Re: Arguments of verbal nouns (was Re: How to kick the infinitive habit)

Mark J. Reed wrote:
[snip]
> Somewhat OT, I find it interesting that the English gerund can have
> both subject and object specified using the syntax of possession, e.g.
> "His selling of my car was done without my consent."
But is that really the gerund?

The English have _three_ (not two) distinct uses:
1. They listened in astonishment to the young man deliberately telling
lies to the court.
Here _deliberately_ is an attribute of 'young man', hence is adjectival;
but it has a direct object (lies) and is modified by an adverb
(deliberately), hence it is also verbal. That is, we have a verbal
adjective or 'participle'.

2. Deliberately telling lies to the court is called perjury.
Here _deliberately_ is verbal for precisely the same reasons as in (1),
but it also acts as the grammatical subject of 'is' and is, therefore,
also nominal.  That is, we have a verbal noun or 'gerund'.

3. The deliberate telling of lies to the court is called perjury.
Here _deliberate_ is also a noun; but it has *no* verbal functions as
(a) it must be modified by an adjective (deliberate) and _not_ by an
adverb, and (b) it cannot take a direct object. the argument 'lies' has
to be liked by a 'genitive' construction with _of_. In this sentence
_telling_ is clearly a *deverbal noun*, not a verbal noun. It seems to
me odd to label a deverbal noun as a 'gerund'.

See also Trask, page 118.

--
Ray
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http://www.carolandray.plus.com
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Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB}

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