[Grammar] Participle or Gerund..

[bharosey]

In the sentence:

The site of crime quickly turned into the scene of experiments investigating how the crime was performed.

Here, is "investigating" used as a participle or as a gerund?

Is there any easy way to identify?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Somewhere I came across something like:
'Doing' is a participle in 'someone doing something'.
'Doing' is a gerund in 'someone's doing something'.

In your sentence, it should be a participle,

Not a teacher.

 

[emsr2d2]

What is the source of your quote, bharosey?

 

[bharosey]

I came up with this sentence myself, since I read a similar sentence in a copyrighted source (and hence couldn't reproduce here).

 

[bharosey]

But that's the point...experiments were not investigating how the crime was performed.

So, it should not fall into category of 'someone doing something'. Hence, it should not be a participle. What do you think?

 

[emsr2d2]

In the sentence:

The site of crime quickly turned into the scene of experiments investigating how the crime was performed.

Here, is "investigating" used as a participle or as a gerund?

Is there any easy way to identify?

The experiments weren't doing anything. Forensic scientists were the ones investigating the crime.

The scene of crime was quickly filled with forensic scientists carrying out their investigations.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The experiments weren't doing anything. Forensic scientists were the ones investigating the crime..

'The research investigates how foreign speakers gain fluency.'── quoted from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/investigate Definition#3
Does it mean that 'the research' is doing something and thus the subject of 'investigate' can be something instead of someone?

 

[Tdol]

'Doing' is a gerund in 'someone's doing something'.

That's a present participle.

 

[Tdol]

'The research investigates how foreign speakers gain fluency.'── quoted from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/investigate Definition#3
Does it mean that 'the research' is doing something and thus the subject of 'investigate' can be something instead of someone?

Strictly speaking, the research is being carried out by people, but yes is the answer to your question for me.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In my opinion, it should be "The researchers investigated...".

 

[TheParser]

... the subject of 'investigate' can be something instead of someone?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Mr. Wai:

Whenever I want to see how authors actually use the language, I go to the "books" section of Google where thousands of books have been digitalized for us.

I found many examples of the verb "investigate" having a non-human subject.

Here are just three:

1. This paper investigates word order in Finnish.
2. This research investigates three cases of recent technology prizes in the aerospace sector.
3. This report investigates the underlying economics of the Internet.

*****

For the sake of brevity, it seems natural that we do not have to mention that people actually prepared those papers, that research, or those reports.


James

 

[Matthew Wai]

Hello, TheParser!

Do you mean http://books.google.com/ ?

P.S. You are the first to call me 'Mr. Wai' on this forum

 

[TheParser]

[1] Do you mean http://books.google.com/ ?

[2] You are the first to call me 'Mr. Wai' on this forum

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Mr. Wai:

[1] I am basically computer illiterate, so here is what I meant:

a. I typed in the words (for example) "research investigates" in the Google search engine.
b. When the first page of results came up, I looked for the word "books" at the top of the page.
c. I then clicked on "books," and I was given examples of many, many books that include the words "research investigates."

[2] I am 77 years old. I was raised to be very respectful. I simply feel more comfortable addressing everyone by one's title. When I worked, I always addressed everyone by title. In fact, I used to address the moderators here by title (For example: Moderator George), but they asked that I stop that. If you want me NOT to address you as "Mr.," just let me know.



James

 

[TheParser]

I typed in the words (for example) "research investigates" in the Google search engine.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Mr. Wai:

I was remiss in not emphasizing that I used quotation marks around "research investigates."

If I had not put quotation marks around those two words, I would not have been given examples from those books.

Kindly remember to always put quotation marks around the words that you are looking for.

For example, if you want to find examples of authors who write "It is I," then you must type in those three words surrounded by quotation marks.

(As you know, most people nowadays say "It is me.")


James

 

[Matthew Wai]

Somewhere I came across something like ... 'Doing' is a gerund in 'someone's doing something'.

That's a present participle.

I just found that I had come across it on this grammar site (written by a Chinese person) which says 'watching the girl' is a gerund phrase in 'We noticed John's watching the girl'. Is it wrong?

I then clicked on "books," and I was given examples of many, many books that include the words "research investigates."

Searching for it on http://books.google.com/ will get the same results.

Kindly remember to always put quotation marks around the words that you are looking for.

Some time ago I already learned of it from MikeNewYork, from whom much can be learned.

If you want me NOT to address you as "Mr.," just let me know.

It is fine with me, James.

I am not a teacher.

 

[Tdol]

I just found that I had come across it on this grammar site (written by a Chinese person) which says 'watching the girl' is a gerund phrase in 'We noticed John's watching the girl'. Is it wrong?

The most likely interpretation would be we noticed that John is watching (participle), but John's watching could be a gerund. However, without some pretty serious further context, claiming that someone's watching something is a possessive and not is is pretty far-fetched- not impossible, but can you you replace it with my as a test and still feel confident you've got a good phrase without more context?

You cannot generalise from a single decontextualised instance to all occurrences.

 

[Matthew Wai]

without some pretty serious further context, claiming that someone's watching something is a possessive ...

The teacher wrote 'the construction of "John’s watching the girl" is the same as that of "John’s attitude"', does it go to show that it is a possessive?

'We showed disapproval of John's watching the girl.'── my own example
Must 'watching' be a gerund?

 

[MikeNewYork]

In "John's watching the girl", "watching must be a gerund. If it is changed to "John watching the girl, "watching" is a participle.