Martha,
As always, your postings are thoughtful, helpful, and pellucid.
I do not see "go camping/bowling/skiing" as parallel to "sit
reading/knitting/fidgeting." In the latter the verb and modifier are
independent of each other: she sat, and she read while doing so. With
"go camping" you can't say she went, and she camped while doing so. "Go
camping" is phrasal and idiomatic. It can only be understood as a
phrase.
To illustrate the difference, one could read "She went walking" in both
ways: (1) she went for a walk (parallel to "go camping") and (2) she
went somewhere, and her means of transport was on foot (parallel to "sit
reading").
[GO + Adjective] is frequently used to express a change of state or
activity. Sometimes "go" might be seen as a linking verb, equivalent to
"become": "go crazy/bald/deaf." But most adjectives can't be used with
"go": "become happy/sad/rich" but not *"go happy/sad/rich." Others that
can be used with "go" can't be used with "become": "go
native/AWOL/bananas" but not *"become native/AWOL/bananas." When Clairol
urges you to "go blond," they aren't using "go" as a linking verb but as
an intransitive verb implying a volitional act.
Examples with prepositional phrases: go off the deep end, go to pieces,
go into debt. All of the [GO + modifier] expressions that express a
change of state are idiomatic and phrasal in the sense that the meaning
of "go" cannot be understood independent of the modifier that follows
it.
Dick Veit
________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English, UNCW
Wilmington, NC 28403-5947
910-962-3324
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martha Kolln
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 5:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Go camping
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
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