A Dictionary of Cont..

to banish or exile; to announce the name of a
person as condemned to death and his property
to confiscation, to doom (The king told Rochester
to choose any ministers of the Established
Church, with two exceptions. The proscribed
persons were Tillotson and Stillingfleet).
Prescribe has a positive connotation, proscribe
a negative (The doctor prescribed exercise and
proscribed smoking).
prescriptive right is sometimes used as if it meant
an absolute right, one which cannot be annulled.
This is a mistake. Prescriptive right is simply a
right based on established usage or opinion or
custom (Yon tall Tower,/ Whose cawing OCCUpants
with joy proclaim / Prescriptive title to the
shattered pile), a long or immemorial use of
some right with respect to a thing so as to give a
right to continue such use (The American Indians
may have had a prescriptive right to the
Great Plains, hut the frontiersmen opposed the
rights of conquest and greater agricultural eficiency).
Actually a prescriptive right is a dubious
right.
present. This adjective may mean now or here,
depending upon its position in the sentence.
When it stands before the noun it qualifies it
means now, as in the present king, the present
plan. When it follows the noun, or noun equivalent,
it means here, as in those present and we
were present. The word is not compared, in
either sense.
presentiment; presentment. A presentiment is a
feeling or impression of something about to happen,
especially something evil, a foreboding (He
had a presentiment of disaster). See prescience.
Presentment is a wholly unrelated word meaning
the act of presenting (I attended the presentment
of the new ambassador) ; a representation,
picture, or likeness (That presentment may be
faithful, but it is certainly unflattering). In commerce,
presentment means the presenting of a
bill, note, or the like, as for acceptance or payment
(No check, bank draft, or money order
shall be considered payment of any premium
unless it is actually paid to the company on presentment).
In law, it means the written statement
of an offense by a grand jury, of their own
knowledge or observation, when no indictment
has been laid before them.
presently; currently. Currently means belonging
to the time actually passing (They are currently
engaged in stocking the store for the winter’s
business). Presently used to mean immediately,
in the present, at the time spoken of (a reward
to be rendered hereafter, not presently). This
meaning had been regarded as obsolete since
the 17th century but has recently been revived
as a vogue word. Used emphatically in commands
and assurances of obedience, suggesting
that the act required or agreed to was to take
place in the instant of speaking, the word came
to mean at once, forthwith, without delay (Go
presently, and take this ring). But power demands
and subservience promises more alacrity
than is usually forthcoming and the word has
become blunted into meaning soon, in a little
389 present tense
while, by and by (I can’t come right away; 1’11
be there presently). See also immediately.
present tense. English uses the simple form of
the verb, such as talk or do, for the present tense
except in the third person singular where a final
s or es is added, as in he talks, he does. The only
exceptions to this rule are: (1) the verb to be
which has the first person singular am, the third
person singular is, and are in the other forms;
(2) the verb to have which has the third nerson
singular has; and (3) a few defective verbs, such
as will, shall, must, which do not end in s in the
third person singular. All irregular verbs have
been listed in this book.
The form of the present tense just described is
called the simple present. It indicates that an
event takes place, or a state of affairs exists, in a
period of time that includes the time of speaking.
It puts no other limitations on the period, which
may be momentary or may extend “from everlasting
to everlasting.” This tense form is used in
statements that are essentially timeless, such as
that is no cozmtry for old men, and to express
customary or habitual action, which need not be
actually in process at the time of speaking, as in
I read, much of the night, and go south in the
winter.
Do or does (the present tense of ro do) followed
by the simple form of a verb is used in
place of a simple present in questions and in
negative statements, as in why do you read at
night? and you do not go south every winter.
The same form is used to make a simple present
statement emphatic, as in Z do read and I do go
south. (See do.)
To show that an action is a single event taking
place at the time of speaking, and not merely
something customary or to be expected, we use
the progressive present form of the verb, which
is made up of the appropriate present tense form
of to be followed by the -ing form of the meaningful
verb, as in I am old and day is ending.
The simple present can also be used in speaking
of an event in progress, as in the darkness
deepens. But this form is ambiguous and the
progressive present is preferred. The progressive
present is sometimes called the definite present.
Until recently, verbs such as see, hear, believe,
doubt, which naturally express a continued action,
were not used in the progressive form. But
they are occasionally used in this way today.
Within the last fifty years a progressive form of
the verb to be has become very popular. It is
used to limit a general statement to the immediate
present. For example, you are being unreasonable
might be used in preference to you are
unreasonable, because it suggests that the unreasonableness
is temporary.
In order to speak of a completed action as a
present fact, we use have or has (the present
tense of to have) followed by the past participle
of the meaningful verb, as in I have sailed the
seas and come to title holy city of Byzantium.
This form is called the present perfect tense. In
Latin, and in many European languages today,
the present perfect is felt as a past tense form