ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE USE OF BE ABOUT TO IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LATE MODERN ENGLISH

Abstract

This paper addresses the grammaticalisation of be about to in the history of English. After showing that be about to was grammaticalised as an immediate future expression around the turn of the nineteenth century and that there was at the same time a sudden increase in its textual frequency, the paper provides a detailed survey of three text genres (drama, fiction, and newspaper) in Late Modern English to determine the factors that caused the change. Results indicate that (1) the sudden increase was led by a diffusion of be about to across individuals, and (2) semantic change has arisen out of repeated use in contexts ambiguous between intention and future.