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 All disclaimers of responsibility implied.