Gerund as a Prepositional Object after Ditransitive Verbs

to accuse smb. of to blame smb. for
to suspect smb. of to praise smb. for
to prevent smb. from to punish smb for
to stop smb from to sentence smb for
to assist smb. in to have no difficulty   in
to help smb. in to congratulate smb. on
to thank smb. for to remind smb. of

Gerund as a Prepositional Object after Adjectives and Statives

to be afraid of to be proud of
to be aware of to be sure of
to be conscious of to be responsible of
to be capable of to be sorry about
to be fond of to be keen on
to be ignorant of to be ashamed of

Gerund as a Prepositional Object after Participle II,

Generally Used as a Predicative

to be accustomed to to be (dis)pleased with/at
to be used to to be surprised at
to be absorbed in to be tired of
to be engrossed in to be disappointed with

FUNCTIONS OF GERUND

  FUNCTIONS PREPOSITIONS EXAMPLES
    SUBJECT ________ Translating such texts is rather difficult.*** It is no use translating this text without a dictionary.  
    PREDICATIVE     ____/like **   My problem is getting to sleep on time. I don’t feel like going to bed yet.  
  PART OF A COMPOUND VERBAL ASPECTIVE PREDICATE ________
  He   began kept on stopped translating the novel
    DIRECT OBJECT * _________   He suggested going to the museum. He denies having met her.  
  PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT *   of, about, on, in, for, from, at, to, etc.**   He insisted on going home. She was not conscious of having shown any special interest in Tom.  
    ATTRIBUTE   of, about, in, at, for, to **   He was busy and gave up the idea of going to the seaside.  
    AM of TIME   after, before, on, in, at   She looked at him steadily before answering.  
    AM of PURPOSE   for, for fear of, for the sake of, for the purpose of   He wants to visit a solicitor tomorrow for the purpose of making a new will.  
    AM of CONDITION     without, but for   He won’t go without saying good-bye.  
    AM of CAUSE *   for, through, owing to, for fear of, due to, because of Through being left out all night in the rain, the metal had rusted. He felt better for having written the letter.  
    AM of ATTENDANT* CIRCUMSTANCES     without, instead of   He went away instead of working. He arrived at the age of forty-five without having once appeared upon a stage.  
  AM of CONCESSION   in spite of, despite In spite of being busy, she managed to translate the text.  
  AM of MANNER   in, by   Her evening was spent in reading.  
    AM of COMPARISON _________   The country is much better for you than working in the hot city all summer.  
* In these cases the Perfect Gerund may occur. ** The choice of these prepositions is determined by V, A, N. *** The Gerund would not occur after “essential”, “important”, “necessary”.

Predicative Constructions with the Gerund

Like all the verbals the gerund can form predicative constructions, i.e. constructions in which the verbal element expressed by the gerund is in predicate relation to the nominal element expressed by a noun or a pronoun, e.g.:

I don’t like your going off without any money.

Note: Some grammarians recognize the existence of the two separate constructions:

the Gerundial Construction – the nominal element of which is expressed by a noun in the genitive case or by a possessive pronoun and

the Half-Gerundial Construction – the nominal element of which is expressed by a noun in the common case, a pronoun in the objective case, or a pronoun which has no case distinctions.

The nominal element of the construction can be expressed in different ways:

1. by a noun in the genitive case or by a possessive pronoun, e.g.:

Do you mind Jack’s (his) smoking?

I insist on Mary’s (her) going there.

The Gerundial Construction

2. by a noun in the common case, e.g.:

#Fancy David courting Emily!

The Half-Gerundial Construction

Note: Thus in Modern English there are two parallel constructions of the type:

Fancy David’s courting Emily!

Fancy David courting Emily!

3. by a pronoun in the objective case, e.g.:

I hope you will forgive me disturbing you.

The Half-Gerundial Construction

4. by a pronoun which has no case distinctions, such as all, this, that, both, each, something, e.g.:

I insist on both of them coming.

The Half-Gerundial Construction

A gerundial construction is nearly always rendered in Russian by a subordinate clause, generally introduced by те, що; тим, що; як, etc.

His being a foreigner, an ex-enemy, was bad enough.

Her thoughts were interrupted at last, by the door opening gently.

I began to picture to myself … my being found dead in a day or two, under some hedge.

Functions of the (Half)-Gerundial Constructions

Complex subject:

Your going there won’t help much.

It was quite unexpected his coming back so soon.

Complex predicative:

What annoyed me most of all was his accepting their proposal quite readily.

Complex direct object

Do you mind my opening the window?

Complex prepositional object

I rely on your coming in time.

Complex attribute

I don’t like the idea of our living here.

Complex adverbial modifier of time

Fix everything before my leaving the town.

Complex adverbial modifier of condition

There’s no teaching at school without your loving children.

Complex adverbial modifier of cause

They couldn’t come to an agreement because of his being stubborn.

He felt better for Mary’s having written the letter.

Complex adverbial modifier of attending circumstances

That’s where we can talk without anybody’s hearing.

Complex adverbial modifier of concession

In spite of it being cold, we went for a walk.

Complex adverbial modifier of manner

He was wakened by someone knocking at the door.

Complex adverbial modifier of comparison

She was not sure why it was so awful, even more awful than Hugh’s knowing that she had returned.

INFINITIVE OR GERUND

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