Yes, I'm still with you t the end of 2 of 2. Valences seem a very useful way of discussing patterns. One small note on a difference between ing participles and gerunds: you don't have to torment students to get them to see a difference between "the drinking horse" and "the drinking water." As for calling past participles "passive" participles, I've actually taken to doing that in class sometimes, but I have come upon instances of participles that -- to use Johanna Rubba's information about "scanning" -- are hard to "scan" as passives. I can't think of a good one right now, but "flushed" as in "flushed with shame, he pointed to the empty cookie jar" might serve. Or "Buried for twelve centuries, the documents were discovered by construction workers." "BUried" here refers to a condition, not a received action.