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PREDICATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS WITH THE GERUND

PC is a construction in which the verbal element expressed by the G is in predicate relation to the nominal element expressed by a noun or a pronoun (I wouldn't like her going to that party). The G "going" is in predicate relation to the pronoun "her", which denotes the doer of the action. The nominal element of the construction, when it denotes a living being, can be expressed by: 1) a noun in the genitive case or a possessive pronoun (I'm expecting sister's coming back); 2) a noun in the common case (I remember Alex telling me the story). When the nominal element consists of two or more nouns or when it's a noun modified by an attribute used in post-position it can be expressed only by a noun in the common case (I've seen her brother and sister going somewhere; I've never seen a man of sense acting this way). If the nominal element denotes a lifeless thing it's expressed by a noun in the common case or by a possessive pronoun (I noticed the car slowing down). The nominal element of the PC can be expressed by a pronoun which has no case distinctions: "all, this, that, both, each, something" (I heard all of them coming in). A gerundial construction is mostly rendered to Russian by a subordinate clause introduced by "òî, ÷òî; òåì, êòî; êàê; etc.".

THE GERUND & THE PARTICIPLE. THE GERUND & THE INFINITIVE.

THE GERUND & THE VERBAL NOUN

The differences between the G & the P: 1) The G may be preceded by a preposition; 2) The G may be modified by a noun in the possessive case or a possessive pronoun; 3) The G may be used in the function of subject, object and predicative; 4) The G and the P both can be used in the function of attribute and adverbial modifier, but the G is always preceded by a preposition. However, one should differentiate between "a dancing hall" (a hall where people dance – the purpose of the hall – G) and "a singing girl" (a girl that sings – an attribute of the girl – P).

The G & the I both can be used with such verbs and word groups as "to be afraid, to begin, to cease, to continue, can(not) afford, to dread, to fear, to forget, to hate, to intend, to (dis)like, to neglect, to prefer, to propose, to remember, to recollect, to start, to stop". But with some verbs and verb groups (like those underlined) the I is mostly used with reference to a special occasion, the G being more appropriate to a general statement (I hate to interrupt you; I hate interrupting you). The verb "to remember" used with the I refers to the future while the G refers to the past (Remember to post the letter; I remember posting the letter). The verb "to stop" used with the G forms part of a compound verbal aspect predicate, the I has the function of an adverbial modifier of purpose (She stopped knitting when he came in; She stopped to see who was in).

The differences between the G & the VN: 1) The G has nominal and verbal characteristics (the VN has only nominal ones); 2) The G is not used with an article; 3) The G has no plural forms; 4) The G of a transitive verb takes a direct object (the VN takes a prepositional object with the preposition "of"); 5) The G may be modified by an adverb (the VN – by an adjective).




Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2984


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