Грамматика английского языка Морфология. Синтаксис (стр. 22 из 71)

We are all proud of our citizen’s getting the first prize.

Ned will be responsible for arranging the farewell party.

Don’t be sorry about missing the first scene, it was rather dull.

d)	to be accustomed to be used		to	to be (dis)pleased with (at) to be surprised at to be tired of
	to be absorbed to be engrossed	in

I’m not used to being talked to in that rude way.

The teacher was displeased with the boys being noisy.

We were surprised at your leaving the party.

A teacher shouldn’t get tired of explaining things to his pupils.

The gerund as attribute

§ 125. When used as an attribute, the gerund modifies nouns, mainly abstract nouns. It is always preceded by a preposition, in the vast majority of cases by of, as in the following combinations: the art of teaching, the habit of speaking, a certain way of walking, a chance of seeing somebody, a hope of getting a ticket, an idea of going to the cinema, an intention of learning another foreign language, etc.

There is a chance of catching the train.

Professor N spoke about new methods of teaching English to foreign students.

The idea of him being in Paris was not a pleasant one.

Lucy had the impression of being carried upstairs.

Isn’t there any hope of your being able to go with us at all?

In some cases the choice of the preposition depends on the requirements of the modified noun, as in surprise at, experience in, skill in, apology (excuse) for, objection to.

The boy showed his skill in building model boats.

Imagine his surprise at seeing me.

When a gerund modifies a concrete noun it is preceded by the preposition for and the whole gerundial phrase as attribute expresses the purpose or destination of the thing mentioned.

The barometer is an instrument for measuring the pressure of the air.

A gerund as attribute may precede the noun it modifies in phrases bordering on a compound noun. A premodifying attribute is used without a preposition, as in a dancing master, a diving suit, a reading lamp, a spending habit, a working method, a writing career, a swimming pool, a walking stick, etc.*

* See §132.

The gerund as adverbial modifier

§ 126. Owing to the variety of prepositions which may precede the gerund in the function of an adverbial modifier, a gerund may have different meanings.

1) As an adverbial modifier of time it may characterize the main verb from the viewpoint of priority, simultaneity, or posteriority. It may also indicate the starting point of the action. The prepositions used are on, after, in, before, since.

One day, on returning to his hotel, he found a note in his room.

At first he couldn’t understand. After thinking it over he hit upon the explanation.

And I’ll wash the dishes and clean up before coming to bed.

I had had a lot of thoughts since leaving the office.

2) As an adverbial modifier of reason it is introduced by the prepositions because of, for, from, for fear of, on account of, through.

So you see I couldn’t sleep for worrying.

We lost ourselves through not knowing the way.

He (Jolyon) took care not to face the future for fear of breaking up his untroubled manner.

3) As an adverbial modifier of manner the gerund generally occurs with the prepositions by or without.

You will achieve a lot by felling the truth.

She dressed without making a sound.

4) As an adverbial modifier of attendant circumstances it requires the preposition without.

They danced without speaking. (= They danced and didn’t speak)

The door opened without having been knocked on.

5) As an adverbial modifier of concession it is preceded by the preposition in spite of:

I don’t ask any questions in spite of there being a lot of questions to ask.

6) As an adverbial modifier of condition it takes the prepositions without, but for, in case of.

You won’t enrich your vocabulary without making use of an English dictionary. (= if you don’t make use

of...)

But for meeting John, I shouldn’t have become an English teacher.

7) As an adverbial modifier of purpose it is introduced by the preposition for, though this pattern is rather rare.

They took her to the station for questioning.

The gerund and the infinitive compared

§ 127. The gerund and the infinitive have much in common since they both have some nominal and some verbal features. However, in the infinitive the verbal nature is more prominent, whereas in the gerund the nominal one.

The basic difference in their meaning is that the gerund is more general, whereas the infinitive is more specific and more bound to some particular occasion. When they combine with the same verb the difference in their meaning and use should be fully realized.

1. With the verbs to like, to hate, to prefer the gerund expresses a more general or a habitual action, the infinitive a specific single action:

I like swimming (I am fond of swimming). I hate interrupting people. They prefer staying indoors when the weather is cold.

I shouldn’t like to swim in this lake. I hate to interrupt you, but I have to. I’d prefer to stay at home in this cold weather.

2. With the verbs to begin and to start either form may generally be used, but again the gerund is preferable when the action is more general.

She began singing when a child.

She went over to the piano and began to sing.

No gerund is used:

a) when the finite verb is in the continuous form.

He is beginning to study French.

It’s beginning to rain.

b) with the verbs to understand and to see (meaning to understand).

He began to understand how it was done.

c) when the subject denotes a thing, not a living being.

The doors began to creak.

The clock began to strike.

3. The verb to remember is followed by a gerund when it means a prior action (to recall, to keep in one’s memory some past event), and by an infinitive when it means a simultaneous action (the working of one’s memory).

I remembered posting the letters. (Я помнил, что опустил письмо).

I remembered to post the letters. = I remembered and posted. (Я не забыл опустить письмо).

The same refers to the verb to forget.

I shall never forget hearing him sing (Я никогда не забуду как он пел).

Don’t forget to post the letters! (Не забудь опустить письма). I didn’t forget to post the letters. (Я не забыл опустить письма).

4. The verb to regret is followed by the gerund to suggest priority, whereas the infinitive suggests a simultaneous action.

I regret not having worked harder at the language as a boy. (Я сожалею, что не учил как следует языка в детстве). I regret following his advice. (Я сожалею, что последовал его совету).

I regret to inform you. (С сожалением сообщаю вам это). I regret to have to inform you. (Сожалею, что вынужден сообщить вам это).

5. a) after to stop the gerund is used when it suggests the end of the action denoted by the gerund, whereas the infinitive is used as an adverbial of purpose.

Stop arguing! (Перестань спорить!) I stopped talking. (Я замолчал).

I stopped to talk to a friend of mine (Я остановилась, чтобы поговорить с другом).

b) The phrasal verb to go on with a gerund suggests the continuation of the action, denoted by the gerund and forms part of a compound verbal predicate; an infinitive points out a new stage in the sequence of actions.

The teacher went on explaining the use of verbals (continued). (... продолжал объяснять ...)

The teacher went on to explain he use of the gerund after some verbs. (... объяснял одно правило за другим .... т. е. употребление герундия после разных глаголов).

6. The verb to allow is used with a gerund when it is not followed by an indirect object.

They don’t allow smoking here. (Здесь курить запрещено).

They allowed us to smoke. (Они разрешили нам курить).

The gerund and the verbal noun compared

§ 128. Although formed in the same way as the gerund, the verbal noun is another part of speech and has no verbal features at all. The following table shows the main differences between the gerund and the verbal noun.

Table VI

The characteristics of the gerund and the verbal noun

Forms Grammatical characteristics		The gerund	The verbal noun
M o r	Voice and perfect	being done, having done	-
f o l o g y	The plural form	-	sufferings, comings and goings
S y n t a x	Direct object	I like doing morning exercises.	-
	Of-phrase and adjectival attributes	-	The doing of morning Exercises was very good for me. The regular doing of morning exercises
	Adverbs as a modifier	Doing morning exercises regularly will improve your health.	-
	Articles	-	The doing of morning exercises. The acting was perfect.

From the table we can see that the distinctive features of the gerund are its verbal categories in the sphere of morphology and its verbal combinability. The distinctive features of the verbal noun are its nominal category of number and its noun combinability. It must be taken into consideration that a verbal noun is an abstract noun, and the use of the article and the plural form is determined by the requirements of the meaning and context.

It is more difficult to discriminate between a gerund and a verbal noun in cases where the verbal characteristics of the gerund are not apparent. This happens mainly when an -ing form is used as a single word without any modifiers or with such modifiers as occur with both the gerund and the verbal noun (His coming was unexpected. Her acting was perfect). In such cases the meaning of the form should be taken into account. Thus a gerund suggests a process, an activity, whereas a verbal noun denotes kinds of occupation (skating as compared to hockey), an art form (acting, painting), a branch of knowledge (engineering, spelling as opposed to pronunciation and as a synonym for orthography).

It goes without saying that an -ing form is a pure noun when it denotes an object, often the result of activity (a building - a house; a drawing, a painting - a picture). In such cases a noun unlike a gerund, may also combine with numerals, as in two drawings, four buildings, etc.

The participle

The participle is a non-finite form of the verb. There are two forms of the participle - participle I and participle II.