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* Besides being clever, he is very industrious.
* Instead of writing the letter himself he asked his friend to do it.
* He left the room without waiting for a reply.
5. of Purpose
Note: The gerund in this function is mainly used in the official language.
after prepositions: for, for the purpose of, with a view to
* He gave these instructions with a view to speeding up the shipment of goods.
* The Commission has been established for the purpose of settling disputes between the organizations.
6. of Condition after prepositions:
Without, in case of, in the event of
* In case of being asked he should tell the truth.
* You will never speak good English without learning grammar.
* In the event of being ordered to two ports of loading the steamer will not
arrive at the port of discharge before September 15.
7. of Concession after prepositions:
In spite of
* In spite of being disturbed late at night, Rod fell asleep again.
Part of a Compound Verbal Predicate
to begin
start
go on doing smth
keep
continue
stop
* He kept looking at me.
* The trams have stopped working.
THE GERUNDIAL COMPLEX
The gerund can have a subject of its own different from that of the sentence. (Compare: I insist on doing it. - I insist on your doing it). In this case the gerund and its subject form a construction called the gerundial complex. The relations between the elements are predicative. The first element of the complex may be expressed in a number of ways: by a noun in the common case, a noun in the possessive case, a pronoun in the objective case, a possessive pronoun.
girl ` s
girl doing smth
my being done
me
The gerundial complex has practically the same syntactical functions as the gerund:
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The Subject
1.
no use
it is useless smb `s doing smth
was no good
* It is useless your going there.
2.
does smth
Smb ` s doing smth did smth
will do smth
would do smth
* His saying this made all the difference.
The Predicative
1.
The main thing
Smb`s wish
job is / was smb ` s doing smth
duty
* The main thing is his getting there in time.
2.
to feel like (up to)
to be for / against smb ` s doing smth
* I am against your going there alone.
The Direct Object
(can) avoid
(can) afford
(can) stand
(can) help
smb `s doing smth
to mind
to like
to love
to hate
* I can ` t help his making mistakes.
* Do you mind my waiting here?
The Prepositional Object
to think of
to be afraid
to object to
to be used
to insist on smb ` s doing smth
to depend
to apologize
to be grateful for
to be responsible
* Much depends on your taking the job.
