Nancy,
The half cup was not enough, I think. If you reorder
the sentence to make "running" etc. a part of the verb, you will see that the
progressive aspect is all wrong.
John,
My feeling is that the phrase is definitely "running" as
the adjective form of the verb. The participal reading makes a lot of
sense. Its position at the front of the sentence is quite natural, and
seems to bring the predicate adjective into focus. Notice the nearly
synonymous:
From the back of his skull down to the front runs a patch
of white hair that opens up into his lips.
Such
sentences are not unusual, where "run" has a copular function and connects the
subject (like routes, rivers, roads and paths) to a locative:
A patch
of white hair that opens up into his lips runs from the back of his skull down
to the front.
The unusual part of it seems to be
making the verb into a participial phrase and putting it in focus. The
logical subject is not changed when the adjective is brought forward. Its
locative (adverbial) meaning seems to be retained. Compare to the
following:
There is
a patch of white hair that opens up into his lips running from the back of his
skull down to the front.
In
this kind of paraphrase the focus position is taken by the so called
expletive. This word is historically an adverb. The phrase seems to
be taking its place. Can we call the adjective phrase an expletive in this
sense?
Bruce
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 5:06
AM
Subject: Re: What Is This?
I’ll take a stab—only
half a cup of coffee into the morning, however.
“Running” is part of
the verb: Patch [subject] is running
[verb].
P.S. Thanks to
everyone for all the helpful information about how to get to the conference
this summer. I am working on getting there—largely because I want to put faces
with all the names on this list!
Best,
Nancy
From:
Assembly for the Teaching of English
Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Crow
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 5:26
AM
To:
[log in to unmask]
Subject: What Is
This?
A student wrote the following sentence in
an essay:
Running from the back of his skull
down to the front, is a patch of white hair that opens up into his
lips.
The comma doesn't belong there,
but I'm not sure why. Is the "Running" phrase a gerund? If so,
then I understand why the comma is wrong: it separates the subject from
the verb However, the phrase doesn't behave like a gerund.
Compare:
Running
around the lake is a part of my daily routine. --> It is a part of my daily
routine. --> A part of my daily routine is running around the
lake.
In
this sentence, the "Running" phrase behaves like a true noun phrase in a
linking verb sentence. My student's "Running" phrase doesn't behave like
an NP. It feels participial, modifying "patch". If so, then the
comma would be correct. But it's not.
Any ideas out
there?
John
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