GERUNDS.
272. The gerund is like the
participle in form, and like a noun in use.
The participle has been called an adjectival verbal; the gerund may be called a noun
verbal. While the gerund expresses action, it has several attributes of a
noun,—it may be governed as a noun; it may be the subject of a verb, or
the object of a verb or a preposition; it is often preceded by the definite
article; it is frequently modified by a possessive noun or pronoun.
Distinguished from participle and
verbal noun.
273. It differs from the
participle in being always used as a noun: it never belongs to or limits a
noun.
It differs from the verbal noun in having the property of
governing a noun (which the verbal noun has not) and of expressing action (the
verbal noun merely names an action, Sec. II).
The following are examples of the uses of the
gerund:—
(1) Subject: "The taking of means not to see
another morning had all day absorbed every energy;" "Certainly dueling
is bad, and has been put down."
(2) Object: (a) "Our culture therefore must
not omit the arming of the man." (b) "Nobody cares for
planting the poor fungus;" "I announce the good of being
interpenetrated by the mind that made nature;" "The guilt of having been
cured of the palsy by a Jewish maiden."
(3) Governing and Governed: "We are far from
having exhausted the significance of the few symbols we use," also (2,
b), above; "He could embellish the characters with new traits without
violating probability;" "He could not help holding out his hand
in return." |
