8. The forms and categories of the Gerund.

8.0. Grammatical Categories include Voice and Time Correlation.

8.1 Voice distinctions can be found only with the transitive verbs. Active GER (taking, giving, sending etc.) indicates that the action is directed from the subject of the sentence (i.e. from the person or thing named by the subject):

He was good at gathering mushrooms (=He gathered mushrooms well).

Passive GER (being taken, being flown, etc.) points out the direction of the action towards the subject (something is done, happening to the person/thing named by the subject):

I was aware of being watched (=Somebody watched me).

Note: in some specific instances Active forms of Gerund are used with the meaning of Passive: after such verbs as want, need, require, deserve, and the phrase be worth only Active Non–Perfect GER is used thus emphasizing on the activity itself, and not particular agents:

The gate wants/needs/requires painting (=The gate should be painted); He deserves/is worth praising for his outstanding work (=He should be praised).

8.2. Time Correlation distinctions express the idea of simultaneous and prior events: the Non–Perfect GER (active or passive) names actions that are simultaneous with the events of the main verb: I don’t feel comfortable at Miss Jane’s leaving us so soon; or subsequent to it: He looked forward to meeting his parents.

The Perfect form of GER indicates that the action was prior to the one named by the predicate of the sentence:

He does not mention having seen the ghost to anybody, for fear of frightening them – some people are so nervous about ghosts.

Perfect Passive GER (having been+PII) having been taken, having been flown are possible:

Despite having been advised about his personal introduction by Phil, Larsson nevertheless felt mildly surprised when the blackclothed creature stopped in front of him. She felt victoriously joyful at having been granted a scholarship to go to Yale University for the coming semester.

8.2.1. There are a number of verbs whose lexical meaning contains the idea of priority. Thus the perfect GER is redundant with them as the meaning of priority is expressed lexically. Such are the verbs with the meaning of recollection, blame, gratitude, reproach, punishment, and reward:

I seem to remember telling you the time of today’s lecture when we met last week (= I remember (now) that I told you the time … before); Thank you for helping me yesterday (= I thank you (now) for what you did before); He was accused of breaking the window (=He was accused (at some past moment) for what he did before that time).

8.2.2. The Non-Perfect GER is also used instead of the Perfect GER in the context where the idea of priority is expressed by the prepositions on/upon (nearly immediate priority) and after (priority in general):

After changing some money I went sightseeing. On/upon arriving he found the front door of his office wide open.

8.3.1. Nominal combinability of the Gerund includes its combinations with

• Possessive Case Nouns and possessive pronouns: John’s arriving home early, his talking loudly;

• Prepositions with GER in the functions of Attr. and AM: after meeting me, before seeing Mr. Frond, besides learning English, the art of making notes, a skill for teaching music, etc.;

• Negative pronoun no: No smoking. There was no stopping him.

8.3.2. As a verbal form, the GER displays its verbal combinability when it takes:

• an Obj.: his staying with us, mother’s visiting her friends;

• an AM: my living alone, Mary’s talking slowly, etc.;

• when it follows a phasal (aspective) verb to built a Comp. Verb. Phas. Pred. (CVP): I continued reading the article in search of other important facts. We had already stopped whispering when the History teacher called my name.