Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (popular books to read TXT) 📕

never in the accusative (objective) after a verb. A gerund in Anglo-Saxon is a simple form of the verb in the active voice—the dative case of the infinitive merely—used mainly to indicate purpose, and always preceded by the preposition to. To call these words in question gerunds is to stretch the term gerund immensely beyond its meaning in Anglo-Saxon, and make it cover words which sometimes (1) are highly compounded; sometimes (2) are used in the passive voice; sometimes (3) follow other prepositions than to; sometimes (4) do not follow any preposition; sometimes (5) are objects of verbs; sometimes (6) are subjects of verbs; sometimes (7) are modified by the; sometimes (8) are modified by a noun or pronoun in the possessive; and generally (9) do not indicate purpose. We submit that the extension of a class term so as to include words having these relations that the Anglo-Saxon gerund never had, is not warranted by any precedent except that furnished above in the extension of the term infinitive or of the term verbal noun!

Still others call some of these words Infinitives; some of them Verbal Nouns; and some of them Gerunds.

The forms in question—_seeing, having seen, being seen, having been seen_, and having been seeing, for instance—are now made from the verb in precisely the same way when partaking the nature of the noun as when partaking the nature of the adjective. What can they possibly be but the forms that all grammarians call participles extended to new uses? If the uses of the original participles have been extended, why may we not carry over the name? The name participle is as true to its etymology when applied to the nounal use of the verb as when applied to the adjectival use. For convenience of classification we call these disputed forms participles, as good grammarians long ago called them and still call them, though some of them may be traced back to the Saxon verbal noun or to the infinitive, and though the Saxon participle was adjectival. The name participle neither confounds terms nor misleads the student. The nounal and the adjectival uses of participial forms we distinguish very sharply.] one sharing the nature of the verb and that of the adjective; the other, the nature of the verb and that of the noun. Participles commonly end in ing, ed, or en.

The participle, like other forms of the verb, may be followed by an object complement or an attribute complement.

Analysis and Parsing.

The +participle+ may be used as an +adjective modifier+.

1. Hearing a step, I turned.

I | turned ===|========= | hea ring | step ––—|–– a

+Explanation+.—The line standing for the participle is broken; one part slants to represent the adjective nature of the participle, and the other is horizontal to represent its verbal nature.

+Oral Analysis+.—The phrase hearing a step is a modifier of the subject; [Footnote: Logically, or in sense, hearing a step modifies the predicate also. I turned when or because I heard a step. See Lesson 79.] the principal word is hearing, which is completed by the noun step; step is modified by a.

+Parsing+.—_Hearing_ is a form of the verb called participle because the act expressed by it is merely assumed, and it shares the nature of an adjective and that of a verb.

2. The fat of the body is fuel laid away for use.

+Explanation+.—The complement is here modified by a participle phrase.

3. The spinal marrow, proceeding from the brain, extends down-ward through the back-bone. 4. Van Twiller sat in a huge chair of solid oak, hewn in the celebrated forest of the Hague.

+Explanation+.—The principal word of a prepositional phrase is here modified by a participle phrase.

5. Lentulus, returning with victorious legions, had amused the populace with the sports of the amphitheater.

The +participle+ may be used as an +attribute complement+.

6. The natives came crowding around.

+Explanation+.—_Crowding_ here completes the predicate came, and belongs to the subject natives. The natives are represented as performing the act of coming and the accompanying act of crowding. The assertive force of the predicate came seems to extend over both verbs. [Footnote: Some grammarians prefer to treat the participle in such constructions as adverbial. But is crowding any more adverbial here than are pale and trembling in “The natives came pale and trembling“?]

7. The city lies sleeping. 8. They stood terrified. 9. The philosopher sat buried in thought.

and and .….… star ving sav -–– ing gru -––– bbing -–––– | miser | kept / ======|====================== |

10. The old miser kept grubbing and saving and starving.

The +participle+ may be used as an +objective complement+.

11. He kept me waiting.

+Explanation+.—_Waiting_ completes kept and relates to the object complement me. Kept-waiting expresses the complete act performed upon me. He kept-waiting me=_He detained me_. The relation of waiting to me may be seen by changing the form of the verb; as, I was kept waiting. See Lesson 31.

12. I found my book growing dull. [Footnote: It will be seen by this and following examples that we extend the application of the term objective complement beyond its primary, or factitive, sense. In “I struck the man dead,” the condition expressed by dead is the result of the act expressed by struck. In “I found the man dead,” the condition is not the result of the act, and so grammarians say that in this second example dead should be treated simply as an “appositive” adjective modifying man. While dead does not belong to man as expressing the result of the act, it is made to belong to man through the asserting force of the verb, and therefore is not a mere modifier of man. Dead helps found to express the act. Not found, but found-dead tells what was done to the man.

If we put the sentence in the passive form, “The man was found dead,” it will be seen that dead is more than a mere modifier; it belongs to man through the assertive force of was found. If dead is here merely an “appositive” adjective, “I found the man dead” must equal “I found the man, who was dead” (or, “and he was dead”). The two sentences obviously are not equal. “I caught him asleep” does not mean, “I caught him, and he was asleep.”

If, in the construction discussed above, dead is an objective complement, quiet, stirring, and (to) stir in the following sentences are objective complements:—

I saw the leaves quiet. I saw the leaves stirring. I saw the leaves stir.

The adjective, the participle, and the infinitive do not here seem to differ essentially in office. See Lesson 31 and page 78.]

grow wing dull -––––— | I | found | book =====|============================== | my

+Explanation+.—The diagram representing the phrase complement is drawn above the complement line, on which it is made to rest by means of a support. All that stands on the complement line is regarded as the complement. Notice that the little mark before the phrase points toward the object complement. The adjective dull completes growing and belongs to book, the assumed subject of growing.

13. He owned himself defeated. 14. No one ever saw fat men heading a riot or herding together in turbulent mobs. 15. I felt my heart beating faster. 16. You may imagine me sitting there. 17. Saul, seeking his father’s asses, found himself suddenly turned into a king.

 

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LESSON 38.

PARTICIPLES—CONTINUED.

Analysis and Parsing.

The +participle+ may be used as +principal word+ in a +prepositional phrase+.

1. We receive good by doing good.

We | receive | good =====|==================== | by -–-,doing | good

––––—

+Explanation+.—The line representing the participle here is broken; the first part represents the participle as a noun, and the other as a verb.

+Oral Analysis+.—The phrase by doing good is a modifier of the predicate; by introduces the phrase; the principal word is doing, which is completed by the noun good.

+Passing+.—_Doing_ is a participle; like a noun, it follows the preposition by, and, like a verb, it takes an object complement.

2. Portions of the brain may be cut off without producing any pain. 3. The Coliseum was once capable of seating ninety thousand persons. 4. Success generally depends on acting prudently, steadily, and vigorously. 5. You cannot fully sympathize with suffering without having suffered. (_Suffering_ is here a noun.)

The +participle+ may be the +principal word+ in a phrase used as a +subject+ or as an +object complement+.

6. Your writing that letter so neatly secured the position.

–, writing | letter

‘––––––––

Your | neatly that | so | / | secured | position =========|=========’=========== | the

+Explanation+.—The diagram of the subject phrase is drawn above the subject line. All that rests on the subject line is regarded as the subject.

+Oral Analysis+.—The phrase your writing that letter so neatly is the subject; the principal word of it is writing, which is completed by letter; writing, as a noun, is modified by your, and, as a verb, by the adverb phrase so neatly.

7. We should avoid injuring the feelings of others. 8. My going there will depend upon my father’s giving his consent. 9. Good reading aloud is a rare accomplishment.

The +participial form+ may be used as a +mere noun+ or a +mere adjective+.

10. The cackling of geese saved Rome.

11. Such was the exciting campaign, celebrated in many a long-forgotten song. [Footnote: “Manig man in Anglo-Saxon was used like German mancher mann, Latin multus vir, and the like, until the thirteenth century; when the article was inserted to emphasize the distribution before indicated by the singular number.”—_Prof. F. A. March._]

+Explanation+.—_Many_ modifies song after song has been limited by a and long-forgotten.

12. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility. 13. He was a squeezing, grasping, hardened old sinner.

The +participle+ may be used in +independent+ or +absolute phrases+.

14. The bridge at Ashtabula giving way, the train fell into the river.

+Explanation+.—The diagram of the absolute phrase, which consists of a noun used independently with a participle, stands by itself. See lesson 44.

15. Talking of exercise, you have heard, of course, of Dickens’s “constitutionals.”

 

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LESSON 39.

COMPOSITION—PARTICIPLES.

+COMMA—RULE.—The Participle used as an adjective modifier, with the words belonging to it, is set off+ [Footnote: An expression in the body of a sentence is set off by two commas; at the beginning or at the end, by one comma.] +by the comma unless restrictive+.

+Explanation+.—_A bird, lighting near my window, greeted me with a song. The bird sitting on the wall is a wren. Lighting_ describes without restricting; sitting restricts—limits the application of bird to a particular bird.

+Direction+.—_Justify the punctuation of the participle phrases in Lesson_

37.

 

+Caution+.—In using a participle, be careful to leave no doubt as to what you intend it to modify.

+Direction+.—_Correct these errors in arrangement, and punctuate, giving your reasons:—_

1. A gentleman will let his house going abroad for the summer to a small family containing all the improvements. 2. The town contains fifty houses and one hundred inhabitants built of brick. 3. Suits ready made of material cut by an experienced tailor