THE GERUND DEFINED 139 that the head of Marin Falier had once bloodily stained them as it rolled to the ground. — Howells. 28. The air was biting and smelled of frost. Stevenson. 29. The wind, roaring round its broad verandas, hissing through every crevice with the sound and force of steam, appeared to waste its rage. Hearn. -- 30. Away then they dashed, through thick and thin, stones flying and sparks flashing at every bound. — Irving. 31. Lying down on the grass, I spoke in my soul to the earth, the sun, the air, and the distant sea far beyond sight.- Jefferies. 32. Daffodils perished like criminals in their condemned caps without their petals ever seeing daylight. — Holmes. 33. They advanced singing and shouting their war cries, briskly charging the enemy, as rapidly retreating and making use of ambuscades, sudden surprises, and the light skirmish of guerilla warfare. - Prescott. 34. Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine; but lost time is gone forever. 35. But today being Saturday rather complicates matters. Conan Doyle. CHAPTER XXII THE GERUND THE gerund, or infinitive in -ing, is substantive in its nature, for like the root infinitive it names the action or state asserted by the verb. It is not so easily identified in the sentence as the root infinitive, however, for in form it is precisely like the participle, from which it has to be distinguished entirely by its use. The forms of the gerund are shown in the following as, 66 Common form-rising, having risen. The use of the gerund is almost entirely restricted to that of the noun. When found without adjuncts it does not materially differ from the noun; for example, Painting is a fine art. But usually the verb-nature of the gerund is prominent as well as its noun-use, for usually it is accompanied by a complement or adverbial modifiers; The need of feeling responsible all the livelong day has been preached long enough in our New England.” — Wm. James. The gerund together with its adjuncts forms a gerund-phrase. It has certain advantages over the root infinitive. In many places it is preferable because it gives the idea of an action in progress. It is also employed in relation to some words where usage does not permit the root infinitive. Furthermore, its substantive nature comes out more prominently than that of the root infinitive, for like the noun it may be modified by an article or a possessive; thus, "Pascal said that most of the evils of life arose from man's being unable to sit still in a room.”—Bagehot. I. The gerund used as a noun. 1. Subject of a verb; as, "Lying in bed and listening to their dreary music had a pleasure in it."— Holmes. USES OF THE GERUND 141 2. Object of a verb; as, “I remember being told that it was the sound of the waves." Holmes. 3. Objective complement; as, “If a child finds itself in want of anything it runs in and asks its father for it — does it call that doing its father a service?" - Ruskin. Here the gerund phrase helps to complete the verb does call and at the same time is an attribute of the direct object that. 4. Subjective complement; as, "The first of all English games is making money." - Ruskin. 5. Appositive modifier; as, “I recommend this most faithful form of reading-learning by heart." 6. Object of a preposition; as, "Nelson attributed all his success in life to having been a quarter of an hour before his time." This is the commonest use of the gerund, for while the root infinitive may be used after very few prepositions, the gerund may be used after many. 7. Objective adverbial. The adjective worth is usually followed by a noun that expresses a measure of value, answering the question worth how much? or worth what? It may be followed by a gerund answering the same ques"That is worth paying for." - Warner. tion; as, II. The gerund used adjectively, — We find the gerund used adjectively in such expressions as sleeping-car, mourning-robes, dining-table, eating-apples. These gerunds seem at first like the participles in such expressions as singing-bird, shooting-star, barking-dog; but they are not like participles in meaning, as can be proved by changing them to equivalent elements of other kinds. A singing-bird is a bird that sings, but a sleeping-car is not a car that sleeps; it is a car for sleeping in. Peculiar Constructions. It cannot always be settled to one's entire satisfaction whether a certain element is a participle or a gerund. In order to decide one must know just how a certain expression came to be, that is, of what earlier and older form it is a development. Sometimes it seems impossible to ascertain this. For instance, take the. sentence," Nanny has been busy ironing this evening.". George Eliot. Is ironing a participle, and does the order of words in this sentence arise from a transposition of the sentence, "Nanny, ironing, has been busy this evening"? Or is ironing a gerund, and is this sentence a parallel construction with," Nanny has been busy at her ironing this evening"? Either interpretation of the sentence is a sensible one. Another puzzling instance is found in the sentence, "He was two weeks learning to use his flippers. Kipling. Is learning a part of the progressive verbphrase was learning, and does the sentence mean, “He was learning to use his flippers during two weeks"? Or is learning a gerund, object of at understood, that is, is the sentence a parallel construction with this," You were a long time at it"? One cannot pronounce with certainty on this point, but must choose the construction that seems to him most reasonable. Exercise 26 Dispose of all gerunds or gerund-phrases in the following sentences. 1. A serious percentage of books are not worth reading at all. F. Harrison. 2. After a quarter of an hour's chipping and hammering with very little result, he paused to rest. J. Hawthorne. 3. The cat did not like being whipped, and she was still more annoyed at having been caught stealing. - Old Deccan Days. 4. Answering of this question is giving us the soul of the history of the man or nation. — Carlyle. 5. The only drawback to my rejoicing over the finishing of the first hoeing is that the garden now wants hoeing the second time. Warner. 6. I wonder when Englishmen will learn these hospitable graces. They are worth learning. Stevenson. 7. What was called governing them meant only wearing fine clothes and living on good fare at their expense. Ruskin. 8. There are but three ways of living; by working, by stealing or by begging. - Froude. 9. He spent all the day roaming over the house. – Kipling. 10. I believe they find adorning the body a more profitable vocation than adorning the mind. - Miss Mitford. II. She promised to befriend him and advised his disguising himself, lest the Magician should see him and turn him likewise into stone. Old Deccan Days. 12. The buying a new coat is as to the cost of it a much more important matter of consideration to me than building a new Exchange is to you. Ruskin. 13. She had been busy all the morning making tea-bread and sponge-cakes. - Mrs. Gaskell. 14. It is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found, that is of consequence. Lowell. 15. A perfectly truthful man, who loves truth for its own sake, is not contented with being as truthful as other people. J. F. Clarke. 66 16. It'll be no use their putting their heads down and saying, up again, dear!"- Lewis Carroll. Come Exercise 27 Analyze the following sentences: 1. Miss Binson was, to quote her neighbors, a little too sharp-set. Miss Jewett. |