The progressive as a symbol of national superiority in nineteenth-century British grammars

• The Progressive was never criticized in 19c grammar books of English.
• Instead, British grammars claimed the Progressive made English superior to other languages.
• The Progressive was metonymically linked to a societal discourse of progress.
• Not all 19c grammar writing was prescriptivist.

This article shows that, despite undergoing significant language change, the Progressive Active was never criticized in prescriptive grammars of English in the nineteenth century. Even more unexpectedly, in British grammars it became a symbol of national superiority over the classical language and English and French, and was praised for making English more accurate, precise, or allowing finer distinctions of “time”. This praise can be linked to the dominant socio-cultural narrative of the time of progress and pride over other nations, for which the Progressive came to stand metonymically.