Delahunty and Garvey
e. We give our highest priority to discussing language. [Preposi-
tional object]Gerunds can generally be paraphrased as finite clauses. For example, Bill’s
leaving town can be paraphrased as (55a,b, or c), among others:
(55) a. Bill left town.
b. Bill will leave town.
c. Bill is leaving town.
The subject of the finite paraphrase (Bill) may show up as a genitive phrase
(Bill’s) in the gerund, although in many varieties of English (especially infor-
mal ones) it may be in the objective case:
(56) I don’t like his/him being out late at night.The direct object of the finite paraphrase of a gerund may show up as the
object of the preposition of in the gerund:
(57) a. Oscar read the poem.
b. Oscar’s reading of the poem.
Exercise
(a) Identify the entire gerund phrase in each of the following sentences,
and (b) identify the grammatical role the gerund plays in the sentence
in which it occurs.
a. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
b. We anticipated their losing in the final.
c. The teacher had no objection to my leaving class early.
d. Higgins gave riding his best try.
e. My most pleasurable activity is hiking in the mountains.
f. They taught him skiing.
Infinitives
We will divide infinitives into bare infinitives (58a) and to-infinitives
(58b, c):
(58) a. I saw/heard/felt them leave through the window.