Степанова Е.Н., Шрамко Л.П., Кожемяка В.И., Крюкова E.И.

Ответственный редактор

кандидат филологических наук, доцент Л.П. Шрамко

Рецензенты

доктор филологических наук, профессор кафедры теории

и практики английского языка ПИ ЮФУ Н.Г. Склярова

кандидат филологических наук, доц. Кафедры иностранных

языков и речевых коммуникаций СКАГС Н.П.Попова

Степанова Е.Н., Шрамко Л.П., Кожемяка В.И., Крюкова E.И.

Неличные формы глагола: Герундий: Учебное пособие по грамматике английского языка для студентов факультета лингвистики и словесности. – Ростов н/Д: РГПУ, 2010. – 76 с.

Учебное пособие предлагает студентам базовые сведения об употреблении герундия в современном английском языке и систему тренировочных и коммуникативных упражнений по данной теме, а также квалиметрические задания для проверки качества усвоения материала.

УДК 811.111.81’366

ББК 81.2. Англ -2

ВВЕДЕНИЕ

Данное учебное пособие предназначено для аудиторной и самостоятельной работы студентов по модулю «Неличные формы глагола: Герундий».

Теоретическая часть пособия содержит нормы и правила образования форм герундия, герундиальных фраз и герундиальных конструкция, а также их употребления в современном английском языке.

Система упражнений, предложенная в пособии, направлена на выработку языковой компетенции студентов по данной теме. Контроль выполнения заданий позволяет диагностировать трудности в понимании особенностей употребления герундия и предотвращать или исправлять ошибки, допускаемые студентами. В процессе выполнения заданий студенты обучаются распознавать и анализировать лингвистический и ситуативный контекст употребления герундия, выявлять аналогии между герундием и соответствующими языковыми единицами русского языка, свободно употреблять его в устной и письменной речи.

Работа по модулю завершается квалиметрическими заданиями, т.е. тестами с ключами и оценочной шкалой, которые дают возможность студентам оценить уровень своей компетенции по данной теме.

В пособии имеется глоссарий терминов, употребляемых в материале модуля.

CONTENTS

GENERAL NOTION
DOUBLE NATURE OF THE GERUND
TENSE DISTINCTIONS OF THE GERUND
VOICE DISTINCTIONS OF THE GERUND
FORMS OF THE GERUND
PREDICATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS (COMPLEXES) WITH THE GERUND
SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF THE GERUND
THE WAYS OF TRANSLATING GERUND INTO RUSSIAN
ТНЕ GERUND & ТНЕ INFINITIVE
ТНЕ GERUND AND ТНЕ VERBAL NOUN
EXERCISES
FORMS OF THE GERUND
SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF THE GERUND
ТНЕ GERUND & ТНЕ INFINITIVE
ТНЕ GERUND & ТНЕ VERBAL NOUN
TESTS
TEST 1
TEST 2
KEYS
GLOSSARY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENERAL NOTION

The Gerund is а non-finite form or a verbal. It doesn’t express person, number or mood and cannot be used as a predicate. Like a finite form it has tense and voice distinctions, but its tense distinctions differ from those of a finite verb. There is no Gerund in the Russian language.

DOUBLE NATURE OF THE GERUND

The Gerund developed from а verbal noun. It is formed by adding the suffix -ing to the stem of the verb. It has double nature combining nominal and verbal properties.

In a sentence gerunds can be used with or without dependent words. Gerunds used with dependent words form gerundial phrases; they can also form predicative constructions (complexes):

Cooking takes a lot of time. – Gerund

Cooking dinners makes me bored. – Gerundial phrase

I object to her cooking everything herself. – Gerundial complex

The Gerund has the following nominal characteristics:

1. The Gerund сan be used in the syntactic function of subject, object, and predicative.

Subject: Trying to get а job at this time of the year was useless.

Object: She hates smoking.

Predicative: One of her duties was feeding the landlady’s cats.

2. The Gerund сan be preceded by а preposition.

I can’t defend this case without telling the truth.

3. The Gerund сan be modified by а noun in the genitive case or by а possessive pronoun.

My (my uncle’s) coming to work for him, was the subject of their conversation.

The Gerund has the following verbal characteristics:

1. The Gerund of transitive verbs can take а direct object.

I knew my father would like (enjoy) taking David in from the rain.

2. The Gerund сan be modified by an adverb.

Withoutreally reading it she put the letter aside.

3. The Gerund has tense distinctions:

He insisted on tryingone more time. – Indefinite (Non-perfect) Gerund

She denied having ever been there. – Perfect Gerund

4. The Gerund of transitive verbs has voice distinctions.

I like listening to this man. – Indefinite (Non-perfect) Active

This man likes being listened to. – Indefinite (Non-perfect) Passive

They accused him of having let them down. – Perfect Active

She complained about having been let down. – Perfect Passive

FORMS OF THE GERUND

Tense / Voice	Active	Passive
Non-perfect Indefinite (Simple)	doing	being done
Perfect Simple	having done	having been done

Negative forms are made by putting the negative particle ‘not’ before the gerund:

She is unhappy about not being invited to your parties.

Subject

Reading books will do you а lot of good.

Your trying to help pleased him a lot.

It can be introduced by it or there:

It’s no use trying to persuade him.

There is no smoking here.

There is no use arguing now.

Predicative

This was sharing а dream, and yet it wasn’t as silly as dreaming.

His only duty was keeping the yard clean.

Object

а) Gerunds and / or gerundial constructions can be used as а direct object after the following verbs:

Avoid, afford (after this verb only а gerundial construction is used), appreciate, bear, consider, contemplate, defer, delay, deny, deserve, detest, discuss, dislike, encourage, endure, enjoy, escape, excuse, face, fancy, forbid, forget, forgive, hate, (cannot) help, imagine, involve, justify, like, loathe, love, mention, mind (in interrogative and negative sentences), miss, need, postpone, practice, prefer, prevent, prohibit, recommend, regret, remember, resent, resist, risk, save (sb), (cannot) stand, suggest, tolerate, understand, want, and the adjectives busy and worth.

I couldn’t avoid speaking to him.

Imagine standing there, mouth open.

They don’t mind paying for driving lessons.

The skirt needs pressing.

The book is worth reading.

We cannot afford your ruining our lives.

b) Gerunds can be used as а prepositional object after the following verbs:

admit to, accuse (sb) of, burst out, carry on, discourage from, excuse (sb) for, forbid sb from, forgive smb for, get round to, give up, hear of, keep from, leave off, prevent smb from, prohibit sb from, stop (sb) from, stop short of, succeed in, suspect (sb) of, take to, talk into / out of, thank (sb) for, warn (sb) against;

Don’t give up trying.

He stopped short of saying what he thought.

Some of the verbs take a direct object besides the object expressed by a gerund:

Don’t blame him for being late.

They suspected him of hiding the facts.

Cora joins me in sending greetings.

She suspects David of having read her diary.

I thanked him again for lending me а car.

Both gerunds and/or gerundial constructions can be used after the following verbs and phrases:

Verbs: agree to, apologize for, approve of, count on, blame (sb) for, boast about / of, care for, complain about / of, decide against, depend on, insist on, join in, look forward to, object to, persist in, put off, rely on, result in, save from, speak of, think of;

Phrases like be aware of, be annoyed at, be astonished at, be afraid of, be ashamed of, be capable of, be certain of, be clever at, be delighted at, be disappointed at, be excited about / at, be engaged in, be fond of, be grateful for, be guilty of, be ignorant of, be indignant at, be interested in, be involved in, be pleased (displeased) at, be proud of, be responsible for, be sorry for / about, be sure of, be surprised at, be tired of, be used to, get used to, get round to etc.

She boasted of having won.

She was aware of а chill striking upwards.

She was aware of being manipulated.

You should apologize for (his) coming late.

Imagine doing it all over again!

Can you imagine her doing it?

She is always annoyed at his banging the doors.

There are also verbs after which gerundial constructions can be used as direct objects, while gerunds are used as prepositional ones:

We cannot prevent his finding out the facts.

We cannot prevent him from finding out the facts.

I suspect something strange happening there.

I suspect them of doing these strange things.

The pronoun it can be used as a preparatory object for the gerund:

I think it no use waiting for them.

Note: After the verbsaffordandagree toonly gerundial complexes can be used: We cannot afford your spending so much money. He will agree to our participating in the project.

Attribute

In this syntactic function gerunds are used in post-position to the noun they modify and are preceded with the prepositions of, for, in, to, about and others:

She had no intention of allowing the knowledge to mar her joy.

There’s no harm in asking her about it.

I didn’t have а good excuse for being late.

This is your clue to solving the problem.

In some noun phrases gerunds are used in pre-position and these noun phrases are often regarded as compound nouns. In these cases gerunds denote the functional use of the object denoted by the noun: a hunting knife, cooking utensils, a frying pan, etc.

Adverbial modifier

а) of time

In this syntactic function gerunds are preceded by the prepositions after, before, on (upon), in, at, since(the perfect forms of the gerund are not, as a rule, used in this syntactic function as the prepositions show the time correlation of the action denoted by the gerund and that denoted by the finite form of the verb):

After waiting all that dark November morning in the overcrowded surgery, Milly had in the end seen the exhausted young doctor.

On entering the dark alley she stopped puzzled.

At seeing the roses Judy felt herself absolutely happy.

She has been sad since receiving this letter.

The preposition after shows that the action or state denoted by the Gerund precedes those of the finite verb; the preposition before shows that the action or state denoted by the finite verb precedes those of the Gerund; the prepositions onand uponare used to show a succession of actions; the preposition atshows that the actions or states denoted by the Gerund are almost simultaneous with those expressed by the finite verb; the preposition in shows that action or state denoted by the finite verb took place while the action denoted by the Gerund was carried out. The preposition since shows the starting point of the action denoted by the finite verb.

b) of manner

In this syntactic function gerunds are preceded by the prepositions by, in:

By creeping into the furthermost corner, Milly found а little protection from the spray.

She spent the whole day in cleaning and scrubbing.

с) of attendant circumstances

In this syntactic function gerunds are preceded by the preposition without, besides, in addition to, instead of:

And without waiting for an answer she darted off into the damp, windowless cavern.

Besides trying to become a writer she also worked with a small law firm.

You’d better think it over instead of arguing.

d) of purpose

The gerund is used to speak about the purpose in general. In this syntactic function gerunds are preceded by the preposition for:

Half-glasses hung around her neck, for reading the menu.

е) of condition

In this syntactic function gerunds are preceded by the preposition without or the phrase in case of:

I can’t defend this case without telling the truth.

In case of changing your plans, please, inform us immediately.

f) of cause

In this syntactic function gerunds are preceded by the prepositions for, for fear of, owing to, because of, through:

For fear of making the same mistake again she avoided their company.

He was desperate because of the weather, of losing his way, of night coming so fast.

But I came to it at last through pursuing the rule I have just mentioned.

(A. Christie)

g) of concession

In this syntactic function gerunds denote some obstacles in spite of which the action of the finite form is carried out and are preceded by the preposition in spite of, despite:

In spite of being exhausted and hungry she went on walking along the crowded street.

Despite sending his applications regularly, he couldn’t get a job.

Parentheses

In this syntactic function the gerund is preceded by the conjunction as and the preposition for (as for):

As for giving you an answer, I’ll take my time.

Ответственный редактор

кандидат филологических наук, доцент Л.П. Шрамко

Рецензенты

доктор филологических наук, профессор кафедры теории

и практики английского языка ПИ ЮФУ Н.Г. Склярова

кандидат филологических наук, доц. Кафедры иностранных

языков и речевых коммуникаций СКАГС Н.П.Попова

Степанова Е.Н., Шрамко Л.П., Кожемяка В.И., Крюкова E.И.

УДК 811.111.81’366

ББК 81.2. Англ -2

ВВЕДЕНИЕ

В пособии имеется глоссарий терминов, употребляемых в материале модуля.

CONTENTS

GENERAL NOTION
DOUBLE NATURE OF THE GERUND
TENSE DISTINCTIONS OF THE GERUND
VOICE DISTINCTIONS OF THE GERUND
FORMS OF THE GERUND
PREDICATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS (COMPLEXES) WITH THE GERUND
SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF THE GERUND
THE WAYS OF TRANSLATING GERUND INTO RUSSIAN
ТНЕ GERUND & ТНЕ INFINITIVE
ТНЕ GERUND AND ТНЕ VERBAL NOUN
EXERCISES
FORMS OF THE GERUND
SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF THE GERUND
ТНЕ GERUND & ТНЕ INFINITIVE
ТНЕ GERUND & ТНЕ VERBAL NOUN
TESTS
TEST 1
TEST 2
KEYS
GLOSSARY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENERAL NOTION

DOUBLE NATURE OF THE GERUND

The Gerund developed from а verbal noun. It is formed by adding the suffix -ing to the stem of the verb. It has double nature combining nominal and verbal properties.

In a sentence gerunds can be used with or without dependent words. Gerunds used with dependent words form gerundial phrases; they can also form predicative constructions (complexes):

Cooking takes a lot of time. – Gerund

Cooking dinners makes me bored. – Gerundial phrase

I object to her cooking everything herself. – Gerundial complex

The Gerund has the following nominal characteristics:

1. The Gerund сan be used in the syntactic function of subject, object, and predicative.

Subject: Trying to get а job at this time of the year was useless.

Object: She hates smoking.

Predicative: One of her duties was feeding the landlady’s cats.

2. The Gerund сan be preceded by а preposition.

I can’t defend this case without telling the truth.

3. The Gerund сan be modified by а noun in the genitive case or by а possessive pronoun.

My (my uncle’s) coming to work for him, was the subject of their conversation.