Re: [tied] Almost perfect [was: verb agreement in one stage of Engl

Hi

I think it is interesting to trace how far back in time the origin
of the combination auxiliary + perf.part goes. I think it originates
from proto-IE itself. You find the combination in nearly all
branches of IE. I also think that the exact meaning of this
combination as in Germanic may go far back in time (something
occured in the past that still has a present significance).

The most usual and probably oldest form is the verb to be (h1es-) +
active pef.part (Agreeing with intransitive subj. or trans. obj).
The agreement in these two instances are actully equivalent, since
the subject of an intransitive action usually also is physically the
object of the same action.

In Latin and Germanic the combination was lost for active transitive
verbs, since latin/germanic do not have any active perf.part with
transitive meaning.

The use of to have, I think was forced from the need for filling
this gap.