Lecture 18 –ing participle Objectives: 1.-ing participle used as gerund 2. The logical subject of the gerund 3. Infinitive -to or preposition -to 4. Perfective.

Lecture 18 –ing participle

• Objectives:

• 1.-ing participle used as gerund

• 2. The logical subject of the gerund

• 3. Infinitive -to or preposition -to

• 4. Perfective form and passive form of gerund

• 5. -ing participle used as present participle & past participle

Lecture 18 –ing participle

• In this book, the term “-ing participle” is used to include both the traditional “present participle” and “gerund”, they are two kinds of non-finite forms with the exactly the same form. Their grammatical forms are as follows. (we use verb do as an example)

Grammatical forms of-ing participle

Tense active passive

simple doing being done

perfective having done having been done

I. -ing participle used as gerund

• 1) Function of gerund

• -ing participle used as gerund has the function of the noun, it can dependently used as subject, complement, object, object of the preposition and modifier.

1. function of gerund• 1) as subject• --Talking mends no holes.(空谈无济于事 )• --Putting on airs is absolutely impermissible.• (决不可摆架子 )• Note: as we know, either infinitive or gerund can

be the subject of a sentence , gerund implies that an action is being considered in a general sense, while infinitive could refer to one particular occasion. Compare:

• --He found parking is difficult.• -- He found it difficult to park.

1) as subject

• Note:• When Gerund is used as subject, it can also be

used in the following constructions.• It is no good/no use/useless/senseless/a waste

of time/fun/worth/worthwhile +–ing participle• --It is foolish behaving like that.• --It is a mere waste of time arguing with him.• --There is no joking about such matter.• --There is no denying the fact that the new meth

od has greatly raised labor productivity.

1. -ing participle used as gerund

• 2) as complement

• --Reading is learning, but applying is also learning.

• -- Seeing is believing. (Gerund is used in the saying)

1. -ing participle used as gerund

• (1) as object of the verb• Verbs that can be followed by the -ing participle

used as gerund include • admit, acknowledge, anticipate, advocate, appre

ciate, avoid, consider, contemplate, defer, delay, deny, detest, dislike, dread, ensure, enjoy, escape, excuse, evade, facilitate, fancy, favour, finish, give up, imagine, include, involve, keep (on), loathe, miss, pardon, postpone, practice, prevent, propose, put off, recollect, resent, report, risk, stop, suggest, understand, etc.

1. -ing participle used as gerund

• (1) as object of the verb

• --He admitted making the mistake.

• --She dreads getting old.

• --People usually enjoy being flattered.

• - The doctor advised taking exercise.

• --The thief admitted entering the house.

• (2) as object of the preposition

• When a verb is placed immediately after “verb+ a preposition” the gerund form is used. Prepositions followed by gerund are as follows:

• insist on, persist in, think of, dream of, object to, suspect……of, accuse……of, charge……of, hear of, approve of, prevent/stop/keep from, refrain from, be engaged in, look forward to, oppose to ,depend on, thank……for, feel like, excuse……for, aim……at, devote……to, set about, spend……in, be tired of, get used to, be fond of, be capable of, succeed……in, be interested in, be ashamed of, be proud of, be keen on, be responsible for, etc.

(2) as object of the preposition

• --They are all opposed/objected to putting the meeting off.

• --Have you got used/accustomed to working on the night shift.

(2) as object of the preposition

• Gerund can also be the object of the only preposition such as about, against, at, before, after, by, besides, for, from, in, on, up and without.

• --They broke into loud cheers on hearing the news.

• --I’m sorry to have delayed so long in answering your letter.

• --He felt uncomfortable about accepting the gift.

(2) as object of the preposition• Object of some special verb such as help, resist

and stand are all used in a negative form which can be followed by gerund.

• --She couldn't help crying when she heard the news.

• --On seeing the conductor trip and fall on his face, the audience couldn't resist laughing.

(2) as object of the preposition

• Gerund used with some idioms such as: with a view to, for the purpose of, with the object to, in case of, in the event of, instead of, part from, for fear that, etc.

• --We adopted the new methods with a view to raising our efficiency.

• --She hurried back to school for fear of missing too many lessons.

3) as pre-modifier

• Gerund used as pre-modifier shows the function that noun can fulfill, while present participle used as modifier shows the action that noun conveys and there is subject-predicate relation between the present participle and the noun. eg:

• A singing girl (= a girl is singing) ( -ing participle used as modifier)

• Singing competition (=competition for singing) (-ing participle used as gerund),

Present participle and Gerund as pre-modifier

Present participle Gerund

waiting car waiting-room

sleeping child sleeping-car(卧车 )

laughing stock(笑柄 ) writing-table （写字台）

a smiling face working method

flying saucer(飞碟 ) flying-suit(飞行衣 )

2. The logical subject of the gerund

• The logical subject needs to be mentioned if the reference does not cover the subject of the main clause: Note that the logical subject can take the form of either the objective case (me, him, John, etc.) or the genitive case (my, his John's, etc.). The objective case is generally regarded as less formal than the genitive case. In this construction, we can use common case of the noun or the pronoun of the inanimate things unless the gerund is used initially.

2. The logical subject of the gerund

• He was awakened by someone knocking at the door.

• Lao li’s going won’t be of much help.

• Is there any hope of our team winning the game?

• Their coming to help was a great encouragement

2. The logical subject of the gerund

• Note: The logical subject may also appear in other syntactic environments. For example, some verbs allow being followed by preposition + -ing participle:

• --Please excuse me for opening your letter by mistake.(Also: Please excuse my opening your letter by mistake.)

• --She accused him of tricking her into marrying him.

• --I want to congratulate you on being admitted to the doctoral program

3. Infinitive -to or preposition -to

• The problem of whether to use an infinitive to or preposition -toafter a verb is complicated because the two non-finite forms are sometimes interchangeable without any significant change of meaning or because either is acceptable in grammatical terms in spite of the different meanings they convey.

• The infinitive to or preposition -to are not very different in meaning after the following verbs:

3. Infinitive -to or preposition -to

• (1) like to do /doing• attempt, begin, can't bear, cease, continue,

deserve, hate, intend, like, love, need, neglect, omit, plan, prefer, propose, require, start, want, etc.　

• --I began to learn/learning English when I was twelve.--They never cease to complain/complaining about whatever is on TV.

3. Infinitive -to or preposition -to

• With remember and forget the infinitive relates to what is to be done and not done yet, while the -ing participle expresses a finished action. Compare:

• --Don't worry. I'll remember to tell her the news.

• --I remember telling her the news. I'm sure I did it.

3.Infinitive -to or preposition -to• Other verbs like remember : forget, mean, regret,

try• Compare:• --I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you. (to intend)• --Success means working very very hard. (to rep

resent a meaning)

• --I regret to inform you that the committee has turned down your application. (to express sympathy)

• --I regret telling her the news. (to express repentance)

(2) Need + doing• There is a voice shift if one non-finite form is repl

aced by the other after any of these verbs, for the active -ing participle is semantically equivalent to the passive infinitive: verbs used like this: want, require, deserve etc.

• --The suspect didn't deserve treating/to be treated by rough handling.

• --That case requires investigating/to be investigated immediately.

4. Perfective form and passive form of gerund

• 1) Perfective form shows that the action that the verb shows used as gerund occurs before the action that the predicate verb conveys

• --I regret not having taken her advice.• --I don’t remember having ever promised you

that.• --I have no idea of their having done such a

thing.• --I apologized for not having kept my promise.

4. Perfective form and passive form of gerund

• 2) The passive form is used when the logical subject of the gerund is recipient of the gerund.

• --He couldn’t bear being made fun of like that.• --This question is far from being settled. • --They insisted on their being treated as equal. • -- I don’t remember having been given a chance

to try his method.

II. Verb-ing form used as present participle & past participle

• Present participle is one of the non-infinitive forms, it has the function of adj and adv. It can be used as (1) pre-modifier, (2) complement, (3) adverbial,

• (4) compound construction.

1. -ing form used as present participle & past participle

• 1) as premodifier

• Present participle (verb-ing )has the active meaning, past participle (verb-ed) has passive meaning and also shows the completion of an action.

• Compare:

• --He is an interesting man.

• --Interested members will meet at two.

1) as pre-modifier

• To begin with, there is an important point which deserves our attention with regard to the formation of -ed participles: some verbs take different -ed participle forms according to their different grammatical functions.

1) as pre-modifier

base form part of verb phrase

pre-modifer completion

bend bent bent/bended bent

drink drunk drunken drunk

light lit lighted lit

melt melted molten melted

rot rotted rotten rotten

sink sunk sunken sunk

shrink shrunk shrunken shrunk

shave shaved shaven shaved

1) as pre-modifier

• As premodifier, transitive -ed participles usually denote a passive meaning or a sense of completion. This is distinguished from -ing participle which may come from intransitive and transitive verbs and which usually expresses an active meaning or a sense of incompletion.

1) as pre-modifier• the risen sun(升起的太阳 ); • fallen leaves(落叶 ); • faded flowers(萎谢的花 ); • returned students(归国留学生 ); • escaped prisoner(逃犯 ); • departed friends(离去的朋友 ); • his deceased wife(他死去的妻子 ); • the vanished jewel(失去的珠宝 ); • the newly arrived visitors(新到的客人 ).

–ing/-ed form used as premodifier

• Touching story (动人的故事 ) cut glass(刻花玻璃 )• Guiding principle(指导原则 ) guided missile(导弹 )

• Running water(自来水 ) armed forces(武装部队 )

• Shining example(光辉榜样 ) canned food• Raging flames(熊熊烈火 ) boiled water• Biting wind(刺骨的寒风 ) smoked fish(熏鱼 )• Striking contrast(鲜明的对比 ) stricken area(灾区 )

1) as pre-modifier

• Compound pre-modifier• far-reaching effects(深远的影响 )

• heart-felt thanks(衷心的感谢 )

• fine-sounding words(动听的言辞 )

• clear-cut answers(明确的答复 )

well-cultivated fields(精耕细作的土地 )

2) as complement

• -ed participles that can be used as complement mostly come from transitive verbs. The -ed participle in postmodification can serve as a subject complement or an object complement in the following structures:

• --She looked depressed. (subject complement)• --We found her depressed. (object complement) • --They found the story amusing • --They found the cup broken.

3) as adverbial of time

• --Seeing the picture, he couldn’t help thinking of her.

• --Having finished their homework, they went to the library.

• Heated, ice change into water.

• (= when ice is heated)

• Once used, the method will prove efficient.

• Be careful when crossing the street.

3) as adverbial of reason

• --Being so hungry, he asked for more but was punished.

• --Not having passed the CET, he didn’t get a bachelor degree.

• --Delighted with her work, they made her the general manager.

• --Moved by his sincerity, we accepted half the sum.

• --Depressed, he went out.

4) as adverbial of result

• Her husband died, leaving her with five children.

• They opened fire, killing one of our patrolmen.

• 5) as adverbial of manner, accompanying circumstances

• --They came out of the classroom, talking and laughing.

• --He put on his old clothes, looking very silly.

• --He went there with great hope, but returned greatly disappointed.

5) as adverbial of manner, accompanying circumstances

• Note that the logical subject of the present participle should be consistent with the subject of the main sentence.

• Present participle used as adverbial is equal to a when-clause or while-clause.

• --Be careful when crossing the street. (When you are crossing the street.)

• --She got to know him while attending a conference in Beijing.

5) as adverbial of manner, accompanying circumstances

• Simple form of the present participle shows that the action of the present participle and the action of the main verb occur at the same time. Otherwise, we use its perfective form.

• --Having already seen the film twice, she didn’t want to go to the cinema.

• --Not having received an answer, he decided to write another letter to them.

• 6) as adverbial of condition

• --Working hard, you can pass the exam.

• --Admitting your mistake, you can be pardoned.

• --Given enough time, I can also do it.

• --Kept within houses, a person can’t know much about the world.

• --United, we stand; divided, we fall.

• 团结则存，分裂则亡。