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Lecture 7: ING-COMPLEMENTS

A. Introducing ING-Complements

The label ing-complements comprises those non-finite complementswhose mark is the
ingmorpheme.Ing-complements can be gerunds or participles and it is ultimately the context
of use & their distributionwhich distinguish between gerunds and participles
Some examples:
(1) a. [His/Him saying that] upset me (=It/This upset me) (subject)
b. I resent [his/him saying that] (=I resent this/it) (direct object)
c. I depend on [them/their helping me] (=I depend on it/this) (prepositional object)
argument status GERUND constructions

(2) a. [The movie being over], they went home (=After the movie was over) (adjunct,
adverbial of time)
b. The man [sitting next to my wife] is my best friend. (adjunct, attributive)
non arguments PARTICIPLE constructions

- like all non-finite complements, gerunds and participles a) do not bear tense or agreement
features ([-T/Agr]), but b) do have aspect and voice (3); c) they do not have Nominative
subjects (4a) since these are only licensed by finite inflection; when the subject is overt, it
is either in the Acc or Gen case (4b)
(3) [His having said that] upset me. / [Their having been fired] surprised everybody.
(4) a. I really dont like [*he
Nom
doing all the work] / I dont like [ __ cooking] (null subject)
b. I do appreciate [his
Gen
/him
Acc
borrowing me some money]

Besides the Gerund and the Participle, there is also the VERBAL NOUN, which is not part of
non-finite forms: it is part of the nominal system, as it is a NP which just happens to look
like a gerund or participle: it is a noun since it bears typical noun characteristics: it has a
determiner (the), it can be modified by an adjective, it selects an of-phrase:
(5) [The cruel shooting of the hostages] shocked us all.

Gerunds: both verbal& nominal features (+N, +V)
Participles: only verbal features (-N, +V)
Verbal Noun: only nominal features (since it is actually a noun, not part of ing-complements!)
(+N)
Let us have a look at these in more detail

B. The Gerund:
- argument status (see (1) above)
- it comes in three types:
a) PRO-ing: cases when the gerundial clause does not have its own subject, i.e., it has a null
subject, notated PRO (the same as in the case of infinitives), which is controlled/co-indexed
with a Main Clause nominal:
(6) I
i
remember [PRO
i
telling you about it] (null subject)
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- when the subject of the gerundial complement is overt/expressed, we distinguish between:
b)Acc-ing (half Gerund): (7) I remember [him telling you about it]
c)Poss/Genitive ing (full Gerund): (8) I remember [his telling you about it]

B.1. Nominal properties of Gerunds (+ N, +V)
(characteristics that gerunds share with nouns)
a)like NPs, gerunds occupy case-marked positions (since they are arguments of main clause
elements)
thecanonical subject position (!Notice that, unlike that-complements, gerunds can be
questioned/appear in SAI structures):
(9) [J ohns arriving late] upset me / Did[J ohns arriving late] upset you? (SAI)
structural Accusative:
(10) I consider [him/his arriving late] to be a big mistake
after prepositions:
(11) I insist onhim/his leaving early.
!! Notice that, unlike in the case of that-complements, the preposition is NOT deleted with
gerundial complements>>proof that they do not resist case.

b)like NPs, gerunds appear after sentence adverbs:
(12) PerhapsJ ohn is at home / Perhaps/PossiblyJ ohns arriving late upset her

c)like NPs, gerunds can topicalize (i.e., appear leftmost):
(13) Such songs, I cannot stand. / Johns being late, I cant stand.

d) like NPs, gerunds can undergo passivization:
(14) a. Everybody regretted J ohn(s) leaving.
b. J ohns leaving was regretted by

e) (with limited exceptions
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), gerunds do not extrapose (and neither do NPs):
(15) * It is unlikely J ohns leaving early.

B.2. Verbal properties:(+N,+ V)
(characteristics that gerunds share with verbs)

a)likeVs, gerunds allow adverbial modification (can be modified by adverbs):
(16) Him/his behaving wisely impressed his parents.

b)the gerund assigns Acc case to its D.O. NP:
(17) They rely on [us/our helping him/her
Acc
]

Acc


c)likeVs, gerunds have Aspect & Voice (i.e., verbal categories):

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Extraposition of Gs is allowed with a few expressions (evaluative As & Ns): be no good/no use// (not) be worth; be
easy/hard/useless; be a catastrophe/disaster/fun/pleasure/tragedy/etc.)
!! ONLY SUBJECTLESS GERUNDS CAN EXTRAPOSE:
*Its awful him not being there.// Its awful not being there with you.
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(18) a. [John(s) having left early] came as a surprise. (Perfect Gerund)
b. [J ohn(s) having been sacked] was a surprise to everyone. (Perfect Passive Gerund)

B.3.The Distribution of Gerund Clauses

Gerunds are/behave like DPs, so they have the distribution of DPs/NPs. They can function
as:
Subjects: (19) [His/him leaving early] annoyed us.
Direct Object:(20) He tried [helping us].
- also after Vs like: remember, recall, report, forget, mean (signify), stop (cease), begin, start,
continue, go on, like, hate, dislike, adore, resent,need, require, want (=need), bear, deserve, etc.)
Prepositional Object:(21) I insist on [you(r) coming to my party]
Predicative: (22) a. PRO
arb
Seeing is [PRO
arb
believing]/
b. My hobby is [torturing students with syntax]
Adjunct (attributive and adverbial)!!ONLY IF SELECTED BY A PREPOSITION:
(23) a. The thought [ofgoing there alone] was scary. (attributive>modifies the DP thought)
b. [On seeing her], he started crying. (adverbial of time)
c. [By cheating], the students passed the exam (adverbial of Manner)
!! Compare:
(24) a. [ON seeing him], she blushed. (gerund>preceded by a preposition (=case-assigner))
vs.
b. (When) seeing him, she fled. (participle>preceded by a conjunction (not a case
assigner))
B.4. Accusative-ing vs. Possessive-ing/ The Half Gerund vs. The Full Gerund
- in most cases, both are acceptable, so sometimes they overlap (I resent [him calling me a
liar] / [his calling me a liar]), but there are some syntactic/semantic differences with respect
to:
agreement:
- Poss-ing behaves like a DP: there is plural agreement on the verb with double Poss-ing Gerund
subjects(25); Acc-ing behaves more like a clause (CP): there is singular agreement with
double/multiple Acc-ing Gerund subjects (26)
(25) [His winning] and [your losing]were both surprising.
~~NPs: [His victory] and [your defeat]were both surprising.
(26) [Him winning] and [you losing] was surprising.
~~CPs: [That he won] and [you lost]was surprising.

wh-movement: allowed by Acc-ing (27a); disallowed by Poss-ing (27b)
(27) a. We remember [him describing Rome] (Acc-ing)
a. What
i
(city) do you remember [him describingt
i
]?
b. We remember [his describing Rome] (Poss-ing)
b. * What (city) do you remember his describing?

type of Su(of the-ing form) +menaing:
- Poss-ing have a more limited range of subjects (because, for example, some items do not
have possessive forms: there, it, this, that, etc.) (28)>Poss-ing prefers [specific] +[animate]
subjects
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- thesubject of Acc-ing may be [indefinite]:
(28) a. I remember there being/*theres being a park here.
b. I remember Johns saying that.
(29) a. Susan often dream of [Johns kissing her]. (Poss-ing)
b. Susan often dream of [John kissing her]. (Acc ing)

- in (29a), the use of the Poss-ing signals a different meaning than that induced by the use of the
Acc-ing in (29b): the meaning of (29a) is that the event of J ohn kissing Susan already happened
and Susan dreams of this (>definite), whereas the meaning of (29b) is that Susan dream of an
event of John kissing her, but this event did not necessarily happen (>indefinite)

B.5. On the syntax of Gerunds
Poss-ing ~~ DPs // Acc ing = more clausal ~~IPs
but: unifying analysis: gerunds (poss-ing + acc ing) are DPs which embed an IP
Why IP? Because gerunds have verbal properties like aspect (have`en//be`ing),voice(Passive:
be`en)
DP
D
D IP

However, the two (poss-ing&acc-ing) have different case-assigning mechanisms:
Poss-ing: the head of the DP (D =s; the subject moves from SpecIP to SpecDP& receives
Genitive case from the possessive head s
I resent [Johns leaving the country]
DP
John
D
D IP
st
J ohn
I

I VP
leaving the country

Acc- ing: no s in D; no movement of the subject (the subject (in the Acc) remains in the IP
(in SpecIP) and receives case (Acc) from the main verb
I resent [Johnleaving the country]

VP
V
V DP
resent D
D IP
John leaving the country

SO:
- gerunds are non-finite constructions; the ing = the marker of gerund;
- [+N, +V]; generally have the distribution of NPs (see B.3 above) + verbal characteristics
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- argument status (i.e., selected by / subcategorized for by matrix V/A/N/P)
- syntactic functions: subject, direct object, prepositional object, predicative; adjuncts (attributive &
adverbial only if mediated by preposition!); factive meaning

C. The Participle
Let us re-consider the examples under (2) above:
(2) a. [The movie being over], they went home (adverbial of time)
b. The man [sitting next to my wife] is my best friend. (attributive)

So, participles are non-arguments, which means they are not subcategorized for by Main Clause
elements. Hence, they donothave the distribution of DPs and only have verbal properties:
[+V, - N]

As adjuncts (attributive (i.e., noun modifier)& adverbial modifier),participles can NEVER be
preceded by prepositions (Remember! prepositions assign case; since participlesare non-
arguments, they are banned from case positions. Instead, participles can only be preceded by
subordinating conjunctions (e.g.,when, although, as if, before, while, etc), which are not case-
assigners

(30) a. [When visiting London], I got the chance to see a lot of wonderful sights.
b. [After watching the film], I wanted to read the book.

N.B.: When an ing complement functions as an adverbial (of time/cause/condition/etc.), if
it is preceded by a preposition, it is a gerund and if it is preceded by a conjunction (or if
there is no conjunction), it will be a participle:

(31) a. Arriving there, I found them gone =adverbial of time, Participle
b. ON arriving there, I found them gone =adverbial of time, Gerund
(32) a. The idea [obsessing him] was the loss of his fortune (=which was obsessing him) =
attributive, Participle
b. The idea [OF losing his fortune] drove him crazy. =attributive, Gerund
(33) a. After entering the house, he closed the door. =adverbial of time, Participle
b. (UP)ON entering the house, he closed the door =adverbial of time, Gerund

C.1. Temporally, the present participle indicates a situation simultaneous with the time of
the main verbs (irrespective of its tense); the perfect participle expresses anteriority with
respect to the tense of the matrix verb

(34) a. (When) walking down the road, I met Harry.
b. Having written my homework, I went out to a movie.

C.2. Structurally, adverbial participial clauses have a complete functional structure: CP (with
when/while in Spec CP) >IP >(AspP) >VP >

C.3. Types of (adverbial) Participial constructions
- adverbial participle clauses can be
a) subjectless(35a) or
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b) canhave their own (Nominative) subject = ABSOLUTE PARTICIPIAL
CONSTRUCTIONS(35b)

(35) a. [PRO
i
Living in seclusion], he
i
became introspective. / [PRO
i
Being tired], she
i
decided
to go to bed early (the empty PRO subject of the participle is co-indexed/controlled by
the subject of the MC)
b. [God willing], we will pass theLEC exam // [Weather permitting], we will have a
picnic. (condition).// [The kids having gone to bed], we could finally talk undisturbed
(temporal or cause)

N.B. Absolute Participial Constructions disallow conjunctions In other words,wh-adverbs and
overt subjects are in complementary distribution:
(36) a. [PRO
i
While eating], John/he
i
chocked.
b. * While J ohn eating, he chocked.
c. * If God willing, we will pass the exam.

C.4. Participles as part of complex constructions: Accusative + (Present/Past)
Participle&Nominative + (Present/Past) Participle

C.4.1. Accusative + Present/Past Participle
-mainly after:
a) Vs of perception: see, hear, notice, observe, watch, perceive
(37) I saw [him crossing the street]. / I heard [him sipping his coffee]. / I could smell [the cake
baking in the oven.]

b) aftercausative(-like) Vs& find Vs: have, get, catch, find, discover:
(38) You will find me reading. / They caught him stealing/ They discovered him beaten to a
pulp (Acc+Past Participle)/ I wont have him sitting here alone.

c) afterkeep, leave:
(39) They left her waiting all by herself. / They kept me waiting for one hour.

! Mind you: with verbs of perception, there is a certain ambiguity of interpretation. Compare:
(40) a. I saw J im [copying during the LEC exam] vs.
b. I saw [J im copying during the LEC exam]

the direct object NP in Acc +Participle constructions (with Vs of perception) can be
interpreted either as a) an argument of the main clause (40a) or as b) an argument of the
participial clause (40b)
- in (40a), the ing-clause functions as a sort of manner adverbial (an adjunct): I saw J im [while/as
he was copying during the exam]; in (40b), theing-clause functions as a direct object
complement: I saw [that J im was copying] +the focus is on the perception of the whole event.
- withfind/catch/keep types of verbs, only the adjunct interpretation is available:
(41) The teacher found/caught J im [cheating during the exam.]

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C.4.2. Nominative + Present/Past Participle: the passivized counterparts of Accusative +
Participle:
(42) a. I saw him crying (Acc +Part) He was seen crying (Nom +Participle)
b. They caught him stealing He was caught stealing
c. They found the wallet thrown in a ditch The wallet was found thrown in a ditch.

C.5. Distinguishing between apparently similar constructions: Accusative + Participle vs.
Accusative + Gerund/Half Gerund

It is often difficult to distinguish between the two constructions, since they have identical surface
structures:
(43) a. I saw him stealing my apples (Accusative +Participle) vs.
Su Vd.o. NP ing-form .

b. I resenthim stealing my apples (Accusative +Gerund or Half-Gerund)
Su V d.o. NP ing-form .

The difference between the two constructions above does not simply reside in the selecting verb
(verb of perception for Acc +Participle vs. resent for the (half) Gerund). There are other
significantempirical tests:
a) only Accusative + Gerund can be replaced by Possessive + Gerund (the full gerund):
(44) a. I saw him leaving/ * I saw his leaving (Acc +Part) vs.
b. I resent him/his leaving. (half or full Gerund)
(45) a. I caught Kim stealing apples/ * I caught Kims stealing apples vs.
b. I regret Kim/Kims stealing your apples.

b) only Accusative + Participle can be replaced by Accusative + infinitive; Acc + Gerund
disallows this replacement:
(46) a. I saw him leaving I saw him leave vs. (Acc +Part Acc +Inf)
b. I regret him/his leaving *I regret him/his leave (half gerund * Inf)

c)since Accusative +Participle constructions represent instances of (Su-to-Obj) raising, the
Accusative NP in Accusative +Participle is the direct object of the main verb. Hence,only
Accusative + Participle allowspassivization of the d.o. DP (to form Nom +Participle, see
above) (47); Acc + Gerund (i.e., the half gerund) does not allow the passivization of the
Acc DP, since this DP belongs in the ing-complement (48):

(47) a. They found [that he was sleeping ..] >They found [him sleeping in the park]
>They found him [t sleeping in the park] (Accusative +Participle)
He was found t[ sleeping in the park] (Nominative +Participle)
b. She caught Kim feeding bonbons to the dog (Acc +Participle) Kim was caught
feeding bonbons to the dog.
c. They found him collapsed under the table (Accusative +Past Participle) He was
found collapsed under the table.

(48) a. I regret [him leaving early] (Acc +Gerund) * He is regretted [t leaving early]
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b. I resent [them being exploited] (Acc +Gerund) * They are resented being exploited
c. I remember [them quarrelling quite often] (Acc +Gerund) *They are remembered
quarrelling quite often.

SO,
- participial constructions: non-arguments (adverbial and noun modifier)
- as adverbials, participial construction can have a) null subjects & overt Nominative subjects (forming the
so-called Absolute Participial Construction)
- when the participle is part of complex structures (Accusative + Participle & Nominative + Participle), it
functions as an argument (object or subject)

D. (Briefly) (Back to) The Verbal Noun

!!Lets remember (see ex. (5) on page 1 above and the discussion therein): the verbal noun is an
ING form but is notpart of non-finite forms: it is part of the nominal system, as it is a NP
which just happens to look like a gerund or participle

Q: How can we tell when an ing-form is a verbal noun(or a gerund)?
Compare:
(49) a. The shooting of the attacker was an ugly episode. To
b.Shooting the attacker was an ugly..

- (49a) contains a verbal noun, identified by: a) the presence of the (i.e. the determiner); b) the
presence of the of phrase (i.e. of the attacker); c) the fact that the ing form can be combined
with an adjective: The cruel shooting of the attacker

- (49b) contains a gerund due to: a) the absence of a determiner like the, a; b) the absence of an
of phrase, but the presence of a direct object (i.e. the attacker) and c) the possibility of its
combination with an adverb: Shooting the attacker cruelly

Lack of the presence of a determiner, the problem with distinguishing verbal nouns from gerunds
is that they both end in -ing and both take a possessive:
(50) a. Georges shooting of the attacker was an nasty episode vs.
b. Georges shooting the attacker was a nasty episode

- in (50), the only way of distinguishing between the two is the presence (vs. absence) of the of-
phrase. Thus, in (50a) we have a verbal noun (a noun whose syntactic function is that of subject)
whereas in (50b) we have a gerund (functioning as subject).
A further test that always helps is that of combining these constructions with an
adjective or an adverbial: The first construction takes an adjective (51a), whereas the second
structures takes an adverb (51b). This confirms that the first structure is a verbal noun while the
second is a gerund.
(51) a. Georges cruel shooting of the attacker appalled everyone.
b. Georges shooting the attacker cruelly appalled everyone.

E. A word on Ing-Forms and Infinitives as complements to verbs

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It has been noticed that, whenever a verb can appear both with an infinitive and with a gerund,
the meaning is different. However, these verbs change their meaning function of the meaning
that their complement encode.
For instance, when a verb selects an ing complement, we expect that the event denoted by
the ing-clause to have either happened (and then we are dealing with a gerund) or to be
happening/ongoing (and we are looking at a participle). With the infinitive, we expect it to
refer to something potential, something that is going to take place (i.e., future-oriented)

(52) a. He saw Susan crossing the street.
b. He saw Susan cross the street.

Compare:
(53) a. She stopped to eat a sandwich. to
b. She stopped eating a sandwich.

The first example, containing an infinitive, suggests the fact that the eating of the sandwich is
going to take place (the potential, future-oriented value of the infinitive). The second example
containing a gerund suggests the fact that the eating of the sandwich had already
commenced and was then interrupted (the gerund expresses an event happening in the past,
prior to the one expressed by the main clause verb.)
the gerund expresses something that has already happened/started, anterior to the verb in the
main clause, whereas the infinitive expresses something that is yet to happen, posterior to the
verb in the main clause. Hence, the gerund is past oriented, while the infinitive is future-
oriented.

Let us examine other verbs like these, which require both a gerund and/or an infinitive:
a) Remember ,recollect, forget
(54) a. She remembers filling the tank with petrol. vs.
b. Remember to fill the tank with petrol.

The example with the gerund suggests that the filling of the tank has already happened; the
example with the infinitive suggests that the filling of the tank is going to happen.

b) regret:(55) a. I regret filling the tank with petrol.vs.
b. I regret to fill the tank with petrol, but thats it.

The example with the gerund suggests that the filling of the tank has already happened; the
example with the infinitive suggests that the filling of the tank is going to happen.

c) try
(56) a. I tried filling the tank with petrol and then I did some car washing.
b. I tried to fill the tank with petrol but found it no easy job.

The first example implies the fact that the speaker has already filled the tank with petrol
several times. In the second example, the petrol tank is not filled yet, the action is not
completed.
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d) mean
(57) a. I mean to tell her the truth.
b. This means revealing her all my secrets.

In the first example, the event has not happened yet, it is bound to happen as a result of the
subjects intentions. In the second example, mean has the sense signify.

e) need, want

With [+human] objects, these verbs are used in combination with the infinitive:
(58) a. He wants / needs to learn English.

With [- human] objects, they can be combined with the gerund and acquire the same
interpretation as when they are followed by a passive infinitive:
b.The house needs repairing.
c. The house needs to be repaired.

f) go on
(59) a. He goes on reading from that cheap novel.
b. After he studied for four years, he went on to become a lawyer.