THE TRIPLE NATURE OF THE PARTICIPLE, ITS TENSE AND VOICE

The participle is a non-finite form of the verb which has a verbal, an adverbial or an adjectival character. Its adjectival or adverbial character is manifested in its syntactic functions, those of attribute (He couldn't take his eyes off the words written in the letter) or adverbial modifier (When left alone he began thinking it over). The verbal characteristics: 1) P1 of a transitive verb can take a direct object (Closing the door he was strangely smiling); 2) P1 & P2 can be modified by an adverb (Deeply astonished, he went out); 3) P1 has tense distinctions (giving, having given…), P1 of a transitive verb has voice distinctions (given, being given…).

Tense distinctions.P1 Indefinite (Active & Passive) denotes an action simultaneous with the one expressed by the finite verb. Depending on the tense-form of the finite verb it may refer to the past, present or future (When watching the movie I couldn't understand a thing; When watching the movie one can't understand a thing; When watching the movie you will understand nothing). P1 Perfect (A&P) denotes an action prior to the one denoted by the finite verb (Having been given all the information, he knew what to do). Sometimes the priority is expressed even with P1 Indefinite with such verbs as "to see, to hear, to come, to arrive, to seize, to look, to turn, etc." (Seeing the accident she ran away).

P2 has no tense distinctions. Mostly it's prior to the action expressed by the finite verb, but it also can denote a simultaneous action or an action referring to no particular time (Offended, he burst out crying; Concentrated on the problem he was motionless; Admired by everybody, he was very proud of himself).

Voice distinctions.P1 of transitive verbs has special forms to denote the active and the passive forms (His giving me advice was very kind; My friend having given the advice went away; The advice given by my friend was very useful; The advice having been given by my friend was taken into consideration).

P2 of transitive verbs has a passive meaning (The chosen ones). P2 of intransitive verbs has no passive meaning and has no independent function unless it belongs to an abject which denotes passing into a new state (a faded photograph).

THE FUNCTIONS OF P1 & P2

P1. Attribute.Corresponds to the Russian действительное причастие. Can be in pre-position (usually without any accompanying words) (He was looking at the approaching car) and post-position (with several accompanying words) (They were gazing at the stars shining brightly in the skies). P1 Perfect is not used as an attribute. A detached attribute acquires a certain independence in the sentence, it's separated from the noun it modifies by a comma (There was a land, enchanting with its beauty).

Adverbial Modifier.Corresponds to the Russian деепричастие несовершенного вида. P1 Perfect expresses an action prior to the one expressed by the finite verb and it corresponds to the Russian деепричастие совершенного вида. P1 can be an adverbial modifier of time (Approaching the door, he was talking loudly). Often conjunctions "when, while" are used. The verb "to be" can be omitted (When a boy, he made a lot of friends). Adverbial modifier of cause(Being a shy boy, he couldn't find the words to express all his feelings). AM of manner or attendant circumstances(He kept on talking, smiling all the time). AM of comparison. Introduced by the conjunctions "as if, as though" (She became silent as though not knowing what to say).

Predicative (The result of her words was very smoothing).

Part of a complex object (I saw him talking to you downstairs).

Part of a compound verbal predicate(He sat relaxing).

Parenthesis(Frankly speaking, he's the best man for her).

P2. Attribute.P2 of transitive verbs corresponds to Russian страдательное причастие or действительное причастие of some verbs ending in –ся. It can be used in pre-position and post-position (A guy in torn clothes; There was a house, happily painted). P2 of intransitive verbs which denote passing into a new state (mostly "to fade, to wither, to retire, to fall, to vanish") corresponds to the Russian действительное причастие or to an adjective (fallen leaves).

Adverbial modifieroftime(When signed, the paper was sent to the boss). AM of condition(If asked, don't tell her anything). AM of comparison(He frowned as though offended by his words). AM of concession(He kept on going, though immensely exhausted by the journey).

Predicative(The door was locked).

Part of a complex object(I found him enchanted by a picture).

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2543