I think that the simple explanation for the preference of A over B lies
in the way in which hearers process the sentences. It is much easier to
substitute "singing" for "it" in A, but not in B.
A: Miriam likes singing, but she is not good at it.
Miriam likes singing, but she is not good at singing.
B: Miriam likes to sing, but she is not good at it.
*Miriam likes to sing, but she is not good at to sing.
Linda
-----------------------------------------------------
Linda Di Desidero, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Assistant Academic Director of Writing
Communication, Arts, and Humanities
University of Maryland University College
3501 University Boulevard East
Adelphi, MD 20783-8083
(240) 582-2830
(240) 582-2993 (fax)
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 11:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: gerund vs infinitive
Nancy,
I like the fact that you treat verbness as a matter of degree, as, I
assume, you would also treat nouns. And you're right that a gerund is
more nouny than an infinitive. A lot of syntacticians would not even
treat the infinitive in "likes to sing" as a noun phrase, simply as a
tenseless VP serving as complement to "likes." The drill question,
however, like so many drill questions, oversimplifies matters.
Reference doesn't have to be simply to a noun; it can be to a clause or
even to a contextual factor. Consider a sentence like
Finish a direct quotation with a period and quotation marks, in that
order.
The referent of "that" is clearly the order in which the two marks of
punctuation are given, something that is not only not a noun phrase but
is arguably not even a grammatical structure. It is, rather, an ordered
pair, and it's the order that counts. In the second sentence in the
drill, the referent of "that" is activity of singing, not a particular
word or grammatical structure. It might actually be possible to come up
with situations where one referent would make better sense than the
other.
Herb
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nancy Tuten
Sent: 2008-03-16 23:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: gerund vs infinitive
OK, why is it that I see my mistakes right after I hit send?
Of course, both the infinitive and the gerund follow the verb "likes,"
not a preposition. I have already sent a correction to Diane on that
point, but the question still remains: is one a better referent than the
other, and, if so, why?
Thanks,
Nancy
Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
Professor of English
Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
Columbia College
Columbia, South Carolina
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
803-786-3706
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nancy Tuten
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: gerund vs infinitive
Dear listers,
I received an inquiry from someone today and would like to know how you
would have responded to it had it been sent to you. The original post is
at the bottom, and my response is above it.
Thanks for your feedback-I always learn a great deal from you.
Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
Professor of English
Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
Columbia College
Columbia, South Carolina
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
803-786-3706
________________________________
From: Tuten, Nancy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 7:11 PM
To: diane skinner
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: gerund vs infinitive?
Diane,
You raise a very interesting question.
I suspect that the test writers regard the gerund as a clearer referent
because you can replace "it" with the gerund and the sentence makes
sense. We can say "She is not good at singing," but we cannot say "she
is not good at to sing."
Nonetheless, as you point out, both the gerund and the infinitive are
functioning as nominals (objects of the preposition "like"). One might,
therefore, logically conclude that either would qualify as a clear
referent for a pronoun. Perhaps infinitives, although they can function
as nominals, retain more of their "verb-ness" than gerunds, which quite
strongly take on the quality of a thing or an act-something one could
place a determiner in front of: "her singing," "the singing," etc. but
not "her to sing," "the to sing."
Thank you for attending our session at the STD conference.
Best,
Nancy
Nancy Lewis Tuten, PhD
Professor of English
Director of the Writing Program for the
Pearce Communication Center
Columbia College
1301 Columbia College Drive
Columbia, South Carolina 29203
USA
803-786-3706
-----Original Message-----
From: diane skinner [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 3:12 PM
To: Tuten, Nancy
Subject: gerund vs infinitive?
Dear Professor Tuten,
I met you at the Sigma Tau Delta Conference in your Grammar Panel.
I have a question for you.
In my writing center, during grammar drills, a computer-generated
question asked,
"Which is the clearest referent for the pronoun in the following
sentences?"
A: Miriam likes singing, but she is not good at it.
B: Miriam likes to sing, but she is not good at it.
The answer was A, but no explanation was given.
Could you please clarify this answer since the verbs can be followed
by either an infinitive or a gerund, and there will be virtually no
difference in the meaning of the two sentences.
Does the infinitive "to sing" act as an object for the verb "likes,"
or does it act as a verb to the linking verb "likes"?
How can a distinction be made between a gerund being nominative and an
infinitive being nominative?
Is this a special case because of the word "likes"?
When you have the time, I would sincerely appreciate a response.
Thank you.
Diane Skinner
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