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Richard Veit

Department of English, UNCW

Wilmington, NC 28403-5947

910-962-3324

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