Gerund Definition and Examples

A gerund is a  verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. Adjective: gerundial or gerundival. The term gerund is used in traditional grammar. Many contemporary linguists prefer instead to use the term -ing form. A gerund accompanied by its objects, complements, and/or modifiers is called a gerund phrase or simply a noun phrase. Like nouns, gerunds and gerund phrases can function as subjects, objects, and complements in a sentence. Unlike nouns, however, gerunds do not take inflections; in other words, they dont have distinct plural forms. For a discussion of the differences between gerunds and present participles (both of which end in -ing), see Examples and Observations below. EtymologyFrom the Latin, to carry on Examples and Observations Going to college is expensive.Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.(William Arthur Ward)Binx Bolling, the hero of Walker Percys The Moviegoer, enjoys riding the bus that runs from Gentilly down Elysian Fields and into the French Quarter of New Orleans.I never believe nor disbelieve. If you will excuse my speaking frankly, I mean to observe you closely, and to decide for myself.(Wilkie Collins, Percy and the Prophet, 1877)They cut down elms to build asylums for people driven mad by the cutting down of elms.(George Barker, The Dead Seagull, 1950)Shooting paintballs is not an art form.(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)Humor is laughing at what you havent got when you ought to have it.(Langston Hughes, A Note on Humor, 1966)All talk of winning the people by appealing to their intelligence, of conquering them by impeccable syllogism, is so much moonshine.(H. L. Mencken, quoted by Carl Bode in Mencken, 1969)There are times when parenthood seems not hing but feeding the mouth that bites you.(Peter De Vries, The Tunnel of Love, 1954)This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.(George Bernard Shaw, Epistle Dedicatory to Man and Superman, 1903) Gerunds and Verbal Nouns Because they are nounlike, we can think of gerunds as names. But rather than naming persons, places, things, events, and the like, as nouns generally do, gerunds, because they are verbs in form, name activities or behaviors or states of mind or states of being.(Martha Kolln and Robert Funk, Understanding English Grammar. Allyn Bacon, 1998)A gerund is derived from a verb by adding the suffix -ing. The result is still a verb, and it exhibits ordinary verbal properties, such as taking objects and adverbs. Example: In football, deliberately tripping an opponent is a foul. Here the verb trip occurs in its gerund form tripping, but this tripping is still a verb: it takes the adverb deliberately and the object an opponent. However, the entire phrase deliberately tripping an opponent, because of the gerund within it, now functions as a noun phrase, in this case as the subject of the sentence. So, a gerund is still a verb, but the phrase built around it is nominal, not verbal. Very different is a verbal noun constructed with -ing. Though derived from a verb, a verbal noun is strictly a noun, and it exhibits nominal properties . . ..  (R.L. Trask, Mind the Gaffe! Harper, 2006) Differences Between Gerunds and Participles Because some [participles] are identical to gerunds, they can get confusing: Visiting relatives can be fun. Does this mean that the act of visiting (visiting as a gerund) can be fun, or that relatives who are visiting (visiting as a modifier) can be fun? We dont know.(June Casagrande, It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences. Ten Speed Press, 2010) Present participles and gerunds look similar as words, and they also look similar as phrases. Again, it is the -ing verbal form that causes this problem. To clearly distinguish these, we need to consider their grammatical functions. A present participle functions as a non-finite form of a verb phrase, after verbs of motion and position; it can be an adverb complement after these verbs; it can qualify/modify as an adjective does. In contrast, gerunds like nouns have naming roles and can occupy the place of nouns in many of their grammatical functions. Unlike nouns, they do not name persons, places, things, or events; they name actions, states, and behaviors.(Bernard ODwyer, Modern English Structures: Form, Function, and Position, 2nd ed. Broadview, 2006)How do linguists decide unusual or borderline cases? They test difficult examples against various prototypical patterns and decide which pattern the case at hand most resembles. In the following examples, is listening a gerund or an ad verbial participle? 45a. While listening to the concerto, Marcia decided to study music.45b. After listening to the concerto, Marcia decided to study music. Listening is a participle in (45a), and the phrase is adverbial. It is a reduced form of the adverbial subordinate clause While she was listening to the concerto. Listening in (45b) has a different origin. It cannot be derived from After she was listening to the concerto. In fact, after is a preposition in (45b) and listening to the concerto is a gerund phrase that can be replaced by the pronoun that.(Thomas P. Klammer, Muriel R. Schulz, and Angela Della Volpe, Analyzing English Grammar, 4th ed. Pearson, 2004 A Note on Gerundive Although a small number of traditional grammarians use the term gerundive as a synonym for gerund, the gerundive is a distinct verb form in Latin grammar. There is no grammatical equivalent [to the Latin gerundive] in English, and the term is rarely used (Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 2014). Pronunciation: JER-end

Is Man Naturally Good Or Evil - 972 Words

The question of whether man is inherently good or evil has vexed humanity since its appearance. Is man naturally good? Does he live in a state of the noble savage? Or was his natural habitat ,nasty , brutish and short? These questions are important because they help inform the way in which we treat our fellow human beings and structure of society. If man is in fact naturally bad then there is little to be gained in trying to make bad people better. Similarly, if we think that people are naturally good, then one would tend to look at factors outside the control of the person to help explain egregious behaviour. Our view of human nature often informs our view of social justice. Those who believe people are born stupid will be less willing to†¦show more content†¦Additionally the need for survival is stronger than empathy or sympathy which is why he believed that civilisation was needed to ensure that people did not misbehave. Despite the focus on whether man is good or evil I think that perhaps this is not the correct question. Does not everyone have good and evil in them? Are we not good and evil? Does pure evil exist? Does pure good exist? Was hitler entirely evil? Should we not try to understand what makes people bad? Man is neither born good or evil but is heavily influenced by the people surrounding them and the influence of society. If anything man is inherently good and evil. Even in the most extreme circumstances people have exhibited both compassionate and heinous behaviour. In the holocaust people carried out egregious acts of depravity and what can only be classed as evilness. However people also undertook acts of compassion, kindness and great bravery in order to save people from the holocaust, for example Oscar Schindler. If we really are evil, why do people carry out acts of kindness with no care for personal gain? 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The Coastal Zone Offers Many Essay Research free essay sample

The Coastal Zone Offers Many Essay, Research Paper Due to the seashore offering an copiousness of resources to worlds and therefore several different users, compete for the same subdivision of seashore, which leads to conflict between assorted Residential Conflicts such as people feuding over who is the rightful proprietor of the land and how it should be used. Corporate Conflicts may besides eventuate from the seashore offering many resources, like developers and City Councils/near-by stores and even occupants oh how the land should be decently used and taken attention of, State Governments may besides go involved in these struggles as they may go so big that the lone manner they can be resolved is if the State Government becomes involved. In utmost instances there may be struggles between State Governments, as one province could be making something which will destroy a peculiar piece of coastline, the other 1 may step in and set at that place positions frontward on how it should be taken attention of. We will write a custom essay sample on The Coastal Zone Offers Many Essay Research or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Over recent old ages, struggles between occupants have been increasing greatly along the coastline, due to its increasing value and popularity amongst tourers. Residential Conflicts are the most common type of struggle, which is associated with Coastal Zones. The chief type of struggle involves Residents who own belongings along the seashore feuding amongst each other over which Resident owns that peculiar portion of the beachfront, this type of struggle can divide the friendly relationship of neighbors and go forth them in changeless feuding. Another type of feuding that may affect Residents in one s that involve coastal positions, one occupant may raise as construction or puts in a stamp to restitute their house, which may do their neighbors positions to be interrupted. Corporate Conflicts are really common in the development industry. These can besides take to State authorities intercession due to the great argument it can do. One of the chief Types of Corporate Conflicts is when a development company buys a propert Y on the foreshore and are be aftering to construct a hotel or residential flat block, the local council, environing concern s and/or Residents may object to this as it may do them to lose positions and concern. Another ground to which Residents or Local Council may object to a Development Company edifice on land which is critical to maintain the seashore natural, by natural I mean maintaining it in the same manner in which it is now. An illustration of this type of feuding is what happened on Fraser Island. Fraser Island was a oasis for logging companies because of it s natural dense forestry country s, in the mid 1970 s a sand-mining company acquired a rental to mine mineral sand on the island, therefore intensifying the struggle. John Sinclair, a environmentalist and occupant of near-by Maryborough, formed an administration, which is called the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation ( FIDO ) . The Queensland Government supported the Maryborough Chamber of Commerce who was contending high unemployment in the local country ; they wanted sand excavation to travel in front. They argued that it was indispensable for the economic system that more occupations be created and that the excavation of the sand on Fraser Island would make that. The Queensland Government continued to back up the excavation but the export licenses needed to export the merchandises had to be granted by Federal Government. FIDO appealed to the Federal Government and finally the export license was refused. Without the market, the excavation company abandoned the undertaking on Fraser Island and Fraser Island was saved. This is a good illustration of how the Residents of a little state town can organize a group and mass meeting against the large multi-national companies, to salvage their last spot of Eden. A more recent struggle involves the Hinchinbrook Channel, which is portion of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. It was between a developer named Keith Williams who proposes to dredge the channel and construct a 1500 bed resort and a 250-berth marina at Oyster Point.

Can Machines Think Essay Example

Can Machines Think Essay The new prototype of Siri (IOS voice commander) for 2017 will be the most advance voice commander ever made. It will offer features such as a deep reasoning for unlimited situations, continuous adaptation to different behavior which gives it the ability to react as a human may do on different situations, and finally the most important it is programmed to react to an infinity of emotions. The new version of Siri offers the sensation of being interacting with another person. However, could it be considered a person? Its behavior is just like the behavior of a person so why not consider Siri as it. John Locke may argue that it is not a person. Locke thinks a â€Å"person is a thinking intelligent being which is able to recognize itself as itself† (page 2). According to Locke, such intelligent being must be able to perceive that it is thinking in order to be considered as a person. It means that such being should be conscious and be able to recognize as itself through time even when physical characteristics change. In the case of Siri, it does not possess own memories. Its actions and behavior are based on the programs that some else put into it. Moreover, Siri’s perception is functionally just for external factors. That means that, it cannot perceive its own action. It just acts according to a software that has been made up from someone else. Since it does not have own perception and memories, it is not a person. We will write a custom essay sample on Can Machines Think specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Can Machines Think specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Can Machines Think specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In contrast, Alan Turing may argue the prototype of Siri should be considered as a person. Even though he shares with Locke the basic concept that a person is thinking thing, he disagrees with Locke’s solipsistic point of view. Instead, Turing believe that the only way how we can prove that something is thinking is by its behavior. According to Turing, it is impossible to follow the high standards of self-perception because it just prove the ability to think to the individual itself. Therefore, it does not matter that Siri do