High School Course in Latin Composition Author:Charles McCoy Baker Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SYNTAX OF VERBS Tenses 201. Present Tense. — The present tense is used of actions going on in present time and in statements which are universally true. ... more » 202. The present tense modified by iam diu, iam pridem, Jam dudum, iam multos annos, or iam with any expression of duration of time, is used of actions begun in the past but still continuing. In this use the Latin present tense is translated by the English present perfect tense. Quod te iam dudum hortor (I Cat. V, 12), as I for a long time have been urging (and still do urge) you (to do). 203. Imperfect Tense. — The imperfect tense is used to express repeated, continued, or customary acts in past time, or to describe a state of affairs in past time. Hoc faciebam, I was doing this, limed to do this. Hoc cotidie faciebat, every day he did this — used to do this. 204. However, the imperfect tense is not used to express a single completed act merely because duration of time is involved. Diu pugnatum est, the battle lasted a long time. Similarly, expressions containing definite numbers are used with the perfect instead of the imperfect. Vixit centum annos, he lived a hundred years. 205. The imperfect tense modified by iam diu, etc. (202), is used of actions begun in the more remote past and continuing into the nearer past. It is translated by the English progressive pluperfect. Quoniam iam multos annos Romae habitalxtt, since he had now for many years been living at Some (and still lived there). 206. Perfect Tense. — The perfect is used of an act which took place at some point in past time. Die quarto pervenerunt (B. G. I, 26), on the fourth day they arrived. 207. The historical perfect is used in narrative writing and is frequently used side by side with the imperfect and pluperfect; the imper...« less