Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

There is a song about John Brown. One of its lines are listed as follows:
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave.
i cannot make any sense of "a-mouldering". Does it have anything to do with some grammatical rule? Please explain this "a-" to me? Many thanks.

Jason

[alan.es]

It's more likely to be because the music needed another syllable at that point.

[Jintii]

Here, the a- is part of a present progressive marker called a circumfix, which consists of both a prefix (a-) and a suffix (-ing).

It comes from an older form of English, but it is still used in some dialects (such as Appalachian English -- the dialect of the Appalachian mountains of the United States). Sometimes it appears in other situations, like songs, poetry, or just when someone wants to seem "folksy". It is not common, however, and you should not suddenly start to speak this way.

In your example, John Brown's body is rotting (mouldering/moldering) in his grave.

Some other examples:
I'm a-coming
He's a-going
He went a-hunting (past progressive)

I hope that helps you.