> >Also a different kind of sentence:
> >
> > Mary thought about a cat eating.
> > Mary thought about eating a cat.
> >
> >This seems to be similar but with whether the verb "thought about eating"
> >calls the noun "a cat", or whether it's the verb "thought about" calling
the
> >phrase "a cat eating". [Are there two kinds of -ing verb here?]
>
> My analysis: In the first sentence, "eating" is a verbal adjective
> (gerundive in Latin parlance), modifying "cat" which is the object of
> "thought about". In the second, "eating" is a verbal noun (gerund), which
> itself is the object of "thought about"; "cat" is in turn the object of the
> gerund. Verbal nouns and verbal adjectives generally have different forms;
> in English they happen to be the same.
In Silindion, the two sentences would be translated thus:
alísti Sárindel mémë i sinkótma péntëa
think-pret. Sarindel about the cat-rel. eat-vrb.adj.
The verbal adjective is formed from the gerund in this manner:
root: pet- gerund: pet-na > penta
adj.: pet-na-ya > pentëa
The second sentence would be:
alísti Sárindel pentátma i sinkón
think-pret Sarindel eat-ger.-rel. the cat-acc.
Elliott