Michael,
As you see, Ed and I agree on the function of "camping" as an
adverbial. I'd like to expand a bit on the issue of form and
function in relation to the verbals.
In traditional grammar, as you know, "verbal" serves as an umbrella
term for infinitives, gerunds, and participles--generally speaking,
for verbs in their roles other than as the predicating, or main, verb
of a clause.
The term "infinitive" is straightforward: It refers strictly to form,
to the base form of the verb, with or without "to." In every verb
except "be," the infinitive is identical to the present tense: to
eat, to sleep, to seem. The infinitive--the base form--is the form
of the verb used in commands (Eat your dinner; Be nice to your
sister; Have a good day). It's also used adverbially (We took the
week off to go camping); adjectivally (Our decision to go camping
turned out to be a disaster); and nominally (We decided to go
camping). In other words, the term "infinitive" itself tells us
nothing at all about function. (And note that my description of the
infinitive--including, as it does, commands--goes beyond the
traditional definition of "verbal." I could also have mentioned the
infinitive as a form used in the main verb string, when it follows a
modal: "You should be nice to your sister.")
The term "gerund," on the other hand, includes both form and
function; it refers to the -ing or -en forms of the verb when it is
used nominally--that is, when it fills the function of a noun.
(Camping is fun; We enjoy camping.) In other words, to call a verb a
gerund automatically brands it as a nominal.
The term "participle" is a fuzzy one, not at all clear-cut like
"gerund." "Participle" has two meanings: It traditionally refers
not only to the -ing and -en forms themselves, known as the present
participle and past participle--in other words, a designation of
form--but also to those forms when they are used adjectivally (The
sleeping baby looks peaceful; The movie directed by Clint Eastwood
won the Oscar)--a designation of function.
However, despite that traditional limitation of function to
adjectivals, there are occasions when the -ing form modifies verbs,
as in Michael's example. So it makes sense to expand on the
traditional "participle as verbal" definition to include adverbials
as well as adjectivals. In "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language," Quirk et al. do precisely that when they discuss (on p.
506) what they call "obligatory adjuncts" [in other words, obligatory
adverbials] with certain verbs (sit, stand, come, go) such as "He
stood waiting," She sat reading," "She came running." In other
words, these are intransitive verbs that in certain contexts are
incomplete without adverbials.
I think it's fair to conclude, then, that to limit the
verbal/participle to "modifier of nouns"--that is, to say that
participles modify only nouns and not verbs--is not accurate when it
comes to certain verbs, as described by Quirk et al.--and by Michael.
In Ed's explanation of "We go camping every summer," instead of
expanding the definition of "participle" to include adverbials, he
has expanded the definition of gerund. I prefer to leave the
definition of gerund as an -ing or -en verb that fills a nominal
function. (While it's true that nouns and noun phrases can indeed
modify verbs, they are not functioning nominally when they do so;
they are functioning adverbially.)
(I should mention also that in his KISS grammar Ed has come up with a
solution to that dual use of the term "participle": He calls the
adjectival use of -ing and -en verbs "gerundives." )
In my explanations of modern grammar, I try to use traditional
terminology that has wide acceptance whenever possible, but
sometimes, as in the case of "participle," that terminology may have
to be explained in new, more accurate ways; it may have to be
redefined. Another example, just to make the point clear, is the
definition of "pronoun": A pronoun generally substitutes for a
nominal (a complete noun phrase, even a verb phrase or clause)--not
just a noun, as the traditional definition tells us.
My apologies for going so far afield from camping.
Martha Kolln
>Michael,
> The KISS Approach to this construction is relatively simple:
>
>"Camping" is a gerund.
>Gerunds function as nouns do.
>Nouns can function as adverbs.
>Therefore "camping" is a gerund that functions as a (Noun Used as) an
>Adverb.
>
>Note that the KISS explanation simply uses two concepts that students
>need to know ("Gerund" and "Noun Used as an Adverb).
>
>Ed V.
>
>>>> [log in to unmask] 03/04/05 11:34 AM >>>
> Could anyone offer help on parsing "go camping" in "We go camping
>every
>summer."Does camping modify go? Could it be its direct object? I
>suppose it has to do with how one analyzes "go."
>
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