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JoeCalifornia
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Can gerunds or participles ever function as adverbs?
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Mister Micawber
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A gerund cannot, because by definition it is an '-ing' form used as a noun. The form can arguably appear as an adverbial, however, as in 'I sat thinking of my old girlfriend'.
Re: Mister MJoeCalifornia said:
I'll second that. :up:
Gerunds and participles belong to the class Verbal because they carry verb-like morphology (-ing, -ed). In terms of syntax, though, they function as nominals.
Check out this source: Click here
By the way, a to-infinitive functions as an adverb when it answers the question "Why?". In that context, the infinitive is short for 'in order to'.
Sam: I went to the bank to pay my bills.
Pat: Sorry. I wasn't listening to you. Why did you go to the bank?
Sam: In order to pay my bills. (Adverb)
I went to the bank in order to pay my bills.
Consider:
I would love to go.
I would love in order to go. (Not an adverb)
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