334. As is seen in the sentences just given, a Participle may, like a Verb, have Adverbial Adjuncts. 335. A Participle, when beginning a sentence, is an Adjunct of the Subject. Thus in the sentence, "Walking on High Street yesterday I met Harry Williams," walking goes with I, not with Harry Williams. So in the sentence, "Much burned they at last made their way to the window," burned is an Adjunct of the Subject they. 336. Besides the two Participles already studied there are others belonging to Transitive Verbs. The complete list is as follows: Active Voice: Present, making. Perfect, having made (having been making). Passive Voice: Present, being made. Perfect, having been made, or made. 337. Intransitive Verbs, since they have no Voice, have only the following Participles: Present, sitting. Perfect, having sat (having been sitting), sat.' Exercise 158. Tell the kinds of Participles in the following sentences, and tell with what Nouns or Pronouns they are used. Having been elected he now proceeded to Washington. Trying to break down the door the robber hurt his hand. Being injured he had to retreat. Having walked so far I will not turn back now. The thief, 1 It should be noted that though sat is called the Perfect Participle of sit it is never used by itself as other Participles are, limiting a Noun or a Pronoun, but always in combination with an Auxiliary, to form some Verbal or some part of the Verb. This is true of the corresponding form of almost all Intransitive Verbs. A few Intransitive Verbs, however, may employ this Participle without having; as, "At length, grown to be a man, Hans set out to seek his fortune;""The risen Lord." having been detected, confessed to many misdoings. We feel that, having studied this lesson two hours, we ought to go out to play a while. Grown now to be six feet tall I am no more to be called a boy. Being caused some uneasiness by the noise, I left my accustomed quarters. Being now much sought after, he lost his head, as we say. GERUNDS.' Read again pars. 58 and 319. 338. Besides Participles and Infinitives, there are Verbals of a third kind, which are called Gerunds. Participles might be called Adjective Verbals; and Gerunds might be called Noun Verbals. (Infinitives, as we have seen, may be used as Nouns, Adjectives, or Adverbs.) 339. Like the Present Participle, the Present Gerund ends in -ing, but the two are entirely different in origin and in use. 340. In the sentence, He is ill from working too steadily, working, though it is the Object of the Preposition from, cannot be called a Noun, because it is modified by the Adverb steadily. In the sentence, Reading history is one of my greatest pleasures, reading, though it is the Subject of the Verb is, cannot be called a Noun, because it governs an Object, history. In those sentences, working and reading are not Participles because Participles are like Adjectives in their use and do not have Case. 341. Working and reading, in the sentences given, are Gerunds. A Gerund has Case like a Noun (and is thus See "Notes for Teachers," p. 324, Note 30. 156 distinguished from a Participle). But a Gerund also governs Case like a Verb, or has Adverbial Adjuncts (and is thus distinguished from a Noun). Examples of Gerund as Subject. Reading books about animals is interesting. Examples of Gerund as Object. I like riding a horse better than riding a bicycle. Examples of Gerund in the Objective Case after a Preposition. Mr. Sidney is fond of hunting bears. Wash before eating a mouthful. Men who believe in working faithfully are apt to succeed. 342. Sometimes it may seem a little hard to decide whether a word is an Abstract Noun or a Gerund. When it has an Article before it' (see par. 275), it had better be called a Noun [as, "After the passing of the Act"]; and when it has an Object or an Adverbial Adjunct, as in the examples given above, it must be called a Gerund. Writing corIn the sentence "Writing is a useful art," writing is a Noun.' But in the sentences "Writing poetry is difficult" and " rectly is learned by long practice," writing is a Gerund; having, in one sentence, an Object, poetry, and in the other an Adverbial Adjunct, correctly. John's saying A Gerund is frequently preceded by a Noun or Pronoun in the "I am tired of his coming here; " Possessive Case; as, what he did annoyed them." In Parsing a Gerund say from what Verb it is formed, in what Case it is, and what Case (if any) it governs. 1 Or when it is followed by of with the Noun which is the Object of the Verb named by the word ending in -ing. 2 See other examples in Exercise 8, a. Pick out Exercise 159. a. The Present Participles, and parse the Gerunds. In keeping Thy commandments there is great reward. After hearing the news I came away. Stanley, traveling across Africa, found Livingstone. Whipping a dead horse is foolish. The boy whipping a top is Richard Dolan. After receiving the letter the woman went out. Sowing the seed comes before reaping the grain. I failed through taking no pains. The soldier was promoted for doing his duty. The boy had a passion for wandering in strange lands and seeking adventures. 343. Each Verb has as many Gerunds as it has Participles containing the syllable -ing (see pars. 336, 337). That is, the Gerunds of the Verb make are the same in form as its Participles, except that the Perfect Participle made is not a Gerund. 344. We should by this time have learned to distinguish between the following classes of words ending in -ing: 1. Nouns (see pars. 4, 112); as, "Walking is my favorite exercise,” "The shearing of the sheep takes place to-day,' "The culprit received several thwackings." 2. Participles (see pars. 336, 337); as, "The wind gently blowing from the sea cooled her brow," "The trouble having been forgotten, our friendship was renewed." 3. Participial Adjectives (see pars. 59, 332); as, "Whistling girls and crowing hens," "A blinding snow-storm.” [It may be noted that some Participial Adjectives have lost all verbal meaning and have become purely adjectival; as, "A pleasing landscape," "A most interesting book."] 4. Gerunds (read again pars. 339, 341); as, "The man is sad from having lost his son," "The prophet wore a veil to keep his face from being seen." 158 5. Part of many forms of the Verb (see pars. 12, 16); as, “We ," "The horse is being curried." have been reading a good story," Exercise 160. Pick out the words ending in -ing, and tell to which of the above classes they belong. We are having too much of this trifling. The jolting of this wagon is very trying. From running so hard we were having trouble in getting our breath. A moment after mounting the horse the boy was fast being lost to sight. I enjoyed the walking of that last mile. I enjoy I enjoy walking brisk walking. I enjoyed walking that last mile. That is the result of your briskly. Those men's talking annoys me. talking too carelessly. I stood watching a boy chasing a cat. The soldier was observing some smoke which he saw rising, a mile or more away, from a burning building. The receiving of this encouraging letter was what kept us from losing all hope. Seeing is believing [Nom. Case]. Traveling is interesting. I am fond of traveling. Giving is more blessed than receiving [Nom. Case]. Ready writing makes not good writing, but good writing brings on ready writing. Going down the road this morning I found my friend Frank fishing in the brook. Showing pleasure at the sight of me, he asked me to join in the fishing. So cutting a branch for a fishing rod I was soon beside him on the bank. Good writing is not often met with. The typewriter is a writing machine. Writing as rapidly as I could, I finished the letter in time for the mail. The hawthorn bush with seats beneath the shade, |