- As an adverbial modifier of purpose, the gerund is chiefly used with the preposition for.
… one side of the gallery was used for dancing. - … однасторонагалереииспользоваласьдлятанцев.
- As an adverbial modifier of condition the gerund is preceded by the preposition without.
He has no right to come bothering you and papa without being invited. – Оннеимеетправаприходитьибеспокоитьвасиотца, еслиегонеприглашают.
- As an adverbial modifier of clause the gerund is used with the preposition for, for fear of, owing to.
I feel the better myself for having spent a good deal of time abroad. – Ячувствуюсебялучшеоттого, чтодолгопрожилзаграницей.
Idarednotattendthefuneralforfearofmakingafoolofmyself. – Я не смел, присутствовать на похоронах, так как боялся поставить себя в глупое положение.
- As an adverbial modifier of concession the gerund is preceded by the preposition in spite of.
In spite of being busy, he did all he could to help her. – Несмотряназанятость, онсделалвсе, чтобыпомочьей.
The above examples show that the gerund preceded by one and the some preposition may be used in different functions: with the preposition without, it may be perform the function of an adverbial modifier of attendant circumstances and of condition; with the preposition in, it may be perform the function of an adverbial modifier of time and of manner; with the preposition for, it may perform the function of an adverbial modifier of purpose or of cause.
NOTE. – The Russian не + деепричастие may correspond to the English without + Gerund or not + Participle. It usually corresponds to not + Participle if it’s used in the function of an adverbial modifier of cause.
НезнаяадресамиссБетти, Давиднемогейнаписать. – Not knowing Miss Betsey’s address, David could not write to her (CAUSE).
If нет + деепричастие is used in the function of adverbial modifiers of attendant circumstances and of condition, it generally corresponds to without + Gerund.
ДавидуехализЛондона, никомуничегонесказав. – David left London without telling anybody about it (ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES) (15, 183 – 184).
Section III. The gerund and other verbals
3.1 The gerund and the infinitive
With a number of verbs and word-groups both the gerund and the infinitive may be used. The most important of them are: to be afraid, to begin, to cease, to continue, can (cannot) afford, to dread, to fear, to forget, to hate, to intend, to like (to dislike), to neglect, to prefer, to propose, to remember, to recollect, to start, to stop.
The young man began turning aver the pages of a book. – Молодойчеловекначалпереворачиватьстраницыкниги.
At length she began to speak softly. – Наконецонаначалаговоритьмягко.
She continued standing near the piano. – Онапродолжаластоятьупианино.
She continued to look at him… – Онапродолжаласмотретьнанего…
It is sometimes possible to find a reason for the use of a given form. With some verbs and word-groups, such as to be afraid, to forget, to hate, to like, to prefer the infinitive is mostly used with reference to a special occasion, the gerund being more appropriate to a general statement.
The child was afraid of remaining alone, but he was afraid of to remain along or such a stormy night. – Ребенокнебоялсяостатьсяодинвтакуюбурнуюночь.
Don’t forget shutting the windows when you leave home. – Незабывайзакрыватьокна, уходяиздому.
Idon’tlikeinterruptingpeople. – Я не люблю отрывать людей от дела.
Idon’tliketointerrupthim, heseemsverybusy. – Мне не хочется мешать ему, он, кажется, очень занят.
Iwasalwaysafraidlosinghisgoodwill. – Я всегда боялся потерять его расположение.
Gwenoldenansweredratherpettishly, andhermammawasafraidtosaymore. – Гвендолен ответила несколько раздраженно, и ее мыть побоялась продолжать разговор (15, 179).
With the verb to remember the infinitive usually refers to the future, and the gerund to the past.
1) I shall always remember meeting you for the first time (= remember what one has done, or what has happened). – Явсегдабудупомнить, какмывстретилисьвпервые.
Remember to go to the post office, won’t you? (= Remember what you have to do). – Незабудьзайтинапочту.
2) To forget.
IshallneverforgetseeingtheQueen. – Я никогда не забуду, как я видел королеву.
She is always forgetting to give me my letters. – Онавсегдазабываетотдаватьмнемоиписьма.
3) To stop.
I really must stop smoking (= stop what one is doing, or does). – Мнедействительнонужнопрекратитькурить.
Every half hour I stop work to smoke a cigarette (= make a break or pause in order o do something). – Каждыеполчасаяпрерываюработу, чтобыпокурить.
4) To go on + Ving.
How long do to intend to go on playing those records? – Какдолготынамереваешьсяслушатьэтипластинки?
to go on + Inf.
He welcomed the new students and then went on to explain the college regulations. – Онпоприветствовалновыхстудентовиприступилкобъявлениюправилколледжа.
5) To regret + Ving.
I don’t regret telling her what I thought, even if it upset her. - Янесожалею, чтосказалейтом, чтодумаю, дажееслиэтоогорчилоее.
To regret + Inf.
I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you employment. – Ясожалею, нодолженсообщитьвам, чтомынеможемпринятьваснаработу (5, 160).
3.2 The gerund and the participle
In most cases the differentiation between the gerund and the participle does not present any difficulty.
Unlike the participle the gerund may be preceded by a preposition, it may be modified by a noun in the possessive case or by a possessive pronoun; it can be used in the function of a subject, object and predicative. In the function of an attribute and of an adverbial modifier both the gerund and the participle may be used, but the gerund in these functions always proceeded by a preposition.
There are cases, however, when the differentiation between the gerund and the participle presents some difficulty; for instance, it is not always easy to distinguish between a gerund as part of a compound noun and a participle as an attribute to a noun. One should bear in mind that if we have a gerund as part of a compound noun, the person or thing denoted by the noun does not perform the action expressed by the ing-form: e.g. a dancing-hall (a hall for dancing), a cooking stove (a stove for cooking), walking shoes, a writing-table etc.
If we have participle used as an attribute the person denoted by the noun performs the action expressed by the ing-form: e.g. a dancing girl (a girl who dances), a singing child etc.
However, there are cases which admit of two interpretations; for example a sewing machine, may be understood in two ways: a machine for sewing and a machine which sews; a hunting dog may be a dog for hunting and a dog that hunts(34 – 35).
3.3 The gerund and the verbal noun
The gerund should not be confused with the verbal noun, which has the same suffix -ing. The main points of difference between the gerund and the verbal noun are as follows.
1) Like all the verbals the gerund has a double character - nominal and verbal. – The verbal noun has only a nominal character.
2) The gerund is not used with an article. – The verbal noun may be used with an article.
The making of a new humanity cannot be the privilege of a handful of bureaucrats. – Совершениеновогочеловечестванеможетбытьпривилегиейпригоршнибюрократов.
I want you to give my hair a good brushing. – Яхочу, чтобытыхорошопричесаламоиволосы.
3) The gerund has no plural form. – The verbal noun may be used in the plural.
Our likings are regulated by our circumstances. – Нашисовпадениявовкусахзависятотобстоятельств.
4) The gerund of a transitive verb takes a direct object.
He received more and more letters, so many that he had given up reading them. – Онпоучалвсебольшеибольшеписем, такмного, чтоонбросилихчитать. – A verbal noun cannot take a direct object; it takes a prepositional object with the preposition of. Meanwhile Gwendolyn was rallying her nerves to the reading of the paper. – АтемвременемГвендолендействовалаейнанервычитаябумагу.
5) The gerund may be modified by an adverb.
Drinking, even temperately, was a sin. – Дажевыпивкапопраздникамсчитаетсягрехом. – The verbal noun may be modified by an adjective. TomtookagoodscoldingaboutscoldingSid. – Тома хорошо поругали за то, что он побил камнями Сида.
Not having the verbal meanings, the verbal noun doesn’t have the form of tenses and doesn’t express any voice. After the verbal noun the direct object can’t exist.
They started the loading of the ship. – Ониприступиликпогрузкесудна.
NOTE. – One should notice that the noun is formed not from all verbs due to suffix -ing. The noun can be formed by other methods:
| To manufacture – производить; | Manufacture – производство; |
| Toproduce – производить; | Production – производство; |
| Tosell – продавать; | Sale – продажа; |
| To ship – отгружать; | Shipment – отгрузка (9, 262). |
Section 4 Comparison of the English gerund and its equivalents in Russian
I’ve analyzed the gerund in Russian translations of the book by C.S. Lewis “The Silver Chair” (19), and “The Lion, the Which and the Wardrobe” (20).
I’ve found the translation of these books by Shaposhnikova and Ostrovskaya. These books are under the edition of N.Trauberg (19; 20). One can see that the authors of the translation used a free technique of translation without paying any attention to the grammar and Russian equivalents. At first I’d like to consider the translation of the gerund, which is rendered by other Russian parts of speech (21; 22). There are:
Without speaking – молчание,
for looking while – победил,
for not liking – нелюбит,
she couldn’t help thinking – ейказалось.
Let nothing turn your mind from following the sights! – Незабывайознаках!
like being in an airplane – напоминалсамолет.
The sound of waves breaking on the store was growing louder – Звукиприбоястановилисьгромче.
telling – узнать,
No one suggested doing anything. – Никтонеговорил, чтоделатьдальше.
she began groping with their feet – стоялаизовсехсил,
buzzing – шепчут.
It’s worse than coming back and finding him dead. – Лучшебымнезнать, чтоонумер.
opening – отверстие,
saying – послышалось,
trying – учить,
without delivery – неуспела,
knowing – запоминание,
looking - отправились,
talking of going to a party – речьшлаогостях,
on saying – заметил,
after changing – другим,
resting on – положил,
sleeping – лечь,
stop beating – неостановилась,
talking of archers – острелах,
for being able to shoot – научилсястрелять,
walking – поехали,
there is no denying – спорунет,
there was no mistaking – былиуверены,
saying – спросил,
without thinking –припомнить,
for not knowing – непомнить,
without knocking - неудариться,
climbing down – поступеням,
began making tour – сталибежать
he had to keep on pretending-струдомудержался
looking at-вытаращилаглаза
without meaning-нетрогать
talking again-вспоминать
vanishing-замечать
feeling-хватать
of finding-выходить
stepping out-оказываться
trying on sound-словно
by jeering-смеяться
getting-брать
of getting-попадать
going-перелетела
of being smooth-неровняй
bringing-стукать
for keeping-позволять
there was nothing stirring-кругомнидвижения
wondering-задалвопрос
before leaving-убежал
thinking-хотелось
bringing-в руках
hearing-разбирать
saying-молчали
on using-тереть
(19, 4 – 121; 20, 5 – 20; 22, 4 – 65; 21, 4 – 35).
One can see a big difference between the gerund and Russian equivalents. The thing is that the translator cannot find a direct way to render what C.S.Lewis meant by these gerunds. The translator should see the meaning of words between lines. There is no gerund in Russian and, maybe, it was case for the translator to say like that. But if the translator followed the grammar, the awkward translation would be.
The gerunds, which the translator couldn’t translate:
barging,
telling,
at believing,
dancing,
trying,
of getting,
from gong,
learning,
hearing,
struggling,
vibrating,
without warning,
seeing,
being,
wondering,
talking in,
from drinking,
being carried,
before going on,
from bringing,
of finding,
ringing,
for making,
shifting,
at finding,
of catching,
panting,
mistaking,
purling,
boo-hoeing ,
for keeping,
on remembering,
etching,
for shopping,
of coming,
on getting,
of sitting,
beginning,
on standing,
coming in,
eagling,
waiting,
groping
being
talking
leading
looking out
seeing
being
wondering
talking in
from drinking
being carried
before going on
from bringing
of finding
ringing
pushing
of feeling
wondering
blinking in
feeling
sobbing
jumping out
tapping
putting
pulling
nesting
forgetting
groping
driving
hanging down
flying up
champing
blowing
holding out
shining
of trying
looking at
rising
looking round
for getting
talking about
turning to
talking off
beginning to
minding
trailing round
stamping
pretending
stamping
stooping
about having
without noticing
including
holding
fishing
for caring
looking for
on thinking
of going
about being
keeping
crossing
saying
bounding back
of scrambling
puffing
panting
feeling
looking
running
trying
eating
drinking
passing
on doing
(19, 4 – 121; 20, 4 –77).
The translator has ignored these gerunds because she couldn’t reproduce Lewis’ idea and analogues of the English gerund in Russian.
The gerund as Infinitive
Sucking up – подлизываться,