2.6. The Gerund and the Participle

Формы герундия совпадают с формами причастия.

Герундий от причастия отличается:

1) по функции в предложении. Герундий может быть любым членом предложения, причастие-только определением, обстоятельством или частью сказуемого.

Синтаксическая функция	Герундий	Причастие
Подлежащее	Driving a can is a profession.	------
Сказуемое	His hobby is driving.	He is driving to Moscow now.
Дополнение	He writes articles about driving.	------
Определение	His plan of driving to Moscow was not good.	The man driving a car is our chief engineer.
Обстоятельство	Before driving a car one must learn to do it properly.	Driving a car one must be very attentive.

Если предложение начинается словом с окончанием – ing, следует помнить, что оно может быть герундием в функции подлежащего (если за ним идёт глагол - сказуемое) или причастием в функции обстоятельства (если за ним следует подлежащее):

Герундий перед глаголом-сказуемым	Причастие перед подлежащим
Testing the motor was necessary.	Testing the motor, he saw …
Испытать мотор было необходимо.	Испытывая мотор, он увидел …

2) по наличию предлога. Как герундий, так и причастие могут быть обстоятельством и определением. В отличие от причастия, перед герундием в этом случае, стоит предлог. Перед причастием в функции обстоятельства может стоять союз when или while.

Герундий	Причастие
В функции обстоятельства
After testing the motor they put down the results. После испытания мотора они записали результаты.	While testing the motor they put down the results. Испытывая мотор, они записывали результаты.
В функции определения
There are several ways of producing electricity. Имеется несколько способов производства электричества	The plant producing electricity is very powerful. Эта установка, производящая электричество очень мощная

3) По наличию перед герундием притяжательного местоимения или существительного в притяжательном или общем падеже:

We know of copper and silver being the best conductors.	Мы знаем, что медь и серебро – самые лучшие проводники.
We heard of his going to London.	Мы слышали, что он едет в Лондон.

Ex.13. Translate the following into Russian:

1. 1. Having prepared all the necessary equipment they began the experiment. 2. You can learn what the new words mean by looking them up in the dictionary. 3. Being busy he postponed his trip. 4. You don’t mind being asked to help them, do you? 5. Your having written the note is really no excuse for your not coming on the day fixed. 6. Launching the first spaceship into outer space was one of the greatest victories of man over nature. 7. Launching artificial satellites we obtain the information about other planets. 8.Without studying space processes a full understanding of phenomena taking place on our Earth is impossible. 9. Overcoming these difficulties the designers can increase the production efficiency. 10. Overcoming these difficulties is not so easy as it may seem. 11. Setting a problem is the first step to its solution. 12. Putting the discovery into practice the engineers will solve a complicated technological task. 14. Putting the discovery into practice sometimes requires more effort than making it. 15. It is known that heating may bring about certain changes in the structure of any metal, these changes depending on the amount of heating and the kind of the metal being heated.

2. Using electricity on a large scale opens up great possibilities in various fields of science and everyday life. Using electric light in our homes we seldom think of those who were the pioneers in electrical engineering.

Several remarkable Russian scientists have made a great contribution to the science, Yablochkov and Lodygin being the best known to everyone. Lodygin’s having produced the first incandescent lamp is a generally recognized fact. His first lamps (1872), consisting of a glass bulb with a carbon rod serving as a filament, however, were imperfect, their life being only 30-40 minutes. Having introduced several carbon rods instead of one the scientist made the lamp serve a longer period.

After having seen Lodygin’s lamp Edison took great interest in the invention. We know of his having worked at the improvement of the lamp for several years. In 1879 Edison succeeded in creating an improved lamp which solved the problem of getting cheap electricity on a wide scale.

However, the carbon filament not being efficient and economic enough, Lodygin turned to the study of metals. Soon the necessary metal having a high melting point was found, it was tungsten. Many difficulties having been overcome, the problem of lighting our streets, plants and homes was solved.

3. Answer questions:

1. What opens up great possibilities in various fields of science and everyday life?

2. Why do we seldom think of using electric light in our homes?

3. Who of the Russian scientists have made a great contribution to the science?

4. What is a generally recognized fact?

5. How long was the life of the first Lodygin’s lamps?

6. What did they consist of?

7. How did the scientist make the lamp serve a longer period?

8. When did Edison take great interest in the invention?

9. When did Edison succeed in creating an improved lamp?

10. What kind of metal is tungsten?

11. What problem was solved?

d) Give a short summary of the text.