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A gerund may function syntactically as the head of a verb phrase: for instance, the gerund of a transitive verb may take a direct object in the accusative case, e.g., ad discernendum vocis verbi figuras 'for discerning figures of speech', hominem investigando opera dabo 'I will devote effort to investigating the man'.
A gerund is a verb form that appears in positions that are usually reserved for nouns. In English, a gerund has the same form as a progressive active participle and so ends in -ing . Gerunds typically appear as subject or object noun phrases or even as the object of a preposition:
In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. [1] In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but are not limited to direct objects, [2] indirect objects, [3] and arguments of adpositions (prepositions or postpositions); the latter are more ...
A single (direct) object generally follows the verb: I love you. If there is an indirect object, it precedes the direct object ( I gave him the book ), although an indirect object can also be expressed with a prepositional phrase following the direct object (and this method is usual when the direct object is a personal pronoun): I gave the book ...
Here eating is a gerund; the verb phrase eating cakes serves as a noun, being the object of the main verb like. I saw him eating a cake. Here eating is a present participle; the verb phrase eating a cake serves as an adjective, modifying him. Trying to succeed makes success more likely.
In English, objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a direct object precedes other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an indirect object as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: give me the book, but give the book to me.
Subject + Verb (transitive) + Indirect Object + Direct Object Example: She made me a pie. This clause pattern is a derivative of S+V+O, transforming the object of a preposition into an indirect object of the verb, as the example sentence in transformational grammar is actually "She made a pie for me".
The wind began changing directions — transitive gerund; By contrast, an intransitive verb coupled with a direct object will result in an ungrammatical utterance: What did you arrive? I belong the team. Conversely (at least in a traditional analysis), using a transitive verb in English without a direct object will result in an incomplete sentence: