| Gerund |
Articles about Gerund |
Information AboutGerund |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GERUND | |
| syntactic entities | |
GERUNDS IN ENGLISH In English the gerund is identical in form to the present Participle (ending in ''-ing'') and can behave as a Verb within a Clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object), but the clause as a whole (sometimes consisting only of one word, the gerund) acts as a Noun within the larger sentence. For example: Editing this article is very easy. Within the clause "Editing this article", the word "Editing" behaves as a verb; the phrase "this article" is the object of that verb. But the whole clause "Editing this article" acts as a noun within the sentence as a whole; it is the subject of the verb "is". Other examples of the gerund:
Verb patterns with the gerund Verbs that are normally followed by a gerund include ''admit, adore, anticipate, appreciate, avoid, carry on, consider, contemplate, delay, deny, describe, detest, dislike, enjoy, escape, fancy, feel, finish, give up, hear, imagine, include, justify, keep (on), listen to, mention, mind, miss, notice, observe, perceive, postpone, practice, quit, recall, report, resent, resume, risk, see, sense, stop, suggest, tolerate'' and ''watch''. Additionally, the Prepositions "into" and "out of" can be followed by a gerund. For example:
Verbs followed by a gerund or a to-infinitive With little change in meaning ''begin, continue, start; hate, like, love, prefer'' With ''would'', the verbs ''hate, like, love'', and ''prefer'' are usually followed by the ''to''- Infinitive . For example:
In these examples, if the subject of the verb is not the subject of the second verb, the second verb must be a gerund (instead of an infinitive) If I am watching sports on television, for example, I can react to the programs only as follows:
With a change in meaning ''dread'' and ''hate'': These two verbs are followed by a ''to''-infinitive when talking hypothetically (usually when using ''to think''), but by a gerund when talking about general dislikes.
''forget'' and ''remember'': When these have meanings which are used to talk about the future from the given time, the ''to''-infinitive is used, but when looking back in time, the gerund.
''can't bear'':
''go on'':
''mean'':
''advise, recommend'' and ''forbid'': These are followed by a ''to''-infinitive when there is an object as well, but with a gerund otherwise.
''regret'':
''consider, contemplate'' and ''recommend'': These verbs are followed by a ''to''-infinitive only in the passive or with an object pronoun.
''try'': When a ''to''-infinitive is used, it means the subject makes an effort at; attempt or endeavor to do something. If a gerund is used, it means the subject attempts to do something in testing to see what might happen.
Gerunds preceded by an object or a genitive A gerund can be used in combination with an object or a Genitive (possessive). The latter is considered more formal, and the only option when an adjective precedes the gerund, but is more common when the second verb applies to a person rather than an object.
Gerunds and present participles Traditional English grammar distinguished between ''gerunds'' and ''present participles''. Both terms refer to the non-finite verb form ending in ''-ing'' (''standing'', ''swimming'', etc.); traditionally, the former was applied when the verb form was acting in some sense like a Noun (say, as the Subject or Subject of a verb or Preposition ), and the latter when it was acting in some sense like an Adjective . The analogous distinction is very clear in Latin, where gerunds and participles are Declined as nouns or adjectives, but the line is blurrier in English, and many modern linguists reject this distinction. '' The Cambridge Grammar Of The English Language '', a widely respected descriptive grammar by Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey Pullum, uses the term ''gerund-participle'', and lists its various uses without commenting on which might be considered ''nominal'' and which ''adjectival''. Insofar as there is a distinction between gerunds and present participles, it is generally fairly clear which is which; a gerund-participle that is the subject or object of a prepositions is a gerund if it refers to the ''performance'' of an action (but note that present participles may be used Substantively to refer to the ''performer'' of an action), while one that modifies a noun Attributively or Absolutely is a participle. The main source of potential ambiguity is when a gerund-participle follows a verb; in this case it may be seen either as a predicate adjective (in which case it's a participle), or as a direct object or predicate nominative (in either of which cases it's a gerund). In this case, a few transformations can help distinguish them. In the table that follows, ungrammatical sentences are marked with asterisks, per common linguistic practice; note that the transformations all produce grammatical sentences with similar meanings when applied to sentences with gerunds, but either ungrammatical sentences, or sentences with completely different meanings, when applied to sentences with participles. None of these transformations is a perfect test, however. SEE ALSO REFERENCE --> |
|
|