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102
house that is burning, a dancing girl == a girl who is dancing (or dances). The gerund suggests the destination
of the object or a person’s occupation, as in writing paper =paper for writing, dancing hall = a hall for
dancing, a singing teacher = a teacher of singing. Note also the difference in stress patterns. There are two
stresses in the pattern with the participle (a 'burning 'house), the second being the main stress, while in the
pattern with the gerund only the first (gerundial) element is stressed (a ' dancing hall); if there are two stresses,
the first component has the main stress, as in a 'speaking 'habit, a 'writing 'career.
When a prior action is meant no participle I can be used as attribute, only an attributive clause is used. Thus
when we translate sentences with the Russian perfective participle active with the suffix-вш into English we
must use an attributive clause: спросивший - who has asked, переводивший (ранее) - who has translated or
who has (had) been translating, уехавший -who has gone, вернувшийся -
who has (had) returned or who
returned, depending on the context or situation:
Я разговаривал со студентами, вернувшимися с практики. – I’ve just talked to the students who have
come back from their teaching practice.
Я разговаривал со студентами, вернувшимися с практики на прошлой неделе. – I’ve talked to the
students who came back from their school practice last week. .
Женщина, стоявшая на крыльце, вошла в дом. - The woman who had been standing on the porch went
into the house, (the action expressed by the participle is prior to that of the finite verb) But: Я обратился к
женщине, стоявшей на крыльце. - I addressed the woman standing on the porch (simultaneous actions).
Participle I as adverbial modifier
§ 133. All the four forms of participle I can function as adverbial modifiers of different semantic types (time,
reason, manner, attendant circumstances, and sometimes condition, concession, comparison).
The semantic type of the adverbial modifier is clear from the context and the predicate group, as in:
Being a newcomer, he felt ill at case. (adverbial modifier of reason)
In some cases, however, the functional meaning is not so obvious. For example, there may be a
combination of causal and temporal meaning as in:
Seeing her, he stopped (he stopped because he saw her, or when he saw her).
or of causal and conditional meaning:
Living alone, one becomes self-centred (as one lives alone, or if one lives alone).
Very often to make the semantical relationship clearer, certain conjunctions are employed, such as: when,
while, though, as if, as though, if.
1) Participle I as adverbial modifier of time may denote a simultaneous or a prior action. Here it
corresponds to the Russian adverbial participle (деепричастие).
Non-perfect participle I active, when used as an adverbial modifier of time, usually conveys the meaning of
the motion or state. Most often it is a participle of the verbs of motion (come, walk, go), or position in space
(sit, lie, stand).
Walking along the track, Bowen burst into song.
Returning to London, Arthur had thrown himself into the work.
Standing there now on the corner of the stage, he went on as before.
Lying in the hospital with his rotting wound, he dictated his farewell letter to his brother.
The notion of simultaneity may be expressed more explicitly by the conjunctions when and while.
He felt horrible while saying this.
Don’t forget articles when speaking English.