.

-o·

2. PART OF A COMPOUND PREDICATE

The compound predicate containing a gerund is of two kinds:

(I) Compound nominal predicate with a gerund as its predicative:
What he likes best is playing practical jokes.
One of my bad habits is biting my nails.
His hobby is collecting stamps.
The only thing that interests her is dancing.
To keep money that you have found is stealing.
(2) Compound verbal Catenative Predicate.
, The compound verbal catenative predicate is a unit which· con-
sists of a catenative verb and a gerund. The gerund is added to the
catenative element to complement the meaning of the latter.
Catenatives which combine with the gerund are:
acknowledge defer
admit delay
advise deny
advocate detest
allow discourage
anticipate dislike
appreciate doubt
avoid enjoy
bear(= be suitable for) escape
begrudge evade
confess fancy (= imagine)
consider (= think about) favour
contemplate finish

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 go(= I. take part in an activity propose(= suggest) shrink from
quit put off
2. do smth. undesirable) shy away from
recall rely on .
(can't) help (= avoid, have no
recollect reso Iv e on/against succeed in
control over) see about take to/up
imagine recommend think of
set about
include relish
involve repent The above listed catenatives can be classified into the following
keep(= continue) report semantic groups: . . . .
like (= enjoy) resent I. Phasal catenat1ves expressing: a. the begmmng, b. the dura-
loathe resist . c• the cessation of the action:
uon,
mean (= entail) resume a: set about, take to/ up , fall to , burst out;
mention risk b: go on, keep (on), resume, get around to;
mind save (oneself the trouble ot) c: stop, fini sh, give up, leave off, break off.
miss (can' t) stand (= endure) Examples:
necessitate stop a. She set about ironing straight after breakfast.
neglect (= give no attention or suggest . John's taken to drinking too much lately.
care to) try (= test by use and experi- Alfred 's just taken up sailing.
postpone ence) I fell to thinking.
practise Th ey burst out laughing/crying.
Phrasal verbs usually take a gerund. The most common of phrasal b. Wh en he went on calling me a fool, I said "You asked
catenatives are: for it!" and hit him.
The :,peaker was trying to make a serious point, but
admit to depend on people kept putting him off by shouting.
agree on fall to
aim at The clock keeps starting and stopping: what's wrong
feel like with it ?
approve of get around to
be for/against Prices keep on increasing.
give up
believe in We ' II stop now and resume working at 2 o'clock.
go in for
bother about After a long delay, he got around to writing the letter.
go on (= continue)
break off c. We stopped working at teatime.
hesitate about
burst out I haven't finished reading that book yet.
insist on
care about I gave up playing football when / left school.
keep on
complain of/about He gave up smoking.
leave off
consist in He has left off working.
look forward to
count on He broke off speaking to answer the telephone.
object to 2
decide on -Catenative verbs expressing want: feel like, eg:
per::.ist in
delight in I don 't feel like drinking beer tonight. .
pl an on
3· catenat1ve. verbs expressing feehng . or atftude·
1 · enjoy, hke
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 ...
- ), app rec,·ate , mind , care about/for, delight in, relish; dislik,
(= enJOY
resent, detest, loathe, begrudge; can't s~d (= endure):
I enjoyed listening to music.
J enjoyed meeting him.
I like looking round antique shops.
1 think you like causing trouble to people.
I really appreciaTe having time to relax.
Do you mind waiting/or an hour or TWo ?
J don~ mind living in The city, but I do regret not being
able To go for long walks.
J don~ much care aboUT going to The library.
Tom doesn care for shopping.
He delights in teasing his young sisTer.
Hilary won't relish having to rush all those dishes.
I dislike wearing stockings.
I dislike being spoken to likl! that.
He resents being called a fool.
I detest having to get up early.
He loaThes travelling by air.
He begrudged paying so much f or such bad foo d.
She can) stand being kl!pTwaiting.
.5. Catenative verbs of remembering: recollect, recall :
Do you recollect meeting her?
I cant recall seeing him.
6. Catenative verbs of intention, determinatfon or refusal: aiJD
at, plan on, decide on, resolve on/against, deny, neglect (= give no
attention or care to):
The factory mus, aim at in.creasing production.
She 'd planned on doing some work today.
I've decided on goitig there.
He resolved on/against going ou,.
The comminee resolved on/against appointing a new
secretary.
He denied knowing anything about this plan.
_ The government has neglected dena,iona/izing indus·
try.
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_Catenative verbs of advising and offering: advise, suggest, rec:
7
mmend, propose(= suggest):
0
J advise waiting till the proper time.
I suggest bringing the meeting to an end.
I recommend buying this dictionary.
I propose resting for half an hour.
8. Catenative verbs of agreeing: agree on, approve of:
We all agree on making an early sTart.
I don't approve of wasting time.
9. Catenative verbs of avoiding or escaping an ar•ion: avoid,
put off, postpone, delay, escape, evade, miss, can ' t he1 1. (= avoid,
have no control over), save (oneself the trouble of), shrink from, shy
away from :
I avoided being punished.
She m•oided answering my question.
He put off going to the denTisT Till The next month.
The boss poslponed sending an answer TO our request.
Why ha ve you delayed opening The new school?
He narrowly escaped being drowned.
He evaded paying wxes.
We only jusT missed having a nasty accidenT.
He narrmrly missed being seriously hurl, if not killed
by Th e explosion.
I couldn't help crying.
Will you go to the shop fo r me? It'll save going into
Town.
A shy man shrinks from meeting strangers.
They shied away from buying the house when they learnt
the full price.
12. Catenative verbs of thinking, expecting, hoping: think of,
consider, contemplate, anticipate, look forward to:
We are thinking of going to France for a holiday but
we've not decided for certain yet.
I considered employing Mr Smith but decided that Mr
Jones was more suited to the job.
I'm considering changing my job. Have you consid-
ered getting a job abroad ? :
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 ,....
Taking the job involves living abroad.
...
I hope your mother isn contemplating coming to stay These new orders will mean working ovenime.
with us. You mentioned having been in hospital last year.
We anricipate meeting a lot of opposition to our new Your proposal necessitates borrowing money.
plan f or traffic conrrol. They 're practising singing the new song.
I'm looking fotward to seeing you at Christmas. He repented having shot the bird.
13. Catenati ve verbs of admitting: admit (to), acknowledge, ad-
Th ey reported seeing a star in the East.
vocate, confess 10: He resisted being carried off
He admiued having done wrong. She could hardly resist laughing.
I must admit to f eeling ashamed of my conduct.
We must risk getting caught in a storm.
He admiued (to) stealing the bicycle.
We tried growing our own vegetables but suonfound it
They acknowledged having been defeared/f rightened.
was harder than we 'd imagined.
I do not advocate building large factories.
He is all f or getting what he can out of the firm .
I confessed ro hating the king.
14. A miscellaneous group of catenati ve verbs: allo w, bear(= be I'm not against going to the mountains in spite of the
bad weather.
suitable for), imagine, fa ncy(= imagi ne), defer, discourage, do ubt.
favour, go/come (= take part in an acti vity: go walking/shoppi ng/ She be/ieves in working only until five o'clock.
swimming/sailing/hunting ... ), include, in vo lve, mean (= en ta il). Don 't bother about buying dictionaries for me. I've got
mention, necessita te, prac ti se, repent , report, resist, ri sk, try(= test
plenty.
by use and experi ence); be fo r/against, believe in, bo ther abo ut, com- fie complains of/about not ha ving enough work.
plain of/about: con~isr in, count on, depend o n, hesita te about, rely Happiness consists in finding beauty in life's simplest
on, go in for. insist on, persist in , objec t lo, see abo ut, s ucceed in : things.
They do not allow s111oki11g. fie counted 0 11 earning extra money by the end of the
Your j oke will bear re1iearing. month.
Such mde words won't bear repeating. Good health depends upon good food, exercise and
I can 'r i111agine marrying a girl of that sort. getting enough sleep.
I can't fa ncy working every day. fie '.s still hesitating about joining the expedition.
H0 deferred making a decision. Don 't rely on going to India.
Hediscourage smoking in this school. She goes infor wearing very unusual clothes.
Nor do ll'e doubt being able to finish in time. I insist 0 11 ha ving a rest. .
My 11 ·ije suggested going 10 Scotland f or a holiday, but If you persist in breaking the law you will go to prison.
I fal'oured l'isiting Wales. Do you object to working on Sundays?
Do thev often go sailing ? Did you see about renting a car f or the weekend ?
1!rs_ Green has gone (OU!) shopping. Did you succeed in passing rhe examination?
}0 11 II go Sll'imming lomorrow, will vou ?
3. AifRmuTE
Hego dancing ei•e,y weekend. ·
Come .11rimmi11g i1·ith us tomorrow The gerund in
. the fun cti on of an attnbute
. · aIways preceded by
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}i,ur d11ricy II ill include p1111i11g lh; children to hed the p .. ly an abstract
repos111on and modifies a noun, most common
7-i
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 one such as: art . hope. idea. freed om. in tention. thought. chance, dif-
...,.....--
fic ulty, objecti on, de li ght. obligation. etc. The gerund in the func tion
of an attribute is usuall y preceded by the preposition of, though so rne
other prepositions (at, in, to, for) may also occ ur. eg :
His ann was not in a sling, and showed no sign of hav-
ing been damaged.
He is good at the art of making friends.
There was no hope of finding any sun-ii-ors f rom the
crash.
Hedidn i accept the idea of working while he 1rns study-
ing.
The freedom of holding an opinion and exprc.uing it is
a human right.
I ha11e no imention ofgoing to the theatre thi5 £'1·e11i11g.
The thought ofplaying against them arou.1e1 all my ag-
gressive instincts.
Their chance of going abroad wa.i lost.
I ha11e no objection to hearing your story agai11.
His delight in seeing her again was tremendo us.
She fo und the risk of losing money too great.
Some people ha ve a pref erence fo r eating ollf.
Any auempt at lem •ing early is lJgainst regulations.
Her pride in being p resented with an hono ra ry degree
is underswndable.
This is a good place f or fish ing.
A Fase is a kind of pot for holding flowe rs.
A cork.screw is a tool for taking corks out of bottles.
NOTE that in the las t three examples the atlri bu re (fo r + gerund)
modifies a concrete noun . For + gerund in sentences o f thi s ty pe has
the add itional meani ng of purpose.
Apart from the single gerund or plain geru nd phr ase ex pa nded
fonns may also occur in the function of an atlribute:
The team is running rhe risk oftheir losing another game.
There is aCTually no hope of 1heir winning.
The probability ofAnnas doing the job properly is ve,Y
small.
There is no hope of their arriving before midnight.
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sometimes the geru nd is used to make more concrete or precise the
...
ressed by the abstrac t noun. In cases li ke these the gerund has
idea exp ·· · · I k.
ti on of appos1uo n, 1e a part1 cu ar md of attribute:
~ fu~ . . .
His currel1f research, mvest1gar111g va rious phenomena
of modem English grammar, takes up most of his time.
She enjoyed her j ob, teaching English to fo reign stu-
dents.
She suffe red f rom a common misfonzme of women at
that 1ime: having too much time and too little money.
The appositi ve gerund parti all y equates with its head, which is
broader in mea ning.
4_ADVERBIAL MODIFIER
The gerund in the func ti o n of an adverbial modifier is preceded by
a preposition. The gerund can fun cti on as an ad verbial modifier of:
(I) time:
On hearing the news. they left at once.
After working all evening. John f elt tired.
We like a hot drink before going to bed.
Judy hasn 't found a job since leaving school.
In trying to open th e door, I broke the key.
You should check the oil before starting the car.
After swimming I fe lt cold.
On reaching the summit, the view delighted 11s all.
On becoming a member, you will receive a membership
card and a badge.
On entering the house, he tripped over the welcome mat.
NOTE th at the use of gerund as time adverbial is a little formal . A
subordinate clause is preferred in speech, eg:
After he 'd worked all evening, John f elt tired.
As soon as they heard the news, they left at once.
We like a hot drink before we go to bed.
(2) manner, often w ith the additional meaning of means:
We got the job fi nished by working 16 hours a day.
You lock this door by turn ing the key twice to the left.
Don't encourage her laziness by doing things fo r her.
He lives by begging.
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 We learn by listening.
...
He got in by using a key.
I avoided her by leaving by the back door.
Jane stayed awake by drinking black coffee.
By listening to some soft music, I was able to fall asleep.
In the last two examples a cause-affect relationship is also e~.
pressed.
(3) attendant circumstances:
Without anyone noticing, I slipped out of the room.
Her hair became grey with the passing of the years.
He entered the room without greeting anybody.
You can 'r move in this to wn without eve,ybody know-
ing.
(4) condition :
You won 'r pass the exam without doing any work.
You can 'r make an omelelle without breaking eggs.
Can you touch your toes without bending your knees 1
(5) concession :
In spire of trying so hard, I always make misrakes.
In spire of starting late, he arrived in good rime.
Can 'r you help instead ofjust standing there?
I stayed in bed all day instead of going to work.
(6) cause or reason:
The key players were blamed/or losing the game.
-
John was accused of stealing money.
Jim was congratulated on getting the job.
(7) purpose: .
You need a special tool for cutting glass.
That stuff is for cleaning silver.
Schools are for learning.
Is that cake for eating or just for looking at?
NOTE that the gerund expresses the general purpose of a thing,
whereas the infinitive expresses a particular one. Compare:
This case is for keeping records in.
I want a case to keep my records in.
The most common adverbial function of the gerund is that of
time and manner. The additional meaning of manner is often traced
in adverbials of attendant circumstances and condition.
NOTE that the gerund after the prepositions instead of, with-
out, for and by is used even in informal English.
<1

I
He was fined for being drunk in charge of a car.
The dog was punished for biting the postman.
He left indignant with his father fo r cutting him off wirh-
out a penny.
I ha ve an account lo settle with you for calling me a
rhief
He became very rich owing to working very hard ever
since he left school.
.SI
I apologized fo r disturbing him.
He was chosen because of his being a fully qualified
engineer.
He hated himselff or having ever married her.

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