University of Sarajevo Mentor: Lada Šestić, PhDFaculty of Philosophy Melisa Okičić, MAEnglish Language and Literature Department Student: Selma Gondžetović
FUNCTIONS OF NOMINAL –ING CLAUSE
FINAL PAPER
Sarajevo, September 2012
Contents
1. INTRODUCTION..............................................3
2. PHRASE ON SYNTACTIC LEVEL................................4
3. NOMINAL DEPENDANT (SUBORDINATE) CLAUSES...................6
4. NOMINAL –ING CLAUSE.......................................8
5. ANALYSIS.................................................17
7. CONCLUSION...............................................28
8. APPENDICES...............................................29
9. BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................31
2
1.INTRODUCTION
The paper discusses the nominal –ing clause and its functions
in a sentence. This syntactic construction is usually used as a
means to condense certain information in a more compact way.
The reason for I have chosen to deal with nominal –ing phrase
is that is frequently used equally in both written and spoken
language, but, on the other way, the nominal –ing clause is not
always realized as nominal clause in the Bosnian language. The
main goal of this paper is analysing the function of nominal –
ing clauses which are collected from the corpus, i.e. novel by
Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds, in order to identify the most
frequent nominal –ing clause function. This paper is structured
as follows: in the introduction section we introduce the topic
and explain the main goal of this paper. In the following
section we give a brief literature overview in relation to the
general characteristics of nominal –ing clauses, with special
attention given to the function of nominal –ing clauses. The
references we used for this purpose are as follows: A Student’s
Introduction to English Grammar by Huddleston, R. ,Pullum G.K.
3
(2005), The Oxford English Grammar by Greenbaum, S. (1996),
Macmillan English Grammar in Context by Vince, M. (2007), Longman
English Grammar by L.G. Alexander (2003), The Cambridge Encyclopaedia
of the English Language by Crystal, D. (2003), The Cambridge Grammar of
the English Language by Huddleston, R., Pullum G.K. (2002), A
University Grammar of English by Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S. (1998), A
Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Quirk, R., Greenbaum,
S., Leech, G., Svartvik, J. (1999) and Modern English: A Practical
Reference Guide by Marcella Frank (1972).
The third section deals with the analysis of the nominal –ing
clause functions, identified and collected from the corpus,
where we list the examples of the nominal –ing clause and we
give statistical data regarding the frequency of each function.
The fourth section summarizes our findings in a form of a
conclusion and recommendations for future research papers.
2. PHRASE ON SYNTACTIC LEVEL
The term phrase in linguistic literature can sometimes be
ambiguous. At one point linguists use phrase while referring to
semantic constructions (i.e. synonym for expression, idiom), and
then they use the same term to discuss syntactic structures.
These different meanings of the term should never be mixed and
4
one always has to bear in mind these distinctions when
discussing either the semantic or syntactic level of a phrase.1
In syntax a phrase is a group of words without subject-
predicate relationship.
e.g. While writing an essay PHRASE, students felt anxious and tired.
Unlike phrases, clauses are groups of words which express a
thought by using subject-predication relationship.
e.g. While students were writing an essay CLAUSE, they felt anxious and tired.
If the thought is complete, the clause is independent, and if
the thought is incomplete, the clause is dependent. According
to A University Grammar of English (Quirk, Greenbaum: 1998: 310)
dependent clauses can be classified either by structural type
or by function they have in the sentence. There are three main
classes of clauses at the structural level (Quirk, Greenbaum:
1998: 310) :
a) Finite clause – a clause whose V element is a finite verb
phrase (VP which has tense distinction, person and number
concord between S and the finite verb, and mood), e.g.
John has visited New York.
b) Non-finite clause – a clause whose V element is a non-
finite verb phrase, e.g. Having seen the pictures,...
c) Verbless clause – a clause containing no V element, e.g.
Although always helpful, he...
A finite verb is a verb that carries a contrast in tense between present and past, and
may also be marked for person and number. In a finite verb phrase the first or only1 In this paper we deal with the syntactic side of what phrase denotes andsemantics are not to be included in any way!
5
verb is finite, and the other verbs are non-finite. In a non-finite verb phrase all the
verbs are non-finite (Greenbaum, Nelson 2002: 76).
In this paper we deal with non-finite clauses only, and thus we
will not discuss a and c.
One of the main characteristics of non-finite clauses is the
fact that it can be constructed without a subject. Quirk and
Randolph (1998:310) distinguish four types of non-finite
clauses:
a) Infinitive with to e.g. The best thing would be to tell
everybody.
b) Infinitive without to e.g. Rather than John do it, I’d prefer
to give the job to Mary.
c) –ing participle e.g. Her aunt having left the room, I declared my
passionate love for Celia.
d) –ed participle e.g. Covered with confusion, I left the room.
It is important to note several characteristics of non-finite
clauses (Randolph, Quirk: 1998: 311/312)
- They cannot have distinctions of person, number, or modal
auxiliary since they do not have the finite verb form.
- In negative non-finite clauses, the negative particle is
placed immediately before the verb, e.g. It is his fault
for not doing anything about it.
In A Student’s Grammar of the English Language (Quirk, Greenbaum, 1990:
304) the authors discuss four major groups of dependant clauses
on the basis of the function they have in a sentence:6
a) Nominal
b) Adverbial
c) Relative
d) Comparative
Nominal dependant -ing clauses are only relevant for this
paper, so other categories will not be part of our discussion.
The only exception deals with the including in this paper
adjectival function of nominal –ing clauses. We have decided to
include them too because the analysed corpus is abundant in
them and they are very interesting for our research.
3.NOMINAL DEPENDANT (SUBORDINATE) CLAUSES
Quirk and Greenbaum (1998: 315) compare a nominal clause with
noun phrases (NPs). They claim that just like NPs may occur as
subject (S), object (O), complement (C), appositive, and
prepositional complement, so every nominal clause may occur in
some or all of these roles. However, they emphasize that the
occurrence of nominal clauses is limited by the fact that they
are normally abstract, i.e. they refer to events, facts,
states, ideas, etc (Quirk, Greenbaum 1998: 316). The authors
deal in details with nominal clauses and classify them
according to the specific element of their structure. The
7
classification of nominal clauses according to Quirk and
Greenbaum is as follows (Quirk, Greenbaum 1998: 317):
a) That-clauses; e.g. That she is still alive is a consolation.
b) Wh-interrogative clauses; e.g. I can’t imagine what made
him do it.
c) Yes-no interrogative clauses; e.g. Do you know if/whether the
banks are open?
d) Nominal relative clauses; e.g. He gave whoever came to the
door a winning smile.
e) To-infinitive nominal clauses; e.g. His ambition, to be a
straight actor, was never fulfilled.
f) Nominal –ing clauses; e.g. I’m tired of being treated like a
child.
g) Bare infinitive and verbless clauses; e.g. All I did was
(to) turn off the gas.
In A Students’ Grammar of English (Quirk, Greenbaum: 1990: 309) the
authors discuss another type of nominal clauses:
h) Exclamative clauses; e.g. It is incredible how fast she can
run.
This was a short introduction into the realm of English
clauses. In the next section we will discuss only one of the
above mentioned clauses, and that is nominal -ing clause.
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4.NOMINAL –ING CLAUSE
Nominal –ing clause is a specific syntactic construction for
various reasons. First, the name of the construction is not
definite. Many linguists discuss the construction naming it
differently and it seems that they cannot agree about a single
term for this construction. It is known as gerund phrase,
nominal –ing clause, verbal noun, gerund-participial clauses.
Secondly, ing-nominal clause is often mixed with present
participle clauses because they are very similar in the
appearance, but in fact their use and meaning is different.
Since many linguists deal with the issue of non-finite
constructions in the English language, we will here give a
brief overview of their research and conclusions they reached
regarding the nominal -ing phrase. The overview is given
according to the chronological order so that we can follow the
changes that occurred in the research of this construction in
the last two decades. The main observation regarding these
changes is the issue of the term used for this structure.
In the Handbook of English Grammar (Zandvoort 1957: 24) the author
starts his discussion by claiming that all words derived from a verb
stem by means of the suffix -ing may be used in a variety of meanings and functions,
according to the context in which they occur. Zandvoort primarily states
that such words may be used as verbal nouns, which means that
they have a verbal meaning, and he gives the following examples
(Zandvoort 1597: 24)
e.g. Reading and writing are now common acquirements; I am fond of smoking.
(Zandvoort 1957: 24)10
At the same time, this –ing form may have a verbal function
too. In addition, Zandvoort also claims that it can take an
object or be qualified by an adverb.
e.g. I am fond of smoking a pipe, He educated himself by
reading widely. (Zandvoort 1957: 24)
As the author claims, nouns in –ing with verbal meaning, or with verbal
meaning and function combined, are called gerunds. The author finds it
important to mention that in groups of words such as human
being, the Chrysler Building, the character of the words in -ing is purely nominal,
the former being synonymous with person or creature, and the latter with house or
edifice. Such nouns are not called gerunds (Zandvoort 1957: 24).
The author of this book firmly claims that a gerund may exhibit
all the syntactic properties of a noun (Zandvoort 1957: 25). This means
that it can be pre-modified by an article, a possessive or
demonstrative pronoun, a noun in the genitive, or an adjective.
At the same time, it can be post-modified by a prepositional
phrase. The functions of the gerund are as follows (Zandvoort
1957: 25)
a) Subject
E.g. His handling the situation was masterly.
b) Object or nominal predicate of a sentence
E.g. He was waked by an insistent tapping on his door.
c) It can form part of a prepositional adjunct
E.g. I detested all this quibbling.
The author continues his discussion of gerund by introducing
the fact that it can also exhibit the syntactic properties of a
11
verb. This implies that it may be qualified by an adverb or
adverbial phrase, and in the case of a transitive verb it may govern an object
(Zandvoort 1957: 25). In this sense it can take a subject of
its own and it may be used in the perfect tense (having written)
and in the passive voice (being written). He illustrates these
statements by the following examples (Zandvoort 1957: 25):
a) Of making many books there is no end.
b) He was suspected of having embezzled large sums of money.
c) I object to being treated like a child.
Nominal –ing clause is discussed in details in the English
Grammar (Curme 1963: 276), but under a different name. The
author claims that the gerund was originally a verbal noun in –ing this
differing from the participle in –ing which was originally an adjective (Curme
1963: 276). Gerund is connected to verbs only by its verbal
meaning, which means that its all other characteristics are
nominal. Curme states that the noun gerund usually preserves its original
active form even where it has strong passive force and is usually formally
distinguished by a preceding adjective, descriptive or limiting.
d) He has not committed any act worth of hanging (Curme 1963: 276).
Curme gives the following classification of syntactic functions
(Curme 1963: 278, 279, 280)
a) Subject
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e.g. Seeing is believing.
(1) Predicate
e.g. Seeing is believing. or To see is to believe.
(2) Object:
(1) Accusative object
e.g. I like getting up early.
(2) Dative object
e.g. He came near being killed.
(3) Prepositional object
e.g. He spoke about my returning so late.
(3) As an attributive element:
(1) As an attributive genitive
e.g. the fear of losing his friendship
(2) As an appositive, agreeing with its govern noun
in case
e.g. I now have very pleasant work, preparing boys for
college.
(3) As an attributive prepositional phrase
e.g. his joy on account of my coming.
(4) In abridged adverbial clauses
e.g. In going down town, I met an old friend.
Gerund phrase is the only term used for discussing this type of
construction in Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide (Frank 1993:
310). In her textbook the author claims that the verb in a gerund
phrase is reduced to participial form. Frank finds it important to13
mention that all participial forms may function as gerunds except the –ed past
participle (Frank 1993: 310). The author also reflects on the time
expressed by the gerund and she claims that the –ing form is neutral
with respect to time; the time that is intended often depends on the tense or the
meaning of the main verb [...] and that the perfect form expresses time that
precedes that of the main verb. If the main verb is present or future, the perfect
gerund corresponds to the present tense [...] and if the main verb is past, the
perfect gerund corresponds to the past perfect tense (Frank 1993: 311).
Important part of Frank’s discussing gerund phrases is its
nominal functions. The author states that gerund phrases may
perform all the functions that nouns are capable of fulfilling,
thus the following examples (Frank 1993: 310):
(5) Subject of Verb2
e.g. Her watering the plants every day is necessary.
(6) Object of Verb3
e.g. Her mother appreciates her watering the plants every day.
(7) Object of preposition
(1) In Prepositional Object
e.g. Her mother insists on her watering the plants every day.
(2) 15.2. In Adverbial Phrase
e.g. By watering the plants every day she is pleasing her mother.
2 Sometimes a gerund phrase subject appears after anticipatory it + anadjective and such constructions are usually used in informal style, e.g.It's very embarrasing, not remembering your name. (Frank 1993: 317)3 Most verbs which take a gerund phrase as their object denote mentalactivity or indirect speech. This is the reason they require subjects thatrefer to human beings. However, other verbs have little semantic contentoutside of indicating aspect. These verbs may or may not be used withsubjects denoting persons. There is less agreement that a verbal followingone of the aspect-denoting verbs given in the list is its object. Most ofthe verbs listed cannot be used with perfect gerunds due to their semanticnature (Frank 1993: 317). The list of the verbs followed by gerund objectsis given in the appendix to the paper.
14
Frank pays a lot of attention to this function of gerund
phrase. She states that any verb used as the object in a prepositional
phrase takes the form of a gerund (Frank 1993: 319). We are provided
with three functions of prepositional gerund phrase (Frank
1993: 319-321):
- Nominal function of prepositional gerund phrases is
attributed to such gerund phrases which function as
prepositional objects of verb. A lot of the verbs listed
under prepositional objects4 take such gerund objects.
e.g. He insisted on paying the entire bill for dinner.
Some verbs are followed by either gerund phrase prepositional
objects or infinitive phrase, but also there are verbs which
are followed by word to which is not a sign of the infinitive
but rather a preposition and therefore requires a gerund after
it. These verbs are:
accustom oneself, allude, confess, confine oneself, dedicate oneself, limit oneself,
look forward, object, plead guilty, reconcile oneself, resign oneself, resort, revert,
e.g. He objected to their entering the factory without permission. (Frank
1993: 319-320)
- Adjectival function of prepositional gerund phrases is
characterized by adjectival constructions which appear
mostly after nouns and which begin with of or for. These
prepositional gerund phrases can follow nouns derived from
verbs or adjectives and they can appear after nouns that
4 The list is given in the appendix to the paper15
are non-derivational. Both types may have alternate
infinitive forms.
(1) His pretence of being rich didn’t fool anyone.
(2) This is not a good way of doing it. (Frank 1993:
320)
- Adverbial function of prepositional gerund phrases implies
that there are prepositional gerund phrases modifying
verbs (express almost all adverbial meanings except place)
and prepositional gerund phrases modifying adjectives
(introduced by at, about, for, of, with, by).
(1) After listening to the news, she started to prepare
dinner.
(2) He was embarrassed at hearing himself praised. (Frank
1993: 320-321)
(8) Subjective complement (predicative noun)
e.g. What her mother insists on is her watering the plants every
day.
(9) Appositive
e.g. Her mother insists on one thing – her watering the plants
every day.
We have noticed that textbooks issued in the last two decades
do not even mention the term gerund. For example in A Student’s
Grammar of the English Language (Quirk & Greenbaum 1990: 312) the
authors speak of nominal –ing clauses. Only in a footnote do the
16
authors claim that the –ing participle in a nominal clause is commonly
called a gerund. (Quirk & Greenbaum 1990: 313) Their
classification of syntactic functions of this form somewhat
differs from Frank’s (1957). Nominal –ing clauses may function
as (Greenbaum & Quirk 1990: 312):
(1) Subject
e.g. Watching television keeps them out of mischief.
(2) Direct object
e.g. He enjoys playing practical jokes.
(3) Subject complement
e.g. His first job had been selling computers.
(4) Appositive
e.g. His current research, investigating attitudes to racial
stereotypes, takes up most of his time.
(5) Adjectival complementation
e.g. They are busy preparing a barbecue.
The same authors deal with nominal –ing clauses, i.e.
gerund phrase, in their University Grammar of English (1998:
321) too. They now introduce the term participle clause to
depict a closer definition of the nominal –ing clause.
Their classification of syntactic functions is almost the
same as in their previous textbook, only in the new
edition they added one more function a gerund phrase can
obtain in a sentence. This is the function of:
(6) Prepositional complement.17
e.g. I am tired of being treated like a child. (Quirk &
Greenbaum 1998: 321)
Quirk and Greenbaum are not the only grammarians who use term
nominal –ing clauses. In the Longman Grammar of Spoken and written English
(Biber 1999: 199) the author only mentions –ing clauses as such,
and does not even classify them as nominal. He never uses term
gerund. Biber gives a detailed classification of syntactic
functions of –ing clauses (Biber 1999: 199, 200):
(1) Subject
e.g. Understanding how a planet generates and gets rid of its heat is
essential if we are to understand how that planet works.
(2) Extraposed subject
e.g. There is only around five tonnes of newsprint left
and it’s very difficult getting supplies into Sarajevo.
(3) Subject predicative
e.g. The real problem is getting something done about the cheap
imports.
(4) Direct object
e.g. It’s as if the guy never stops thinking about the issue.
(5) Prepositional object
e.g. No-one could rely on his going to bed early last night.
(6) Part of noun phrase
e.g. I think he smashed two cars coming down the road
(7) Part of adjective phrase
e.g. It might be worth giving him a bell to let him know what’s
happening.
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(8) Complement of preposition
e.g. The art of expanding limited recall by asking leading, open-ended
question is a subtle one.
In their textbook A Students Introduction to English Grammar (Huddleston
& Pullum 2005: 312) the authors discuss gerund-participial clauses.
When it comes to their functions in a sentence, Huddleston and
Pullum compare them to those of to-infinitivals, but they
emphasize that there are some crucial facts that differentiate
to types of clauses, which will be stated later. The authors
state the following functions of gerund-participial clause
(Huddleston & Pullum 2005: 213):
(1) Subject
e.g. Bringing your dad in on the deal was a great idea.
(2) Extraposed subject
e.g. It’s been a pleasure talking to you both.
(3) Object
e.g. I find talking to Max rather stressful.
(4) Extraposed object
e.g. He considers it a waste of time going to meetings.
(5) Internal complement of verb
e.g. I remember telling you about her visit.
(6) Complement of preposition
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e.g. He insists [on checking everything himself].
(7) Adjunct in clause
e.g. Having read the paper, I can’t see why you care.
(8) Modifier in NP
e.g. Who was [the doctor performing the operation]
In their conclusion to this set of examples the authors claim
that unlike infinitivals, gerund participials can occur as objects with a
following predicative complement, as in (8) (Huddleston & Pullum 2005:
213). They also bring light to the fact that many prepositions
can take gerund-participials as complement, as in (2).
Based on this brief overview we can conclude that the
classification of syntactic functions of nominal-ing clause as
well as the terms used to refer to this construction slightly
differs in the observed textbooks. This is the summary of what
we stated above:
a) The term gerund is used in textbooks by older authors,
dating from roughly the first half of the 20th century,
i.e. Zandvoort (1957), Curme (1963) and Frank (1993). In
the modern grammars this term is no longer in use. The
authors have decided to combine gerund phrase and
participial clause under one name – the -ing form.
However, there is some kind of division between the two
because Frank’s gerund phrase is now referred to as –ing
20
phrase which has nominal characteristics, i.e. nominal –
ing phrase.
b) Main characteristics of nominal –ing clauses are (Frank
1993: 310-322)
- It occupies all positions occupied by the noun
- It retains a stronger verbal force than do other nominals
(noun clausers, infinitive phrases, abstract noun phrases)
- Verb is reduced to participial form
- -ed past participial cannot function as gerund
- The –ing form is neutral with respect to time – the time
that is intended often depends on the tense or the meaning
of the main verb
- The subject of a nominal –ing phrase (i.e. gerund) usually
denotes a live being, but sometimes it designates a
lifeless thing or an abstract idea. It can be understood
or found in another part of the sentence
- A prepositional nominal –ing phrase may appear in all
three adverbial positions, i.e. initial, medial and final
position
-
c) The classification of syntactic functions is very similar
in most of the grammar textbooks. There are only some
minor distinctions. It is important to mention that all
observed authors agree of the most common functions of the
nominal -ing clause, and these are: subject, subject
complement, and object. Some of them add some other, more
peripheral, functions which are not as common as those
three stated above (see: Curme 1963).
21
It is impossible to follow all these classification in our
corpus analysis. We have decided to accept and adhere to the
classification offered by Quirk and Greenbaum in A Student’s
Grammar of the English Language. The next section of the paper is
the analysis of the nominal-ing clause functions in the novel
by Coleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds.
5.ANALYSIS
1. NOMINAL –ING CLAUSE FUNCTIONING AS SUBJECT OF A
SENTENCE
The first pattern of nominal –ing clauses functioning as
subject of a sentence is the one that has a form of general
statement followed by main verb be, as shown in the following
examples.
22
(1) Bleeding was a fact; someone in the Cleary family bled
copiously at least once a week. (McCullough 2003: 10)
(2) Drying a few dishes won’t kill me. (McCullough 2003: 19)
(3) Playing with the boys is better than playing all by
myself. (McCullough 2003: 58)
(4) Trying to keep a secret in this family is impossible.
(McCullough 2003: 61)
(5) Living in the big house was certainly very different.
(McCullough 2003: 225)
(6) Keeping the books of a station as large as Drogheda was a full-
time job. (McCullough 2003: 315)
(7) Well, as far as I’m concerned, living in sin is a lot
better than turning my coat inside out. (McCullough 2003:
320)
(8) Sitting up on a train for a while won’t kill you, Meghann!
(McCullough 2003: 322)
(9) Sometimes being a large family was an advantage.
(McCullough 2003: 86)
Sometimes nominal –ing clause can appear after the expletive it
which is usually followed by an adjective. Examples (10-12)
approve this claim.
(10) It was hard not having help around the house, but it was
worth it. (McCullough 2003: 22)
23
(11) We must eat dinner as late as the Spaniards in this
heat, but no need to worry; it’s too late to start phoning
people. (McCullough 2003: 198)
(12) Oh, it’s nice having you already! (McCullough 2003: 337)
Examples (13-16) show nominal –ing clauses as subjects of
sentences where subject of nominal –ing clause is used in
possessive form.
(13) Meggie’s vomiting turned out to be a blessing in
disguise. (McCullough 2003: 39)
(14) His breathing started coming from the bottom of his
chest with the effort of keeping his hands by his sides.
(McCullough 2003: 127)
(15) One day there wouldn’t be any more Ralph de
Bricassarts, because they’d value their manhood enough to
see that her demanding it of them was a useless sacrifice,
having no meaning whatsoever. (McCullough 2003: 369)
Many examples from the corpus (16-18) illustrate nominalization
of verb to be. In these cases nominal –ing clause can be
replaced with to-infinitive clause.
(16) Being thick with the Clearys usually meant trouble of some
kind. (McCullough 2003: 51)
(17) Being a blacksmith in Wahine pays a lot better than being a
soldier in Europe. (McCullough 2003: 53)
24
(18) Being a priest makes you feel safe, that’s all.”
(McCullough 2003: 143)
It is interesting to note that, when nominalised, verbs such as
want and know can have the –ing suffix. This form should not be
mixed with the form of continuous tense where it is strictly
defined that these, and many other verbs of perception, cannot
have the -ing continuous suffix. The form and the usage are
different and one should bare this distinction in mind.
Examples (19) and (20) clearly show that verbs want and know
are nominalised and that they do not express continuous tense.
(19) But why should wanting more out of life than drudgery be so
bad? (McCullough 2003: 19)
(20) But knowing the wrongs couldn’t alter them. (McCullough
2003: 369)
Examples (21) and (22) do not fit any of the previously
mentioned patterns, but we include them into the analysis
because they do function of the subjects of sentences and they
may be relevant when it comes to defining the most frequent
function of nominal –ing clauses in our corpus.
(21) There were times when only kneeling on the marble floor of the
palace chapel until he was stiff with physical pain prevented him from
catching the next train back to Gilly and Drogheda.
(McCullough 2003: 243)
25
(22) Sharing the family passion for reading didn’t endear Riverview
to them at all. (McCullough 2003: 287)
2. NOMINAL –ING CLAUSE FUNCTIONING AS DIRECT OBJECT OF A
SENTENCE
The following examples show –ing nominal clause functioning as
an accusative object of a sentence:
(23) Then she began picking among the grass blades where she
thought the pearls might have fallen. (McCullough 2003: 6)
(24) Padraic knew where he was, because he could hear the
steady clocking of an axe from the direction of the woodheap.
(McCullough 2003: 13)
(25) To make sure she would never revert to using it, her
left arm was kept tied to her body for a further two
months; (McCullough 2003: 43)
(26) She began to bite her nails down to the quick, and
had to endure Sister Agatha’s making her walk around every desk in the
school holding her hands out so all the children could see
how ugly bitten nails were. (McCullough 2003: 43)
(27) As the sire of this phenomenon, Paddy knew Frank’s
reputation very well and understood Frank’s battle to gain
respect, though it did not prevent his becoming angry when
fighting interfered with the work in the forge. (McCullough
2003: 55)
26
(28) He had been so looking forward to going with his father
as an apprentice shearer, and Archibald’s was to have been his
first pen. (McCullough 2003: 77)
(29) It was impossible to tell from her face whether she
resented being so summarily dismissed. (McCullough 2003: 80)
(30) He hated the ceaseless patrolling of the paddocks, the hard
ground to sleep on most nights, the savage dogs which
could not be treated as pets and were shot if they failed
to do their work. (McCullough 2003: 104)
(31) It meant a grueling amount of work for every soul on the place,
male and female. (McCullough 2003: 112)
(32) You’re a beneficiary, too, Father, so I’d appreciate
your staying for the reading. (McCullough 2003: 198)
(33) In the cookhouse Mrs. Smith stoked up the range
firebox and the maids began bringing down huge pots from their
ceiling hooks. (McCullough 2003: 250)
(34) I couldn’t resist seeing for myself that you don’t have a pot of
gold powder on your dressing table. (McCullough 2003: 311)
(35) Most of the gardens seemed to be jungle, bamboo and
palms, as if the inhabitants had given up trying to keep floral
order. (McCullough 2003: 326)
(36) Everything in her up-bringing conspired to prevent
her leaving Luke. (McCullough 2003: 348)
(37) At midnight the women were relegated to standing
around the walls; the pipers skirled into “Caber Feidh” and
the serious dancing began. (McCullough 2003: 351)
(38) I don’t ever remember her mentioning Ralph before.
(McCullough 2003: 374)
27
(39) He loves being with men as strong and independent as he is himself;
he loves roaming from one place to the other. (McCullough 2003:
385)
(40) Can you imagine riding the same wave for a hundred miles?
(McCullough 2003: 389)
(41) What is it about this frigging country, that its men
prefer being with other men to having a home life with their wives and
children? (McCullough 2003: 398)
(42) There’s something in Luke and in you which believes
that needing a woman is a weakness. (McCullough 2003: 414)
(43) Oh, I wish just once you’d let me enjoy having the
upper hand! (McCullough 2003: 622)
There are certain verbs that are in most cases followed by –ing
nominal clauses. These verbs are: stop, enjoy, mind (in negative and
interrogative forms), try, etc.
(44) They were both vain and enjoyed evoking intense femaleadmiration, but admiration was as far as it went.(McCullough 2003: 342)
(45) I don’t mind getting your breakfast this morning, but
theoretically to commit myself until the day I die?
(McCullough 2003: 628)
(46) Don’t mind continuing my fast a little longer.” (McCullough
2003: 68)
(47) I never realized it, but Harry has employed one chapjust to deal with Drogheda’s accounts, and at the momenthe’s a man short, so he doesn’t mind passing it back to us at all.(McCullough 2003: 228)
28
(48) When she was smaller Daddy used to pick her up a lot,
but ever since she started at school he had stopped letting
her sit on his knee, wouldn’t let her throw her arms around his
neck, saying, “You’re a big girl now, Meggie.” (McCullough
2003: 59)
(49) Fee had stopped trying to vomit and had sunk into a kind
of coma, from which they could not rouse her. (McCullough
2003: 83)
(50) But he could stop being a priest. (McCullough 2003: 237)
(51) Fee stopped keeping cash lying about, and had Stuart make
a camouflaged cupboard for the safe behind the chapel
altar. (McCullough 2003: 246)
(52) On the heavy, idle wind came a strong, sickening
stench Meggie hadn’t stopped trying to get out of her nostrils since
stepping off the train. (McCullough 2003: 338)
(53) Yet how can I stop loving a man who loves God?
(McCullough 2003: 395)
(54) Oh, will I ever stop regretting that they’re not Ralph’s
children? (McCullough 2003: 396)
3. NOMINAL –ING CLAUSES FUNCTIONING AS SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
OF A SENTENCE
(55) It was like being inundated by a magenta-pink wave;
(McCullough 2003: 234)
(56) Fascinated, terrified, meaning to free himself at
any cost, he pulled her head away; but somehow all he
succeeded in doing was having her back in his arms, a snake
29
coiled tightly about his will, strangling it. (McCullough
2003: 266)
(57) “I’m sorry, Meghann,I really am. I didn’t think of
your being a woman. Not used to having a wife with me. (McCullough
2003: 325)
(58) It was like having a ticket of admission to a whole new planet,
peering through the glass down into that teeming, exquisitely fragile world,
where delicate forms were buoyed and bolstered by the
loving intimacy of water. (McCullough 2003: 392)
(59) This was being a man. (McCullough 2003: 411)
4. NOMINAL –ING CLAUSES FUNCTIONING AS APPOSITION OF A
SENTENCE
This function is very rare and we have not identified it
in the analysed corpus.
5. NOMINAL –ING CLAUSES FUNCTIONING AS ADJECTIVAL
COMPLEMENT OF A SENTENCE.
These examples are not within the level of dependant nominal
clauses, but within adjectival function. This is the only
exception we are making in the paper because this function is
not one of the basic sentence functions, but we have decided to
include it too in order to show that nominal-ing clause can
also have this form. The following examples show nominal –ing
30
clause functioning as adjectival complement in a sentence. It
is usually introduced by for, of, to, and then.
(60) As for Meggie, she was incapable of equating Teresa’s
beaming, portly little mother with her own slender
unsmiling mother, so she never thought: I wish Mum hugged
and kissed me. (McCullough 2003: 44)
(61) “I’m sorry for swearing, Mum (McCullough 2003: 47)
(62) Playing with the boys is better than playing all by myself.
(McCullough 2003: 58)
(63) He wasn’t in the least afraid of Frank, but he was
afraid of creating a scene in public. (McCullough 2003: 124)
(64) She hardly ever moved from it these days; there was
not the necessity any more with Paddy so capable of
overseeing things. (McCullough 2003: 143)
(65) For the most part he was occupied in discovering just what
and how much Mary Carson had owned, and in gathering the reins of
government together on behalf of the Church. (McCullough 2003: 212)
(66) So he simply passed on an idealistic image of a
Frank resigned to paying for his sins to society, and in a passage
heavily underlined told Paddy Frank had no idea they knew
what had happened. (McCullough 2003: 230)
(67) A man could always be sure of having his tuckerbag filled
when he arrived on Drogheda. (McCullough 2003: 245)
(68) As to the romantic and dashing, Your Grace, it’s
just that you’re not used to seeing what is customary garb in
Gillanbone. (McCullough 2003: 277)
31
(69) It’s better than looking at the top of your head, pretty
though that might be. (McCullough 2003: 291)
(70) She had grown used to hiding what she felt, to appearing
always calm and outwardly happy. (McCullough 2003: 295)
(71) I think she’s terrified of committing herself to the kind of
love marriage would entail, and I must say I admire Rainer.
(McCullough 2003: 598)
(72) She was too busy remembering the quality of his kiss, and
dreaming of more. (McCullough 2003: 618)
(73) With his left arm broken and his ribs cracked, Frank
had fought on until Jim Collins was a slobbering mass of
bloodied flesh at his feet, and he had to be forcibly
restrained from kicking the senseless face in. (McCullough 2003: 55)
6. NOMINAL –ING CLAUSES FUNCTIONING AS PREPOSITIONAL
COMPLEMENT OF A SENTENCE
Nominal –ing clause functioning as prepositional complement in
a sentence can be introduced by: from, to, before, without, in, of, for,
between, by, e.g.:
(74) From waking to sleeping she lived in the kitchen and
back garden, her stout black boots beating a circular path
from stove to laundry to vegetable patch to clotheslines
and thence to the stove again. (McCullough 2003: 11)
(75) He saved my Agnes from being killed, and he’s going to
glue her hair on again for me after tea. (McCullough 2003:
15)
32
(76) Finally Fee beckoned Meggie to sit on a high stool,
and did up her hair in its nightly rags before packing her
off to bed with Stu and Hughie. (McCullough 2003: 18)
(77) Frank worked on the doll without raising his head, but
as the pile of plates grew he got up silently to fetch a
towel and began to dry them. (McCullough 2003: 18)
(78) She fascinated Meggie, used to fairness and
freckles, for even Frank with his dark eyes and hair had a
fair white skin; so Meggie ended in thinking her deskmate the
most beautiful creature she had ever seen. (McCullough 2003: 33)
(79) If you’d give me the satisfaction of hearing you bellow,
I wouldn’t hit you so hard or so often!’ (McCullough 2003:
37)
(80) His arms were filthy from mucking out Mr. Jarman’s dairy,
his wide-brimmed hat pulled low over his eyes.
(McCullough 2003: 37)
(81) Her name was Teresa Annunzio, and she was just dull
enough to escape Sister Agatha’s attention without being so
dull that it turned her into Sister Agatha’s butt. 39
(82) He did not believe in beating his children on the hands, face
or buttocks, only on the legs. (McCullough 2003: 43)
(83) If you went to England they’d look down their noses
at you for being a colonial. (McCullough 2003: 54)
(84) He kept his resentment from showing in his face.
(McCullough 2003: 68)
(85) Chastity I accept without finding it difficult to maintain.
(McCullough 2003: 72)
33
(86) “I have the intention of making you my head stockman.
(McCullough 2003: 80)
(87) “I wouldn’t dream of dunning her for that!” he snapped.
(McCullough 2003: 80)
(88) “I won’t hear of your leaving them behind,” Paddy told Fee
firmly. (McCullough 2003: 81)
(89) Without seeming to notice how his fine serge robe wallowed in the
dust, he stepped past the boys and squatted down to hold
Meggie between his hands, and they were firm, gentle,
kind. (McCullough 2003: 89)
(90) Meggie and Stu discovered the differences between
running a house in New Zealand and living in the head stockman’s residence
on Drogheda. (McCullough 2003: 95)
(91) He unsaddled his mare near a clump of trees by the
gate to the second paddock, talking optimistically of being
able to get the stock out of it also before the rain started.
(McCullough 2003: 104)
(92) I wouldn’t dream of putting you to so much trouble!
(McCullough 2003: 108
(93) Her eyes lost their pleasure in seeing him, her face
flooded with scarlet shame. (McCullough 2003: 113)
(94) Sometimes it was better not to know what Annie
meant,or encourage her by paying much attention to what she said.
(McCullough 2003: 117)
(95) His breathing started coming from the bottom of his
chest with the effort of keeping his hands by his sides.
(McCullough 2003: 127)
34
(96) His love for her and his priestly instinct to offer
himself in any required spiritual capacity warred with an
obsessive horror of becoming utterly necessary to someone human.
(McCullough 2003: 161)
(97) He shrank from touching her in death as he had in life,
especially those flyblown lips. (McCullough 2003: 189)
(98) Never to Father Ralph’s knowledge had Paddy
complained of being shabbily treated, thinking no doubt that
when his sister died he would be amply repaid for managing
the property on ordinary stockman’s pay, while his sons did
stockman’s work for rouseabout’s wages. (McCullough 2003:
195)
(99) You’re a beneficiary, too, Father, so I’d appreciate
your staying for the reading.” (McCullough 2003: 198)
(100) No one had ever heard of having so much money.
(McCullough 2003: 227)
(101) Besides, it will do you good to know you can drive
anywhere you want without depending on one of us being around.
(McCullough 2003: 228)
(102) Yes, she knew it was forbidden to have a priest as
husband or lover, but she had got into the habit of getting
around it by stripping Ralph of his religious office. (McCullough 2003:
235
(103) His was the delicate role of providing a link between the
Australian hierarchy and the Vatican nerve center. (McCullough 2003:
240)
(104) Before being given this appointment he had of course hoped
for the United States of America, but on thinking about it
35
he decided Australia would do very nicely. (McCullough
2003: 240)
(105) Ah, that was good! An old, aristocratic name and a
perfect record of keeping the faith through emigrations and
persecutions. (McCullough 2003: 242)
(106) There were times when only kneeling on the marble
floor of the palace chapel until he was stiff with
physical pain prevented him from catching the next train back to
Gilly and Drogheda. (McCullough 2003: 243)
(107) Yet no one blamed Paddy for not wanting to take chances with
his women. (McCullough 2003: 246)
(108) But Mrs. Smith would grow so sharp and sour at such
talk that they learned not to speak of leaving Drogheda when
she was within hearing distance. (McCullough 2003: 246)
(109) Without waiting the stipulated five minutes, he put another
shell in the rifle breech, pointed the gun due south, and
fired. (McCullough 2003: 260)
(110) Meggie said firmly that she couldn’t see the point in
bringing them six hundred miles to witness a ceremony they didn’t
reallyunderstand. (McCullough 2003: 316)
(111) I’m sorry, Meghann,I really am. I didn’t think of your
being a woman. 325)
(112) The men won’t have a woman in the barracks, and
what’s the use of your living alone in a house? (McCullough 2003:
334)
(113) He had murmured about taking Meggie to Sydney, but instead
he went to Sydney with Arne and without her. (McCullough
2003: 347)
36
(114) I don’t know if I’m strong enough to take the
loneliness of having no home for the next ten or fifteen years, Anne,
or however long it’s going to take Luke to wear himself
out. (McCullough 2003: 286)
(115) She had no doubt that eventually Meggie would realize
there was no hope of salvaging her relationship with Luke, and
would then return to Drogheda. (McCullough 2003: 400)
(116) There could be no other reason for his joining her in a place
like this, calling himself Luke O’Neill. (McCullough 2003:
406)
(117) He drifted for a while on the wings of a different
kind of freedom: the relief of relinquishing his mandate to fight
her, the peace of losing a long, incredibly bloody war and
finding the surrender far sweeter than the battles.
(McCullough 2003: 412)
(118) Why should you assume I could charm a young and
beautiful woman into being my mistress? (McCullough 2003: 610)
(119) Please forgive me for behaving like an utter prawn.
(McCullough 2003: 618)
In the analysis we have used 119 examples from the chosen
corpus. It shows that the most frequent function of nominal –
ing clause in a sentence is that of prepositional complement.
Apposition is the only common sentence function which was not
identified. The following chart shows the frequency of all
analysed functions in a sentence.
37
7.CONCLUSION
In this paper we have dealt with the issue of nominal –ing
clauses and their functions in a sentence. The literature which
we used in determining which functions this construction can
obtain helped us realize how productive it is and how often it
is used to express different things. In our analysis we have
followed. The nominal –ing clause can have following functions:
subject, direct object, subject complement, apposition,
prepositional complement, and adjectival complement. The last
function does not belong to the common sentence function, it is
analysed at a higher syntactic level, but we have decided to
incorporate it in our paper since the corpus is abundant in
examples of this function. This may be a basis for analyzing
nominal –ing clauses on a higher level in the future. Finally,
we have come to a conclusion that the most frequent function of
this construction is prepositional complement, followed by
direct object and other functions. This construction may be
interesting on a comparative level, i.e. it would be
39
challenging to analyse its translation equivalents in Bosnian
language.
8.APPENDICESAppendix 1
List of verbs followed by nominal –ing objects:5
- acknowledge- admit- advocate- anticipate- appreciate- avoid- cannot help- consider- contemplate- defer- delay- deny- despise
- justify7
- keep- keep on- leave off- mean- mention- miss- necessitate- postpone- practice- put off- quit ( = stop, informal)- recall
5 Frank, 1993: 31840
- detest- disclaim- dislike- drop ( = stop)- encourage- endure- enjoy- entail6
- escape- evade- facilitate- fancy ( = imagine)- finish- give up ( = stop)- (be)grudge- imagine- involve-
- recommend- relinquish- relish- renounce- report- resent- resist- risk- sanction- shrink- stop- suggest- tolerate- understand- urge- withold
Appendix 2
Verbs listed under prepositional objects that take nominal –ing objects:8
1. Absolve2. Abstract3. Accuse4. Acquit5. Advise 6. Ask 7. Base8. Beg
39. Furnish40. Help41. Hide42. Hinder (from – only
with the gerund)43. Import44. Inflict45. Inform
6Verbs in bold usually have non-human subjects7 Verbs in italics can have subjects that do not designate human beings8 Frank 1993: 186
41
9. Bestow10. Blame11. Borrow12. Burden13. Buy14. Charge15. Collect16. Compare17. Compensate18. Conceal 19. Condemn20. Confuse21. Connect22. Consult23. Convict24. Convince 25. Cure26. Deduce27. Defend 28. Deprive29. Deter (from – only
with the gerund)30. Discourage (from –
only with the gerund)31. Dismiss 32. Distinguish33. Divert34. Eliminate35. Entrust36. Exchange37. Exclude38. Forgive
46. Keep47. Learn 48. PardonPaste49. Persuade50. Prepare51. Present52. Preserve53. Prevent (from – only
with the gerund)54. Protect55. Provide56. Purchase57. Question
Read58. Remind 59. Remove60. Reprimand61. Reproach62. Rescue63. Request64. Rob65. Save66. Scold67. Search 68. Shield69. Stick70. Stop (from – only with
the gerund)71. Substitute72. Supply73. Suspect74. Thank75. Warn76. Write
9.BIBLIOGRAPHY
42
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Frank, Marcella. Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide. New
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