Gerundial Constructions

The gerund may form gerundial constructions in which the gerund is proceeded by the possessive or personal pronoun in the objective case or by the noun in the common or genitive case.

Gerundial constructions have the same syntactical functions as gerunds:

Subject:

His getting divorced astonished everybody.

Object:

She is thinking of his getting married.

Attribute:

That may have been one of the reasons for her being so noisy.

Partof a compound nominal predicate:

It was your doing, Harry.

Adverbial modifier:

She could never look at the child without the tears coming into her eyes, (of manner)

The dress was made for Kate wearing it at her birthday party, (of purpose)

Gerundial constructions are normally translated into Russian by means of subordinate clauses.

The Infinitive. The syntactical and morphological features of the Infinitive.

The double nature of the infinitive

The infinitive is a non-finite form of the verb which names a process or an action in a most general way. The infinitive is the initial or basic form of the verb, that is why it represents the verb in the dictionary.

The formal sign of the infinitive is the particle "to" ([to] go). In the negative form the particle "not" is added before the infinitive.

We decided [not] to go to the disco.

Like allthe other verbals the infinitive has a double nature,with the infinitive it is verbaland nominal,that is the infinitive combines the features of a verb with those of a noun.

The nominal character of the infinitivemanifests itself in the syntactical functions of the infinitive which are similar to those of the noun, such as:

the subject of a sentence

It's never late to learn.— Учиться никогда не поздно.

a predicative

The trouble was to get any money from her father.- Проблема была в том, чтобы получить хоть какие-то деньги от ее отца.

an object

I didn't wish to be questioned.- Я не хотел, чтобы меня допрашивали.

The verbal character of the infinitiveis manifested in:

1) its syntactical features and

2) its morphological features

The Syntactical Features of the infinitiveare manifested in its combinability:

1) The infinitive can take an object in the same way as the corresponding finite verb:

To choose time is to save time. - Выбрать правильно время - значит сэкономить его.

2) Like a finite verb the infinitive can be modified by an adverbial:

He was not one to think rapidly. — Он был не из тех, кто умеет быстро думать.