None of those explanations work for me. They seem forced.
I would, in fact, rely on a traditional explanation, which
would render a different analysis:
Statements #1 & #3 would be logical responses to the
question, "HOW (adverbial) did you spend the
morning/weekend?"
Some possible responses to the above would:
Smiling, Singing my favorite show tunes, listening to the
radio, doing my taxes
Sentence #1,then, would be in response to that question:
Q: HOW did you spend your morning?
A: #1. I <[SUBJ] spent <[V] the morning, [smiling =
participial/adverbial].
Statement #2 would be a possible response not to the HOW
(the process) but to the WHAT (the activity).
The response to the question above would be a nomimal(in
this case, a gerund). Consider the following:
Q: With WHAT do you have [the most] trouble? OR WHAT do you
have [the most] trouble with?
A: I have trouble (with)sleeping on my stomach, scratching
my back, singing in tune, smiling at stranger, keeping
secrets, lying to my mom, or even, people who stare,
etcetera)
#2. I [SUBJ] have [V] trouble [Cf. with "a problem (with)"]
dancing in the dark.
A traditional analysis of #3 would consider the HOW
(adverbial) response to the question, "HOW did you spend
your weekend?"
This is HOW: #3. I spent the weekend building a shed.
As in #1, the focus is on the process or way the weekend was
SPENT, not on the activity iself (WHAT).
Consider another example: I wasted time getting my hair
done. Again, the focus is not on the activity, or WHAT, but
on HOW that activity resulted in wasting time.
In essence, I would analyze the verbals in #1 & #3 as
adverbial and that in #2 as nominal (specifically, a gerund).
Patrice D.Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English Troy University, Montgomery Campus [log in to unmask]
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