Another passive progressive form, consisting of the verb _be_ completed by
the present passive participle, has recently appeared in our language--The
house _is being built_, or _was being built_. Although condemned by many
linguists as awkward and otherwise objectionable, it has grown rapidly into
good use, especially in England, Such a form seems to be needed when the
simpler form would be ambiguous, _i.e._, when its subject might be taken to
name either the actor or the receiver; as, The child _is whipping_; The
prisoner _is trying_. Introduced only to prevent ambiguity, the so-called
neologism has pushed its way, and is found where the old form would not be
ambiguous. As now used, the new form stands to the old in about the ratio
of three to one.
+Direction+.--_Conjugate the verb choose in the progressive form by filling
all the blanks left after the different forms of the verb be, in the
preceding Lesson, with the present participle choosing; and then in the
passive form by filling these blanks with the past participle chosen_.
Notice that after the past participle of the verb _be_ no blank is left.
The past participle of the passive is not formed by the aid of _be_; it is
never compound. The past participle of a transitive verb is always passive
except in such forms as _have chosen, had chosen_.
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