大学英语语法和写作College English Grammar and Writing 10 Ph

2) Both gerunds and infinitives can be used as the subject or the complement of a sentence. However, gerunds sound more natural and would be more common in everyday English. If you are not sure whether you should use gerund or infinitive, just remember that 90% of the time, you will use a gerund as the subject or complement of a sentence.
• Beggars sell themselves as human beings. • Such behavior arouses the pity of passers-by. • Beggars’ behavior, selling themselves as human beings,
arouses the pity of passers-by. • She made a request. • She wanted to send for a doctor at once. • She made a request, sending for a doctor at once.
• Eating quietly, they seemly enjoyed what they are served. • (A participial phrase as an adjective modifies “they”)
• Eating quietly can be difficult for children. • (A gerund phrase as a noun functions as a subject.)
I. Gerund Phrases
Both a gerund and a present participle end in –ing but they function as different parts of speech. A gerund is used as a noun, whereas a present participle is used as an adjective or an adverb.
I.2. Position and punctuation Gerund phrases can either hold the subjeBiblioteka Baidut position or the direct object position. A gerund nearly never requires any punctuation with it except its function as appositive. When a gerund phrase is used as an appositive, we use a comma to set it off from the word it modifies.
I.1. Form and function • A gerund phrase includes the gerund and the object of the
gerund or any modifiers related to the gerund. Like a gerund, it is used as a noun—as subject, predictive, object, object of a preposition, or appositive.
1) as a noun to be subject • You must know your enemy. • That is the best defense. • Knowing your enemy is the best defense.
2) as a noun to be predictive • He finishes his supper. • He takes a short walk. • That is his habit. • In this habit, he keeps healthy. • His habit to keep healthy is taking a short walk after supper. 3) as a noun to be appositive • His dream is finding lost treasure. • His dream almost came true recently. • His dream, finding lost treasure, almost came true recently.
Notes: 1) The difference is that a gerund phrase will always function as
a noun while a present participle phrase functions as an adjective or an adverb to modifies another word in the sentence.
4) as a noun to be object • I travel in the country. • I love that. • I lose my way. • I don’t like that. I love traveling in the country, but I don't like losing my way. 5) as a noun to be object of a preposition • They wanted to travel to foreign country. • They have made preparation for it. They have made preparation for traveling to a foreign country.