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properties establishing them as two different verbids in the system of the English verb.
And this casts a light on the categorial nature of the half-gerund, since it is essentially based on the
positional verbid neutralization. As a matter of fact, let us examine the following examples:
You may count on my doing all that is necessary on such occasions. - - You may count on me doing all that
is necessary on such occasions.
The possessive subject of the ing-form in the first of the two sentences is clearly disclosed as a structural
adjunct of a nounal collocation. But the objective subject of the ing-form in the second sentence, by virtue of its
morphological constitution, cannot be associated with a noun: this would contradict the established regularities
of the categorial compatibility. The casal-type government (direct, or representative-pronominal) in the
collocation being lost (or, more precisely, being non-existent), the ing-form
of the collocation can, only be
understood as a participle. This interpretation is strongly supported by comparing half-gerund constructions
with clear-cut participial constructions governed by perception verbs:
To think of him turning sides! - - To see him turning sides! I don't like Mrs. Tomson complaining of her
loneliness. - - I can't listen to Mrs. Tomson complaining of her loneliness. Did you ever hear of a girl playing a
trombone? - - Did you ever hear a girl playing a trombone?
On the other hand, the position of the participle in the collocation is syntactically peculiar, since semantic
accent in such constructions is made on the fact or event described, i.e. on the situational content of it, with the
processual substance as its core. This can be demonstrated by question-tests:
(The first half-gerund construction in the above series) -To think of what in connection with him? (The
second half-gerund construction) -What don't you like about Mrs. Tomson? (The third half-gerund
construction) -Which accomplishment of a girl presents a surprise for the speaker?
Hence, the verbid under examination is rather to be interpreted as a transferred participle, or a gerundial
participle, the latter term seeming to relevantly disclose the essence of the nature of this form; though the
existing name "half-gerund" is as good as any other, provided the true character of the denoted element of the
system is understood.
Our final remark in connection with the undertaken observation will be addressed to linguists who, while
recognizing the categorial difference between the gerund and the present participle, will be inclined to analyse
the half-gerund (the gerundial participle) on exactly the same basis as the full gerund, refusing to draw a
demarcation line between the latter two forms and simply ascribing the occurrence of the common case subject
in this construction to the limited use of the possessive case in modern English in general. As regards this
interpretation, we should like to say that an appeal to the limited sphere of the English noun possessive in an
attempt to prove the wholly gerundial character of the intermediary construction in question can hardly be
considered of any serious consequence. True, a vast proportion of English nouns do not admit of the possessive
case form, or, if they do, their possessive in the construction would create contextual ambiguity, or else some
sort of stylistic ineptitude. Cf.:
The headlines bore a flaring announcement of the strike being called off by the Amalgamated Union. (No
normal possessive with the noun strike), I can't fancy their daughter entering a University college. (Ambiguity
in the oral possessive: daughters-daughters'); They were surprised at the head of the family rejecting the
services of the old servant. (Evading the undesirable shift of the possessive particle -'s from the head-noun to its
adjunct); The notion of this woman who had had the world at her feet paying a man half a dollar to dance with
her filled me with shame. (Semantic and stylistic incongruity of the clause possessive with the statement).
However, these facts are but facts in themselves, since they only present instances when a complete
gerundial construction for this or that reason either cannot exist at all, or else should be avoided on diverse
reasons of usage. So, the quoted instances of gerundial participle phrases are not more demonstrative of the
thesis in question than, say, the attributive uses of nouns in the common form (e.g. the inquisitor judgement, the
Shakespeare Fund, a Thompson way of refusing, etc.) would be demonstrative of the possessive case
"tendency" to coincide with the bare stem of the noun: the absence of the possessive nounal form as such
cannot be taken to testify that the "possessive case" may exist without its feature sign.
CHAPTER XII
FINITE VERB: INTRODUCTION
§ 1. The finite forms of the verb express the processual relations of substances and phenomena making up