One of the diffi culties in recognizing this complement type is that present participle verbs look just like present participles used as gerund phrases.. Gerund phrases are -ing forms of
Trang 1Get and have both mean to cause somebody to do something For example:
The police have got volunteers searching the woods
We have the interns searching the records.
One of the diffi culties in recognizing this complement type is that present participle verbs
look just like present participles used as gerund phrases (Gerund phrases are discussed in detail
in Chapter 6.) Gerund phrases are -ing forms of the verb used in noun phrases For example,
consider the following sentence:
NP
Working on his report kept Rudolph up all night.
The gerund phrase working on his report is a noun phrase playing the role of subject Fortunately,
there is a simple and highly reliable way to identify gerund phrases: they can always be replaced
by it:
It
Working on his report kept Rudolph up all night.
When we try to substitute it for a present participle verb phrase, the result will always be
ungrammatical For example:
X it
I saw him working on his report.
Object base: We watched him fi x his bicycle.
Object present participle: We watched him fi xing his bicycle.
There is little difference in meaning between these two sentences There probably is some slight
-cant that difference is
A practical problem for nonnative speakers is that the two different complement types use many of the same verbs For example, the following verbs are freely used with both complement
types: feel, have, hear, listen to, notice, observe, overhear, see, spot, spy, watch.
base-form complement: catch, discover, fi nd, get, leave, smell For example:
Trang 2Multiple Verb Complements 189
Object present participle: We found them working in the back offi ce.
Object base form: X We found them work in the back offi ce.
present participle: make For example:
Object base-form: We made them fi x the bill.
Object present participle: X We made them fi xing the bill.
comple-ments Note that most of these are verbs of sense perception:
catch hear see
have perceive
Exercise 11.12
Choose the correct complement type (present participle, base form, or both) from the two forms
in parentheses If both are correct, write both above the verbs.
both
We will have the workers (painting/paint) the hallway tomorrow.
1 We left the painters (fi nishing up/fi nish up) the trim in the dinning room.
2 Listen to her (playing/play) that piano.
3 He made me (doing/do) it.
4 We discovered the kitten (hiding/hide) in the attic.
5 I heard the kitchen faucet (dripping/drip) all night.
6 Fortunately, I smelled the brakes (smoking/smoke) on the rear axle.
7 After a bad beginning, we got the two sides (talking/talk) to each other.
8 During the earthquake, we all felt the building (shaking/shake) a little.
9 Finally, we spotted a white sail (fl ashing/fl ash) in the afternoon sun.
Trang 310 I found myself (worrying/worry) about tomorrow’s presentation.
11 We made Johnny (fi nishing/fi nish) his homework before he watched any TV.
12 They must have overheard us (talking/talk) about it at lunch.
13 We were watching our daughter’s team (playing/play) soccer.
14 I caught myself (dozing off/doze off) during the performance.
15 We saw them (getting into/get into) a taxi on 53rd Street.
Exercise 11.13
Underline the complements in the following sentences Label the type of complement using the
Inf for object infi nitive; Obj Base for object base form; or Obj Pres Part for object
present participle
Don’t tell me/we were right all along?
1 Please let me help you with that.
2 The test proves the suspect innocent.
3 I noticed them leaving during the meeting.
4 They appointed her chief counsel.
5 He is putting the leftovers into the refrigerator.
6 My parents sent the kids some books.
7 Fortunately, the board considered my idea quite promising.
8 I told them they needed to get prior approval before going ahead.
9 Sadly, I put the iPhone back on the counter.
10 We thought the outcome a big disappointment, to tell the truth.
11 Can you give my friend a lift to the airport?
12 Let us prove to you that we can do the job.
13 We moved the kittens out of the kids’ bedroom.
Trang 4Multiple Verb Complements 191
14 I wanted my parents to stay with us this Christmas.
15 I drove the car over to my mother’s house.
16 I had the waiter set an extra place for you.
17 We helped them to get ready to leave.
18 I told them that we would be a little late for dinner.
19 Jane baked Sarah a birthday cake.
20 I considered our project a success.
21 What prompted John to change his mind so suddenly?
22 The oven will keep food hot for hours.
23 She explained to us that her parents would need to use the apartment that week.
24 I caught my son watching TV while studying.
25 I confess to you that I am more than a little nervous.
Trang 5The term adverb is used both narrowly to refer to single-word adverbs and broadly to refer to
any grammatical unit (word, phrase, or clause) that functions as an adverb In this book, unless
specifi ed otherwise, we will use the term adverb broadly to include all types of adverbs If we
need to be more specifi c, we will use the terms single-word adverb, adverb phrase, or adverb clause.
Adverbs are conventionally defi ned as grammatical elements (words, phrases, or clauses) that
“modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.” Since 99 percent of the time, adverbs are used to
modify verbs, from this point we will focus exclusively on adverbs that modify verbs
This chapter is divided into two parts In the fi rst part, we will discuss how adverbs are formed In the second part, we will discuss how adverbs are used
How adverbs are formed
In this section we will examine how adverbs are formed at the word level, at the phrase level, and
at the clause level
Word-level adverbs
Adverbs fall into two distinct groups: (1) a small number of mostly single-syllable words that are
used with very high frequency, and (2) the great majority of adverbs that are derived from
adjec-tives, for example deep/deeply; true/truly, sad/sadly.
Here are the twenty-fi ve most commonly used adverbs (note that not one of the very high
frequency adverbs is derived from an adjective by adding -ly):
1 only
2 then
Trang 6Adverbs 193
3 now
4 also
5 even
6 just
7 here
8 back
9 still
10 never
11 well
12 again
13 so
14 there
15 away
16 always
17 once
18 however
19 often
20 over
21 perhaps
22 thus
23 yet
24 too
25 almost
One of the fundamental identifying features of modifying adverbs is that they are by defi ni-tion opni-tional elements Unlike the other major parts of speech—nouns, adjectives, and verbs—
adverbs can always be deleted without affecting the grammaticality of the sentence For example,
consider the following sentence:
We had dinner then
Trang 7The adverb then can be deleted without making the rest of the sentence ungrammatical:
We had dinner then
Exercise 12.1
Underline the single-word adverbs in the following sentences Confi rm your identifi cation by
deleting the adverb
It always costs a fortune to eat at Gordy’s.
1 I usually don’t have that much trouble printing documents.
2 We went to Mexico City once.
3 I simply couldn’t understand what they were saying.
4 The audience suddenly became quiet.
5 We often see them on the weekends.
6 They knocked on the door again.
8 She really plays the piano well.
9 Perhaps we will see you at the conference.
10 I always take the bus to work.
11 Are we done already?
12 We probably can’t get to the meeting by ten.
13 Let’s arrange a meeting soon.
14 We always see them over the holidays.
15 My parents often discuss moving to a smaller place.
Ninety-fi ve percent of adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding an -ly suffi x Here are
some examples:
Adjectives Adverbs
abrupt abruptly eager eagerly