- •The gerund (2007-2008 piloting)
- •Grammatical categories of the gerund
- •Translation of gerund into Russian
- •Gerundial phrases
- •The gerund as subject
- •The gerund as predicate
- •The gerund as predicative
- •The gerund as part of a compound verbal aspect predicate
- •The gerund as attribute
- •Preposition ‘for’
- •Preposition ‘in’
- •Preposition ‘at’
- •Preposition ‘about’
- •The gerund as an adveribial modifier
- •Несколько минут ребята стояли, не говоря ни слова, затем заговорили все сразу. Они решили, что лучше сразу пойти и во всем признаться, чем ждать, когда за ними придут из полиции.
- •The gerund as object
- •Preposition “of”
- •Preposition “for”
- •Preposition “at”
- •Preposition ‘from’
- •I think…
- •Revision of gerund and infinitive
The gerund (2007-2008 piloting)
The gerund is a non-finite form of the verb that developed from the verbal noun, which in the course of time got verbalized preserving at the same time its nominal character.
Grammatically gerund means a process. If we compare the gerund and the noun derived from the same notional verb, we can see that the gerund emphasizes a process while the noun states a fact, e.g.
Thank you for your help. (fact)
Thank you for helping me. (process)
As a result of its origin and development the gerund had a double nature: it has both nominal and verbal features.
The gerund has only two grammatical categories: of voice (active and passive) and of correlation (perfect and non-perfect)
|
NOMINAL |
VERBAL |
|
a) It can perform the functions of subject, object and predicative, e.g. Seeing is believing. (seeing – subject; believing- predicative) He remembered posting the letter. (object) b) It can be preceded by a preposition, e.g. Mary insisted on calling Dick. c) It can be modified by a noun in the possessive case or a possessive pronoun, e.g. Excuse my interrupting you. Excuse John’s interrupting you.
There is a chance of finding him in. (attribute) Remember to turn off the gas before leaving the house. (adv. modifier of time) |
She avoided meeting him. (direct) Mr. Black thought of leaving the town. (prepositional)
Peter enjoys reading books slowly and thoroughly.
I hate interrupting people.(active) I hate being interrupted. (passive)
There is some hope of catching the last train. (non-perfect/common) Paul remembered having caught the last train. (perfect) |
Grammatical categories of the gerund
|
CORRELATION |
VOICE | |
|
|
ACTIVE |
PASSIVE |
|
NON-PERFECT (COMMON) |
I remember taking my sister to the theatre for the first time. |
I remember being taken to the theatre by my parents for the first time. |
|
PERFECT |
Ted entered without having knocked at the door. |
The door opened without having been knocked on. |
Note: In Modern English the perfect passive gerund is used very seldom
Translation of gerund into Russian
By an infinitive, e.g.
Before going to bed, Jack checked all the locks in the house.
Перед тем как пойти спать, Джек проверил все замки в доме.
By using a special form of the verb – деепричастие, e.g.
Fred left the room without looking at anyone
Фред вышел из комнаты, ни на кого не глядя.
By a subordinate clause, e.g.
I don’t remember meeting this person before.
Я не помню, чтобы я встречала этого человека раньше.