-
Gerund and infinitive question
For the following sentences, which are gerunds, infinitives, present participles and past participles?
1. The ringing of the church bells was heard above the shouting of the surging crowd.
2. Being a junior accountant working for a small company, I may well have little prospect of promotion this year due to the recent falling-away of business.
Thanks
-
Re: Gerund and infinitive question

Originally Posted by
mrlocom
For the following sentences, which are gerunds, infinitives, present participles and past participles?
1. The ringing of the church bells was heard above the shouting of the surging crowd.
2. Being a junior accountant working for a small company, I may well have little prospect of promotion this year due to the recent falling-away of business.
Thanks
Hi mrlocom,
Here goes. "The ringing" and "the shouting" are special cases. Where the ing form is preceded by the definite article "the" and followed by the preposition "of" , as these two are, then all verbal force is lost and the words become pure nouns.
"Was heard". A passive verb therefore "heard" is a past participle.
"surging" A present participle acting as an adjective.
"Being and working" Both present participles heading adjective phrases describing " I " the subject of the sentence.
"falling-away" I don't know but it appears here to me as a compound word with the function of a noun, being governed by a compound prepostion "due to" [ should be (owing to)] and having the adjective recent qualifying it. I dont think it can be a gerund as it does not end in "ing".
ed
Similar Threads
-
By hela in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 7
Last Post: 11-Aug-2008, 22:11
-
By demir in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 1
Last Post: 07-Nov-2007, 18:30
-
By Anniebee in forum Teaching English
Replies: 2
Last Post: 15-Feb-2007, 14:09
-
By Anonymous in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 5
Last Post: 21-Sep-2006, 05:27
-
By Anonymous in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 2
Last Post: 12-Apr-2004, 04:23
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules

Search Engine Optimization by
vBSEO 3.6.1