two elements: the simple future of the verb 'to be' + the present participle (base+ing)

Subject simple future, 'to be' base+ing
You will be watching

Example: to stay, future continuous

Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I will be staying I won't be staying Will I be staying?
You will be staying You won't be staying Will you be staying?
He, she, it will be staying He won't be staying Will she be staying?
We will be staying We won't be staying Will we be staying?
You will be staying You won't be staying Will you be staying?
They will be staying They won't be staying Will they be staying?

Future continuous, function
The future continuous refers to an unfinished action or event that will be in progress at a time later than now.
It is used:

  1. to project ourselves into the future and see something happening: This time next week I will be sun-bathing in Bali.
  2. to refer to actions/events that will happen in the normal course of events: I'll be seeing Jim at the conference next week.
  3. in the interrogative form, especially with 'you', to distinguish between a simple request for information and an invitation: Will you be coming to the party tonight? (= request for information) Will you come to the party? (= invitation)
  4. to predict or guess about someone's actions or feelings, now or in the future: You'll be feeling tired after that long walk, I expect.

More examples:

  1. events in progress in the future:
    When you are in Australia will you be staying with friends?
    This time next week you will be working in your new job.
    At four thirty on Tuesday afternoon I will be signing the contract.

  2. events/actions in normal course of events:
    I'll be going into town this afternoon, is there anything you want from the shops?
    Will you be using the car tomorrow? - No, you can take it.
    I'll be seeing Jane this evening - I'll give her the message.

  3. asking for information:
    Will you be bringing your friend to the pub tonight?
    Will Jim be coming with us?

  4. predicting or guessing:
    You'll be feeling thirsty after working in the sun.
    He'll be coming to the meeting, I expect.
    You'll be missing the sunshine now you're back in England.

 

FUTURE PERFECT

Future perfect, form
The future perfect is composed of two elements: the simple future of the verb to have (will have) + the past participle of the main verb:

Subject will have past participle
He will have finished

Example: to arrive, future perfect

Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I'll have arrived I won't have arrived Will I have arrived?
You'll have arrived You won't have arrived Will you have arrived?
He'll have arrived She won't have arrived Will it have arrived?
We'll have arrived We won't have arrived Will we have arrived?
You'll have arrived You won't have arrived Will you have arrived?
They'll have arrived They won't have arrived Will they have arrived?

Future perfect, function
The future perfect refers to a completed action in the future. When we use this tense we are projecting ourselves forward into the future and looking back at an action that will be completed some time later than now.
It is often used with a time expression using by + a point in future time.

Examples:

  1. I'll have been here for six months on June 23rd.
  2. By the time you read this I'll have left.
  3. You will have finished your work by this time next week.

 

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Future perfect continuous, form
This form is composed of two elements: the future perfect of the verb to be (will have been) + the present participle of the main verb (base+ing):

Subject will have been base+ing
We will have been living

Affirmative
I will have been working
Negative
I won't have been working
Interrogative
Will I have been working?
Interrogative negative
Won't I have been working?

Example: to live, Future Perfect continuous

Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I'll have been living I won't have been living Will I have been living?
You'll have been living You won't have been living Will you have been living?
He'll have been living He won't have been living Will she have been living?
We'll have been living We won't have been living Will we have been living?
You'll have been living You won't have been living Will you have been living?
They'll have been living They won't have been living Will they have been living?

Future perfect continuous, function
Like the future perfect simple, this form is used to project ourselves forward in time and to look back. It refers to events or actions in a time between now and some future time, that may be unfinished.

Examples:

  1. I will have been waiting here for three hours by six o'clock.
  2. By 2001 I will have been living here for sixteen years.
  3. By the time I finish this course, I will have been learning English for twenty years.
  4. Next year I will have been working here for four years.

 

STUDY GUIDE

Reference: EG: 24; PEG: 211-216, PEGE: 52-54, 58, 135-138.

1. Use the future simple or the future continuous in the following sentences.

  1. This time next week I (lie) on the beach in Spain.
  2. When you get to the station, I (wait) for you outside.
  3. Matsuki (open) their first factory in Europe next year.
  4. Give me the bottle. I (open) it for you.
  5. I won't have time to meet you next week. I (organize) the school timetable.
  6. Perhaps John (organize) the games at the party.
  7. You (come) to the concert? (invitation)
  8. You (come) to the concert? (asking about a possible previous arrangement)

2. Complete the sentences using the future perfect or the future perfect continuous.

  1. I started to learn Italian last year. In 2002 I (learn) Italian for two years.
  2. I'm going to paint the front door. I'll finish it before you get back. When you get back I (paint) the front door.
  3. If you arrive late at the sale, the best things (go).
  4. Let's stay here until the rain (stop).
  5. Next month I (know) Tom for 25 years.
  6. He says they (finish) the house by the end of the month.
  7. On Sunday I (live ) in this house for two years.
  8. Some people believe that by the year 2050, computers (replace) teachers.

3. Insert the simple future, the future progressive or the future perfect simple form of the verbs in italics in the text below. The first one has been done as an example.

FLYING JUNK

By the middle of the 21st century we (build) … space stations which (circle)… the Earth and (probably circle)… the Moon, too. We (establish) … bases on planets like Mars. At present, we use radar to 'watch' nearly 8000 objects in space. In addition, there are at least 30,000 bits of rubbish from the size of marbles to the size of basket balls flying round the Earth. These (increase)… in number by the year 2050 and (orbit)… the Earth. All these bits and pieces are watched by NORAD (North American Radar Defense Command). NORAD (have)… more and more rubbish to watch as the years go by. Some bits fall back to earth, like the Russian satellite C954, which crashed in the Northern Territories of Canada in 1978. Crashing junk could give us a bad headache. Most of the stuff (stay)… up there (we hope)! The sad fact is that we who are alive today (not clear up)… our own junk tomorrow. Perhaps we (just watch)… from some other (safe)… place as it goes round and round the Earth!

 

LEARNING ABILITY

Look at the relation between the words given in bold, then decide which one of the four word pairs given shows the most similar relationship in meaning.

  1. LISTEN : HEAR
    1. walk - leave
    2. feel - touch
    3. watch - see
    4. cook - eat

  2. WRITE : PAPER
    1. cook - kitchen
    2. study - school
    3. watch - TV
    4. drive - road

  3. COUNTRY : COUNTY
    1. car - metal
    2. money - coin
    3. novel - chapter
    4. family - children

  4. CAR : PETROL
    1. aeroplane - air
    2. refrigerator - electricity
    3. steam - steamboat
    4. disabled - wheelchair

  5. BIRD : SKY
    1. soup - dumpling
    2. car - car park
    3. ant - beehive
    4. fish - water

  6. BIRTHDAY : CAKE
    1. May Day - parade
    2. Christmas - tree
    3. New Year's Eve - party
    4. Easter - Monday

  7. AEROPLANE : SHIP
    1. heart - blood
    2. cup - mug
    3. table - plate
    4. snow - mountain

  8. BOOTS : CLIMB
    1. slippers - home
    2. helmet - motorcycle
    3. shopping bag - money
    4. toothpaste - bathroom

  9. KEYBOARD : COMPUTER
    1. referee - football
    2. knife - bread
    3. seat - theatre
    4. steering wheel - car

  10. DOCTOR : PRESCRIPTION
    1. crime - revenge
    2. chef - recipe
    3. waiter - bill
    4. person - description

- key to Unit 7 -

 

Literature

Defoe: Robinson Crusoe

English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, author of ROBINSON CRUSOE (1719), a story of a man shipwrecked alone on an island. Along with Samuel Richardson, Defoe is considered the founder of the English novel. Before his time stories were usually written as long poems or dramas. He produced some 200 works of nonfiction prose in addition to close 2 000 short essays in periodical publications, several of which he also edited.

"One day, about noon, going towards my boat, I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen on the sand."
(from Robinson Crusoe)

Daniel Defoe was born as the son of James Foe, a City tradesman and member of the Butchers' Company. His father's stubborn puritanism - the The Foes were Dissenters, Protestants who did not belong to the Anglican Church - come occasionally comes through Defoe's writing. He studied at Charles Morton's Academy, London. Although his Nonconformist father intended him for the ministry, Defoe plunged into politics and trade, travelling extensively in Europe. Throughout his life Defoe also wrote about mercantile projects, but his business ventures failed and left him with large debts, amounting over seventeen thousand pounds. This burden shadodew the remainder of his life, which he once summoned:

"In the School of Affliction I have learnt more Philosophy than at the Academy, and more Divinity than from the Pulpit: In Prison I have learnt to know that Liberty does not consist in open Doors, and the free Egress and Regress of Locomotion. I have seen the rough side of the World as well as the smooth, and have in less than half a Year tasted the difference between the Closet of a King, and the Dungeon of Newgate."

In the early 1680s Defoe was a commission merchant in Cornhill but went bankrupt in 1691. In 1684 he married Mary Tuffley; they had two sons and five daughters. Defoe was involved in Monmouth rebellion in 1685 against James II. While hiding as a fugitive in a churchyard after the rebellion was put down, he noticed the name Robinson Crusoe carved on a stone, and later gave it to his famous hero. Defoe became a supporter of William, joining his army in 1688, and gaining a mercenary reputation because change of allegiance. From 1695 to 1699 he was an accountant to the commissioners of the glass duty and then associated with a brick and tile works in Tilbury. The business failed in 1703.

In 1702 Defoe wrote his famous pamphlet THE SHORTEST-WAY WITH THE DISSENTERS. Himself a Dissenter he mimicked the bloodthirsty rhetoric of High Anglican Tories and pretended to argue for the extermination of all Dissenters. Nobody was amused, Defoe was arrested in May 1703, but released in return for services as a pamphleteer and intelligence agent to Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, and the Tories. While in prison Defoe wrote a mock ode, HYMN TO THE PILLORY (1703). The poem was sold in the streets, the audience drank to his health while he stood in the pillory and read aloud his verses.

"Actions receive their tincture from the times,
And as they change are virtues made of crimes."

(from 'A Hymn to the Pillory')

When the Tories fell from power Defoe continued to carry out intelligence work for the Whig government. In his own days Defoe was regarded as an unscrupulous, diabolical journalist. Defoe used a number of pen names, including Eye Witness, T.Taylor, and Andrew Morton, Merchant. His most unusual pen name was 'Heliostrapolis, secretary to the Emperor of the Moon,' used on his political satire The Consolidator, or Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon (1705). His political writings were widely read and made him powerful enemies. His most remarkable achievement during Queen Anne's reign was the periodical A Review of the Affairs of France, and of All Europe (1704-1713). It was published weekly, later three times a week and resembled a modern newspapers. From 1716 to 1720 Defoe edited Mercurius Politicus, then the Manufacturer (1720), and the Director (1720-21). He was contributor from 1715 to periodicals published by Nathaniel Mist.

Defoe was one of the first to write stories about believable characters in realistic situations using simple prose. He achieved literary immortality when in April 1719 he published Robinson Crusoe, which was based partly on the memoirs of voyagers and castaways, such as Alexander Selkirk. However, at first Defoe had troubles in finding a publisher for the book and eventually received L10 for the manuscript. Employing a first-person narrator and apparently genuine journal entries, Defoe created a realistic frame for the novel, which distinguished it from its predecessors. The account of a shipwrecked sailor was a comment both on the human need for society and the equally powerful impulse for solitude. But it also offered a dream of building a private kingdom, a self-made Utopia, and being completely self-sufficient. By giving a vivid reality to a theme with large mythic implications, the story have since fascinated generations of readers as well as authors like Joachim Heinrich Campen, Jules Verne, R.L. Stevenson, Johann Wyss (Der schweizerische Robinson), Michael Tournier (Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique), J.M. Coetzee (Foe), and other creators of Robinsonade stories.

During the remaining years, Defoe concentrated on books rather than pamphlets. At the age of 62 he published MOLL FLANDERS, A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR and COLONEL JACK. His last great work of fiction, ROXANA, appeared in 1724. Defoe's choice of a female protagonist in Moll Flanders reflected his interest in the female experience. Moll is born in Newgate, where her mother is under sentence of death for theft. Herr sentence is commuted to transportation to Virginia. The abandoned child is educated by a gentlewoman. Moll suffers romantic disillusionment when she is ruined at the hands of a cynical male seducer, she becomes a whore and a thief, but finally she gains the status of a gentlewoman through the spoils of a successful colonial plantation.

In the 1720s Defoe had ceased to be politically controversial in his writings, and he produced several historical works, a guide book A TOUR THRO THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN (1724-27, 3 vols.), THE GREAT LAW OF SUBORDINATION CONSIDERED (1724), an examination of the treatment of servants, and THE COMPLETE ENGLISH TRADESMAN (1726).

Wherever God erects a house of prayer,
The Devil always builds a chapel there;
And 'twill be found, upon examination,
The latter has the largest congregation
.
(from The True-Born Englishman, 1701)

Phenomenally industrious, Defoe produced in his last years also works involving the supernatural, THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DEVIL (1726) and AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY AND REALITY OF APPARITIONS (1727). He died on 26 April, 1731, at his lodgings in Ropemaker's Alley, Moorfields.

Robinson Crusoe (1719) - based on the story of William Selkirk. He went to sea in 17904 under William Dampier and was put ashore at his own request on the island of Juan Fernandez in the Pacific. The island was an uninhabited island , and he survived there until his rescue in 1709 by Woodes Rogers. Selkirk claimed that he had become a "better Christian" and it was a positive experience. As a journalist Defoe must have heard his story and possibly interviewed him. Selkirk never did go back to the Pacific island, as Defoe had Crusoe do in two sequels. Selkirk became known as a eccentric. It is said the taught alley cats how to do strange dances. - Robinson Crusoe is a mariner - actually an arrogant slave trader - who runs away to the sea at the age of 19 despite parental warnings. He suffers a number of misfortunes at the hands of Barbary pirates and the elements. Finally Crusoe is shipwrecked off South America. With salvaging needful things from the ship, including the Bible, Crusoe manages to survive in the island. "The Country appear'd so fresh," he writes in his journal, "so green, so flourishing, every thing being in a constant Verdure, or Flourish of Spring, that it looked like a planted garden." He stays in the island 28 years, two months and nineteen days. - Aided with his enterprising behavior, Crusoe adapts into his alien environment. After several lone years he sees a strange footprint in the sand. Savages arrive for a cannibal feast. One of their prisoners manages to escape. Crusoe meets later the frightened native and christens him Man Friday and teaches him English. Later an English ship arrives. Crusoe rescues the captain and crew from the hands of mutineers and returns to England. Robinson marries and promises before end of the novel to describe his adventures in Africa and China. - Sequels to the story, THE FARTHER ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE (1719), in which Crusoe revisits the island and loses Friday in an attack by savages, and THE SERIOUS REFLECTIONS... OF ROBINSON CRUSOE (1729), did not gain wide recognition. - In Luis Bunuel's film version from 1952 the director sees Crusoe as a tortured soul,

"haunted by the ghost of his overbearing father (the hallucinatory sequences are pure Bunuel), anguished at the failure of his religion to console him (his despair is mocked when his recitation out loud of the 23rd Psalm returns in a hollow echo), and frustrated in his sexual repressions (cleverly conveyed by a scene where his drying garments are blown by the wind into a suggestive female form."
(from Novels into Film by John C. Tibbets and James M. Welsh, 1999)

For further reading:

Selected works:

 

History

The Glorious Revolution and the Birth of Great Britain

Reference: David McDowall, An Illustrated History of Britain, Longman, 1995, 94-105.

Oliver Cromwell and the Restoration

The Commonwealth. The next eleven years saw the rule of the Commonwealth (1649-60). Ostensibly Parliament was in control, but the real power lay with Cromwell and the army. It was just as well that the army was still standing, for Charles' son landed in Scotland, had himself declared Charles II, and invaded England. He was defeated by Cromwell at Worcester (1650) and forced to hide in a tree to avoid capture, before successfully fleeing to France.

The Protectorate. Eventually the conflict between Cromwell and Parliament came to a head with Cromwell establishing the Protectorate (1653-58). This was essentially a monarchy by another name, with Cromwell at its head. His rule was a time of rigid social and religious laws on radical Protestant lines.

Cromwell's government divided the country into 11 districts, each under a major general, who were responsible not only for tax collection and justice, but for guarding public morality as well. Church attendance was compulsory. Horse racing and cockfights were banned, plays were prohibited, gambling dens and brothels were closed, as were many alehouses. Drunkenness and blasphemy were harshly dealt with. People being people, these measures were extremely unpopular.

Cromwell had a bodyguard of 160 men during the Protectorate. In the end he was just as dictatorial and autocratic as Charles and James had been. He called Parliament when he needed money and dismissed it when it argued. On Cromwell's death his son, Richard, tried to carry on as Lord Protector (1658-59), but he was not the forceful character that his father had been.

The results of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate confirmed in the English a hatred of military rule and the severe Puritanism associated with it. From this point on Parliament opposed Puritanism vigourously.

The Restoration. In 1660 Parliament offered to restore the monarchy if Charles would agree to concessions for religious toleration and a general amnesty. Charles was not as hard-headed as his father, and he agreed to the proposals. He returned to London on a wave of popular support to be crowned Charles II (1660-85).

Charles' closest five advisors had initials which formed the word "Cabal", which came to mean a secret association because they were suspected to be the real power behind the throne.

The Restoration was notable for a relaxation of the strict Puritan morality of the previous decades. Theatre, sports, and dancing were revived. Charles' court was notable for its revelry and licentiousness.

While Charles was enjoying his new court, he was less than successful internationally.
The English fought a losing naval war with the Dutch, and England's presence on the high seas had never been so low.


London at the time of the
Great Fire

Plague and Fire. Things on dry land weren't all that much better. In 1665 the Great Plague hit London, decimating the population.The following year the Great Fire burned 450 acres and left large parts of the capital in ruins. The fire is said to have started in a bakehouse at the bottom of Pudding Lane. Today, the height of Christopher Wren's London Monument in King William Street is the distance from that point to the site of the bakehouse. The best description of this period of English history comes from the meticulous diaries of Samuel Pepys, a high official in the naval office.

Wren and the Building of St. Paul's. One of the positive consequences of the London Fire was that Old St. Paul's Cathedral, which had been badly in need of renovation, was damaged beyond repair. Within days of the fire, architect Christopher Wren presented the king with a plan for a new cathedral. With some alterations this became the magnificent church that stands today St. Paul's Cathedral. Wren was master of works for the construction of the cathedral for the rest of his life, in addition to being responsible for scores of other churches and the Royal Naval College at Greenwich.

Changes in Government. Under Charles II there was a general move towards a cabinet style of government. Groups formed which were the fore-runners of the later Tories (the court party, supporting royal prerogative), and the Whigs (the country party, supporting Parliamentary rights in moderation). The name "Whigs" came from the Whiggamores, Scottish rebels against the king, while the "Tories" were named after Catholic royalist rebels in Ireland.


Titus Oates revealing
the Popish Plot

The Popish Plot. In 1678 an unsavory character named Titus Oates alleged a Catholic plot to murder Charles and establish Catholicism. In the wake of the Popish Plot Catholics were excluded from Parliament, some were arrested, and some were killed. This was only one of a series of real or alleged Catholic plots against the king.

On the judicial front, the Habeus Corpus Act (1679) made justice officials responsible for the welfare of prisoners in their care, provided for a speedy trial, and ensured that a person could not be tried twice for the same crime.

Social conditions during the 17th century were abysmal. Laws were harsh, and religious non-conformists and Catholics faced heavy discrimination. On the other hand, things were so much better in England than elsewhere in Europe that England was an example of model government to such continental commentators as Voltaire and Montesquieu. Perspective is everything.

The Clarendon Code

Overview. The Clarendon Code was a series of four legal statutes passed between 1661-1665 which effectively re-established the supremacy of the Anglican Church after the interlude of Cromwell's Commonwealth, and ended toleration for dissenting religions.

The Code was named for Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, who was Charles II's Lord Chancellor. Clarendon enforced the laws despite his personal opposition to many of the provisions of the Code.

Corporation Act (1661) - This first of the four statutes which made up the Clarendon Code required all municipal officials to take Anglican communion, formally reject the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. The effect of this act was to exclude Nonconformists from public office.

Act of Uniformity (1662) - This second statute made use of the Book of Common Prayer compulsory in religious service. Upwards of 2000 clergy refused to comply with this act, and were forced to resign their livings.

Coventicle Act (1664) - This act forbade coventicles (a meeting for unauthorized worship) of more than 5 people who were not members of the same household. The purpose was to prevent dissenting religious groups from meeting.

Five-Mile Act (1665) - This final act of the Clarendon Code was aimed at Nonconformist ministers, who were forbidden from coming within 5 miles of incorporated towns or the place of their former livings. They were also forbidden to teach in schools. This act was not rescinded until 1812.

Effect of the Code. The Clarendon Code effectively ended any possibility of the Anglican Church and Nonconformists coming together under one religious and social banner. The religions of Britain were deeply polarized, and religious intolerance would be an ever-present feature of British life for at least the next century.

Stuart England - the later Stuarts


James II

James II.

Charles II was succeeded by his brother James II (1685-88). James was a Catholic, and he made several awkward attempts to re-establish the rights of Catholics, which succeeded only in allying the Whigs and Tories against him.

In 1685 Charles' illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, launched a rebellion with the support of the farmers and labourers of Somerset. The Pitchfork Rebellion ended at the Battle of Sedgemoor, often called the last battle fought upon British soil. The aftermath to the Monmouth's Rebellion was a speedy and savage series of trials of those who had supported him. These were the Bloody Assizes, presided over by the infamous Judge Jeffreys, who condemned hundreds of men to death.

Popular opinion grew against James after a son was born to him, raising the prospect of a Catholic dynasty. Parliament extended an invitation to the firmly Protestant William and Mary of Orange (modern Holland) to take the English throne. James fled to France, where Louis XIV set him up with a Stuart "court".

William and Mary (1689-1702) ruled England jointly. Parliament ensured that they would never again have to deal with the like of James, by passing the 1689 Bill of Rights, which prohibited Catholics from ruling. In 1694 another watershed was reached, when a group of merchants willing to loan the government money banded together to form the Bank of England.


Queen Anne

Queen Anne.

William outlived Mary, and he was followed by the second daughter of James II, Queen Anne (1702-14). For the first part of her reign Anne was under the influence of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and her husband, John Churchill, ancestors of you know who. Churchill was head of England's forces in the War of the Spanish Succession on the continent.

His spectacular successes, notably at the Battle of Blenheim, prompted Anne to provide the land and the funds for the erection of the magnificent (or grotesquely gaudy, depending on your architectural sensibilities) Blenheim Palace at Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Great Britain. In 1707 the Act of Union brought together Scotland and England to form Great Britain. The Union Jack was adopted as the new national flag, incorporating the crosses of St. George (England) and St. Andrew (Scotland). In 1713 hostilities in Europe took a short break, and the Treaty of Utrecht gave England a host of new territories, including Newfoundland, Acadia, St. Kitts, Minorca, and Gibraltar.

The end of the Stuarts. Anne had seventeen children, all of whom predeceased her, so on her death the throne went to the Bavarian, George of Hanover. The House of Hanover still rules England today in the person of Elizabeth II, though now it is called the House of Windsor, a concession to anti-German feelings during the First World War.

- Contest 7 -

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