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Gerund NP's

There are two types of gerunds identified in the linguistics literature. One is the class of derived nominalizations (also called nominal gerundives or action nominalizations) exemplified in ((247)), which instantiates the direct object within an of PP. The other is the class of so-called sentential or VP gerundives exemplified in ((248)). In the English XTAG grammar, the derived nominalizations are termed determiner gerunds, and the sentential or VP gerunds are termed NP gerunds.
(246)0(246
(247)
Some think that the selling of bonds is beneficial. 

(247)0(247
(248)
Are private markets approving of Washington bashing Wall Street? 

Both types of gerunds exhibit a similar distribution, appearing in most places where NP's are allowed.17.1 The bold face portions of sentences ((249))-((251)) show examples of gerunds as a subject and as the object of a preposition.

(248)0(248
(249)
Avoiding such losses will take a monumental effort.  (249)0(249
(250)
Mr. Nolen's wandering doesn't make him a weirdo.  (250)0(250
(251)
Are private markets approving of Washington bashing Wall Street? 

The motivation for splitting the gerunds into two classes is semantic as well as structural in nature. Semantically, the two gerunds are in sharp contrast with each other. NP gerunds refer to an action, i.e., a way of doing something, whereas determiner gerunds refer to a fact. Structurally, there are a number of properties (extensively discussed in [#!Lees60!#]) that show that NP gerunds have the syntax of verbs, whereas determiner gerunds have the syntax of basic nouns. Firstly, the fact that the direct object of the determiner gerund can only appear within an of PP suggests that the determiner gerund, like nouns, is not a case assigner and needs insertion of the preposition of for assignment of case to the direct object. NP gerunds, like verbs, need no such insertion and can assign case to their direct object. Secondly, like nouns, only determiner gerunds can appear with articles (cf. example ((252)) and ((253))). Thirdly, determiner gerunds, like nouns, can be modified by adjectives (cf. example ((254))), whereas NP gerunds, like verbs, resist such modification (cf. example ((255))). Fourthly, nouns, unlike verbs, cannot co-occur with aspect (cf. example ((256)) and ((257))). Finally, only NP gerunds, like verbs, can take adverbial modification (cf. example ((258)) and ((259))).

(251)0(251
(252)
...the proving of the theorem.... (det ger with article)  (252)0(252
(253)
* ...the proving the theorem.... (NP ger with article)  (253)0(253
(254)
John's rapid writing of the book.... (det ger with Adj)  (254)0(254
(255)
* John's rapid writing the book.... (NP ger with Adj)  (255)0(255
(256)
* John's having written of the book.... (det ger with aspect)  (256)0(256
(257)
John having written the book.... (NP ger with aspect)  (257)0(257
(258)
* His writing of the book rapidly.... (det ger with Adverb)  (258)0(258
(259)
His writing the book rapidly.... (NP ger with Adverb) 

In English XTAG, the two types of gerunds are assigned separate trees within each tree family, but in order to capture their similar distributional behavior, both are assigned NP as the category label of their top node. The feature gerund = +/- distinguishes gerund NP's from regular NP's where needed.17.2 The determiner gerund and the NP gerund trees are discussed in section (17.1) and  (17.2) respectively.


 
next up previous contents
Next: Determiner Gerunds Up: Sentence Types Previous: Imperatives
XTAG Project
1998-09-14