In the previous two chapters you saw how the basic sentence patterns can be expanded by adding optional modifiers o f various kinds— words, phrases, and clauses that function as adverbials and adjectivals. In this chapter you will learn how the N P slots can be expanded by using structures other than noun phrases. W e begin this chaptcr by reviewing the various roles that NPs play in our basic sentence patterns, including an optional N P slot called the appositive. Then we examine in detail how to fill these same slots with verb phrases and dependent clauses instead of noun phrases.
By the end o f this chapter, you will be able to • Identify and use appositives.
• Recognize gerunds, nominal infinitive phrases, and nominal clauses and identify their functions.
• Recognize and correct dangling gerunds.
• U nderstand the subjects o f gerunds and infinitives.
• Distinguish nom inal clauses from adverbial and adjectival clauses. • Identify and write sentences with delayed subjects.
• U nderstand these terms: expletive, nominalizer, interrogative,
subordinator, and anticipatory it.
164 Part III: Expanding the Sentence
T H E N O M I N A L SLOTS
You have already learned th at the terms adverbial and adjectival denote functions. An adverbial is any form— any word, phrase, or clause— that does what an adverb does— that is, modify a verb. Adjectival refers to any structure that does what an adjcctive usually does— modify a noun. But you’ll notice that we have not used the parallel -al term for noun, nom inal, u n til now. U p to this p o in t, all o f th e required slots in the sentence patterns labeled N P, such as subject and direct object, have been filled w ith noun phrases (and som etim es w ith pronouns, which stand in for NPs). "We did this m ainly for sim plicity. But now th at w e’re going to study other forms that fill the required sentence slots, it’s time to intro duce the term nominal.
All of those N P slots you learned about in Chapter 3 are actually nom i nal slots. Adverbials and adjectivals have only one function each— to mod ify a verb or modify a noun. But nominals perform a variety o f functions, most o f which are required to produce a complete grammatical sentence:
Subject: M y best buddy lives in Iowa.
Direct object: I visited my best buddy last Christmas. Indirect object: I sent my best buddy a card for his birthday. Subject complement: The tow n’s new mayor is my best buddy. Object complement: I consider Rich my best buddy.
Object o f a preposition: The town has a lot o f respect for my best
buddy.
As you will see, these slots can be filled w ith forms other than N Ps— namely, verb phrases and dependent clauses. But before we get to those other forms, let’s look at one more nom inal function, one that does not show up in the sentence patterns— an optional nom inal slot called the
appositive.
APPOSITIVES
An appositive is a nom inal com panion, a structure (usually an NP) that adds information to a sentence by renam ing another nominal. It is some times called “a noun in apposition.”
My best buddy, Rich, lives in Iowa.
The prosecutor cross-examined the next witness, the victim ’s ex-husband.
You can easily understan d the optional nature o f the appositive: These sentences w ould be gram m atical w ith o u t the added inform ation. O n
the diagram th e appositive occupics a place rig h t next to th e n o u n , or o th e r n o m inal stru c tu re , th a t it renam es, w ith the h eadw o rd in parentheses:
Chapter 8: The Noun Phrase functions: Nominals 165
bu ddy (Rich) lives
\ \ \ Iowa
prosecuror cross-examined witness (ex-husband)
%
\ c f \A,V ' v > V i - X v —
Nfc
As the diagram clearly illustrates, the appositives add inform ation to the noun phrase, as adjectivals do. But they are different from other adjec tivals in that they can substitute for the nouns that they rename:
Rich lives in Iowa.
The prosccutor cross-examined the victim ’s ex-husband.
I f th e appositive renam es the subject, it can be used to introduce the sentence:
An ex-Marine who once played professional football, the prosecutor was an intim idating presence in the courtroom.
P u n c tu a tio n o f A ppositives. The distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive modifiers, which you learned in connection with participial phrases and relative clauses, also applies to appositives. W hen the apposi tive defines (restricts) the m eaning o f the nom inal it renames, no com mas are needed. An altered version of the first example will illustrate the distinction:
M y buddy Rich lives in Iowa.
In the earlier example, the added name simply comments: My best buddy, Rich, lives in Iowa.
I h e adjective best makes all the difference. M y best buddy obviously refers to one specific person, just as my only buddy would. M y buddy., however, has a general reference; the added nam e makes the referent o f the noun
166 Part 111: Expanding the Sentence
phrase specific, actually defining the phrase my buddy. You can hear the contrast when you read the two sentences aloud.
Underline the noun phrases chat are functioning as appositives. Remember, an appositive noun phrase has the same referent as the nominal it renames.
1. Folk songs, simple ballads sung to guitar music, bccame very7 popular in the 1960s.
2. One of the best-known folk singers of that period was Arlo Guthrie, son of the legendary songwriter Woody Guthrie.
3. An offbeat film about illegal trash dumping, Alice’s Restaurant was inspired by Arlo’s song of the same name.
4. The theme of many Arlo Guthrie songs, the search for personal free dom, is still appealing today.
5. Gillian Welch, a contemporary folk singer and songwriter, combines simple ballad-like melodies with topical lyrics in two very popular CDs, Soul Journey and Time (Ihe Revelator).
6. 1 went to the concert with my friend Casey, who is Gillian Welch's biggest fan.
In C hapter 1 5, we take up the use o f colons and dashes in connec tion w ith appositives. And in the following sections o f this chaptcr, we include appositives in form s o th er th an n o u n phrases— verb phrases and clauses.
N O U N PHRASE SU BS T IT U T E S
Three o th e r stru c tu re s can perfo rm the gram m atical fu n ctio n s th a t no u n phrases generally perform : th e g erun d phrase, the in fin itiv e phrase, and the nom inal clause. O u r study of these nom inal form s— these substitutes for N P s— will focus on their five prim ary functions: subject, direct object, sub ject co m p lem en t, object o f a p rep o sitio n , and appositive.
G E R U N D S
In Chapter 4 you saw the -ing form o f the verb combined with a be auxil iary functioning as the predicating, or tensed, verb:
Chapter 8: Ihe Noun Phrase Functions: Nominals 167
children | are playing
\ w oods
' \ *
H ere the diagram clearly shows the sentence as P attern VI, w ith the in tran sitiv e verb are playing m odified by an adverbial prepo sitional phrase.
In the previous chapter you saw the -ing verb functioning as a noun modifier, called the participle; and you’ll recall that the noun the parti ciple modifies is also the participle’s subject:
Tlie children playing in che woods look happy.
In this chapter we will use the same -in g v e rb as a nominal to fill an N P slot. In this function, it is called a gerund:
Plaving in the woods is the children’s favorite activity.
H ere the gerund phrase is the subject o f the sentence. W e can think o f gerunds as names. B ut rather than nam ing persons, places, things, and events, as nouns generally do, gerunds name actions or behaviors or states o f m ind or states o f being. A nd because they are verbs in form , gerunds will also include all the complements and modifiers that tensed verbs include. In our gerund example, playing is modified by an adverbial prepositional phrase, in the woods, just as it was as a main verb.
Even though sentences with gemnds in the NP slots may look more compli cated than those you’ve seen before, the system for analyzing diem is the same. You do that by identifying the sentence pattern. The first step is to locate the predicating verb. No matter what strucmre fills the subject slot, you can determine where it ends by substituting a pronoun, such as something or it:
Playing in the woods is the children’s favorite activity. In other words,
It is the children’s favorite activity.
Now you’ve identified the predicating verb, is, a form of be. Next you’ll see that a noun phrase {the children s favorite activity) follows, so you know the sentence is Pattern III.
'flie next seep is to identify the form o f the structure filling that “it” slot. You can recognize Playing in the woods as a gerund because it begins w ith an -ing verb form. (You can usually identify the form o f a structure by looking at the first word.)
In diagram m ing the gerund when it fills a slot in the main clausc, we simply attach the phrase to the main line by means o f a pedestal, just as we did in Chapter 3 when a prepositional phrase filled the subject comple m ent slot. The line for the gerund itself has a small step at the left, which identifies the -ing verb as a gerund:
168 Part III: Expanding the Sentence
Playing
Following are examples o f other N P slots occupied by gerund phrases.
Direct object: Both adults and teenagers enjoy playing computer
games.
— i playing | games
Subject complement: My favorite pastime is playing computer
Chapter 8: The Noun Phrase Functions: Nominals 169
Object o f a preposition: I work oft a lot o f tension by playing
com puter games.
I w ork o ff loc \*> V -
r!
I playing | games \ ciAppositive: M y favorite pastime, playing com puter games, is
inexpensive but time-consuming. playing | games pastim e ( / '' ) « \
X %
inexpensive
tim e-consum ing
The P a tte rn o f th e G e ru n d . In these sentences w ith the gerund phrase
playing computer games, the gerund playing has a direct object {playing
what?), so wc can identify the underlying sentence, w ith its one slot fol lowing the verb, as Pattern VII:
X is playing com puter games.
The predicating verb in every pattern has the potential for becom ing a gerund phrase when it is turned into the -ing form:
Pattern III: My little brother is a pest, {being a pest)
Pattern VIII: T ony gave the landlord a bad tim e, {giving the land
lord a bad time)
Pattern IX: W e painted the bathroom orange, {painting the bath
room orange)
In the following sentences, those -/rag-verb phrases have become gerunds filling N P slots:
M y little brother enjoys being a pest, (direct object)
After giving the landlord a bad tim e. T ony regretted his behavior, (objcct o f a preposition)
O u r bright idea, painting the bathroom orange, was a decorating disaster, (appositive)
170 Part III: Expanding the Sentence
I t’s im portant to note that just because the function o f the verb phrase changes— from p re d ic a tin g verb to n o m in a l— its senten ce p a tte rn does n ot change. The three gerunds rem ain Patterns III, V III, and IX, respectively.
A. Identify the gerund phrases in the following sentences, and indicate the function (subject, dircct object, subject complement, object o f a prep osition, appositive) that each one performs in its sentence. Also identify the sentence patterns of the main clause and of the gerund phrase. Diagram the sentences.
1. flying a supcrsonic jet has been Sally’s dream since childhood. 2. The coach enjoys playing practical jokes on his players. 3. The speaker began by telling a few jokes.
4. My hardest accomplishment last semester was staying awake in my eight o’clock class.
5. Leaving rhe scene of the accident was not a good idea.
6. Two witnesses reported seeing the suspect near the entrance of the bank.
7. The cost of going to college has risen dramatically in the last ten
years.
8. Thinking a problem through requires time, solitude, and concentration.
B. Compose sentences that include the following verb phrases as gerunds. Try to use each gerund phrase in at least two different functions.
taking grammar tests giving people a helping hand being punctual lying on the beach
... ... ... ... i h itiii im r11
8.1
Compare these pairs of sentences:
Her job was selling computers in a discount store. She was selling computers in a discount store. My brother is getting into trouble again. My problem is getting into law school.
Chapter 8: the Noun Phrase Functions: Nominals 171
How do the pacccrns of the two sentences in each pair differ? W hat are the predicating verbs? Which ones contain gerunds? How would the diagrams for each be different? Marking off the sentence slots with vertical lines will help to show the differences in the sentence patterns. You can also try substituting pronouns to help you sec where the NP slots begin and end.
T he S u b je ct o f th e G e ru n d . The subject o f the gerund— that is, the person or agent perform ing the action expressed in the gerund— is usu ally n o t part o f the gerund phrase itself. However, ir is often the same as the subject o f the sentence, as in item 2 in Exercise 31, where “coach” is the subject o f both “enjoys” (the m ain verb) and “playing” (the ger und). Sometimes the subject can be inferred from another w'ord in the sentence, as in item 4, w'here “m y” indicates who had trouble “staying awake.” The subject o f the gerund will usually be left unstated when it names a general, rather than a particular, action or behavior, as in items 7 and 8 in Exercise 31.
But sometimes the subject can be expressed in the gerund phrase itself. W hen it is, it will often be in the possessive case:
His drinking is excessive.
I objected to Teremv’s taking on another part-tim e iob. Your compLinink ..bout the work will not make it any easier. A lth o u g h th e possessive case m ay so m e tim e s s o n n d excessively form al or even incorrect, it is the form considered standard in formal writing.
In the diagram, the subject o f the gerund is diagramm ed like a deter miner and attached to the step on the left:
- r ---j drinking
D a n g lin g G e ru n d s . T h e follow ing sentences are likely to elicit an “aw k” from y o u r c o m p o sitio n teacher. W h a t is it th a t makes them awkward?
U pon seeing the stop sign, the car screeched to a halt. By proofreading my papers, my grades improved greatly.
172 Part III: Expanding the Sentence
You probably recognized that these sentences aren’t strictly logical: They suggest that the car saw the stop sign, the grades proofread the papers, and the ingredients baked the cake. W e call that problem the “dangling geru n d ,” a problem th at occurs when the subject o f the gerund is not stated or clearly implied. These sentences have the same fuzzy quality that dangling participles have.
Dangling gerunds usually turn up when the gerund serves as the object in an opening or closing prepositional phrase. T o clear up a dangling ger und, you can revise the sentence in one o f two ways:
1. Make sure that the subject o f the main clause is also the subjcct of the gerund:
Upon seeing the stop sign, 1 brought the car to a screeching halt. By proofreading my papers, I improved my grades greatly. 2. T u rn rhe prepositional phrase with the gerund into an adverbial
clause:
Assemble the ingredients before you start to bake a cake.
Im prove the following sentences by providing a clear subject for the gerund.
1. After finishing the decorations, the ballroom looked beautiful. 2. Your revising time will be reduced by following a few helpful
pointers.
3. In making a career decision, your counselor will be a big help. 4. By signing this waiver, no claims against the owner can be
made.
5. O ur backpacks got really heavy after hiking up that steep mountain trail.
'Ihe verb go is used with a great many -ing verbs, but, interestingly, those verbs are limited to recreational activities of various kinds:
T.ct’s go hunting (fishing, bowling, swimming, shopping, jogging, etc.). W e don’t say “Let’s go gardening,” “Let’s go cooking,” or “Let’s go doing homework.”
Chapter 8: Ihe Noun Phrase Functions: Nominals 173
1 his is one o f those “w hy” questions th at wc have no answer for! Another is what to call that -ing verb that follows L e t’s go. B e c a u s e ^ is nearly always intransitive, the activity can probably be interpreted as an adverbial, a participle functioning adverbially. But because that
-ing verb names an activity, we could also make a case for calling it a ger
und. Perhaps the best answer is to recognize its special usage and call it an idiom.
I N F I N I T I V E S
A nother form of the verb th at functions as a nom inal is the in fin itiv e phrase— the base form o f the verb with to. Like the gerund, the nominal infinitive names an action or behavior or state of being. In fact, the infini tive closely parallels the gerund and is often an alternative to it:
Gerund: Remaining neutral on this issue is unconscionable. N om inal infinitive: T o remain neutral on this issue is
unconscionable.
You have already seen infinitives functio n in g as m odifiers o f verbs (Chapter 6, “Adverbials”) and as modifiers o f nouns (Chapter 7, “Adjec tivals”). In this chapter you will see the nominal infinitive functioning as subject, direct object, subject complement, and appositive:
Subject: To be a successful farmer these days requires stamina and
perseverance.
Direct object: My cousin wants to be a successful farmer. Subject complement: My cousin’s ambition is to be a successful
farmer.
Appositive: My cousin’s ambition, to be a successful farmer, requires
stamina and perseverance.
It requires stamina and perseverance to be a successful farmer. As with gerunds, you can substitute a pronoun to help you decide what nominal slot the infinitive phrase fills:
Som ething requires stamina and perseverance. My cousin wants something.
M y cousin’s am bition is this.
Infinitives, like gerunds, are verb forms; they may include com ple m ents a n d /o r adverbial modifiers. A nd like gerunds, infinitive phrases can be derived from all the sentence patterns. O u r “farm er” infinitive
174 Part HI: Expanding the Sentence
is Pattern III. In the first example it fills the subject slot in a Pattern VII sentence:
be \ farm er
/ \ requires |
perseverance
In the diagram , the infinitive phrase, like the gerund, is connected to the main line with a pedestal. The infinitive itself is on a tw o-part line exactly like th at o f a prepositional phrase. (It’s easy to tell the differ ence, however: In the infinitive phrase, to is followed by a verb, not by a nou n phrase.)
The second appositive example makes use o f the anticipatory it to change sentence focus, m uch like the z;-cleft that you saw in C hapter 5:
farm er It requires
= i
} persevcrencc
In the following sentence, a Pattern VII infinitive phrase functions as an appositive:
M y job, to hand out the diplomas, was a last-m inute assignment. Vo \ hand o u t | diplom as■
job ( S ' ) | was \ assign m cnr
V
The action expressed in the infinitive phrase renames the subject, M y job; it tells what the job is.
Chapter 8: Ihe Noun Phrase Functions: Nominals 175
33
Identify the sentence pattern of each infinitive phrase and its function in the sentence. Diagram the sentences.
1. Ruth plans to give her father a necktie for Christmas. 2. Our only hope is to beg for mercy.
3. To walk across campus alone at night could be dangerous. 4. Both candidates desperately want to become president.
5. Winston Churchill had a rule to never rake strong drink before lunch.
6. A mother bird will attempt to distract predators from the nest. 7. My friend Rcnato likes to shock people with his outrageous