Colleagues
 
A correspondent on another list was recently flamed for using the phrase:
"... you may need your eyes testing."
 
The flamer suggested that the use of the present participle made no
grammatical sense, and would of course be right. I feel, however, that
"testing" in this context is not a participle - but I don't know what it is.
 
The best guess I have is that up until the (late?) 18th century there
was no passive voice in English.  "The house is being built" was expressed
as "The house is building".  Is "need your eyes testing" a last remnant of
that old form.
 
(I'm assuming that the phrase is used in US English, it's not unusual in
Brit English.)
 
Thanks in advance for any help you can give - it's driving me round
the bend.
 
--
Paul Sanders
 
St Sampson's - Guernsey's Second City  Guernsey's premier School ;-)
 
49 28N  2 35W
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