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."
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/