Exersices

THE VERBAL NOUN

THE GERUND

THE GERUND AND THE VERBAL NOUN

The Gerund can be easily confused with the verbal noun. In some cases it is impossible to tell whether you are dealing with a gerund or with a verbal noun and consequently impossible to translate the sentence with any degree of exactness. The meaning is not the same.

I like singing	Я люблю петь (if it is a gerund)
Я люблю пение (if it is a noun)

Only the person speaking knows in this case what he means. In most cases we can distinguish between the gerund and the verbal noun in the following way:

a) has tense and voice forms; so the forms being done, having done, having been done cannot be nouns;

b) can take a direct object; so an "-ing" form followed by a direct object (reading a letter) cannot be a noun;

c) can be modified by an adverb; so an "-ing" form modified by an adverb (reading fast) cannot be a noun;

d) can be part of an aspective verbal predicate; so "-ing" forms following the verbs to begin, to stop, to go on, to keep, to continue are mostly gerunds.

a) can be used in the plural:

Memorize the proverbs and sayings.

b) can have an article:

the banging of the door;

c) can be followed by a prepositional phrase in an attributive function:

the clicking of the clock;

d) can be modified by an adjective, a demonstrative pronoun or an indefinite pronoun.

26. Find the sentences in which: a) "-ing" form is a gerund, b) a verbal noun

1. You should think before speaking. 2. After finding the new word in the dictionary, I wrote it down and went on reading. 3. He spent much time on the copying of his literature lectures. 4. What do you mean by saying that? 5. The students found the reading of English newspapers rather difficult at first. 6. Instead of going home after school, the girls went for a walk. 7. Chalk is used for writing on the blackboard. 8. We sat by the river-side listening to the running of the water. 9. The cleaning of the room was done by the girls. 10. Working in the garden is very good for the health of people. 11. I stopped knocking at the door and began waiting for my father to come. 12. She praised herself for having come. 13. The child stopped crying and quieted down. 14. The old clock kept ticking on the mantelpiece, as if counting the seconds left before the coming of daylight.

27. Analyse the "-ing" forms in the sentences below. State which of them are gerunds and which verbal nouns. Motivate your decision

1. She read the first act between a fitting and a rehearsal, made up her mind to play Kate and there was no persuading her that the part was too young for her. 2. The whirring and banging of the lift kept her awake most of the night. 3. She kept repeating the bright sayings of her children to bored friends and relations. 4. She insisted on my showing her the letter and explaining who Pat was. 5. On getting home she felt so faint and exhausted that she went to bed without taking off her make up and creaming her face. 6. On being told to her face that she was a liar and a schemer Polly felt, like giggling and restrained herself with difficulty. 7. She broke the fastening of the purse in her hurry to get the papers out. 8. She looked with distaste at the toilet table. Dust, spilt powder and hair combings everywhere. 9. You have never learned the way of treating children kindly but without undue familiarity. 10. She promised to send me the cutting the moment she found it. 11. I could just see a faint glimmering of light in the distance. 12. For some time she said nothing and we could only hear the clicking of her false teeth – a certain sign of growing irritation. 13. On being asked what her plans were she gave a most evasive answer. 14. She lost this job through falling ill at the wrong time. 15. Her first big part was Catherine in "The Taming of the Shrew".

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