The Russian language, in addition to independent and service parts of speech, is also rich in so-called special forms. These include the reflexive gerund and all types of gerunds in general. Many linguists still cannot come to a consensus about this part of speech. Some argue that this is an independent part of speech, while others argue that the role of the verb in the formation and use of the gerund is too great to talk about its independence.
Definition
First, let's remember what is a gerund? This is an independent part of speech or it is also called a special form of the verb, which means action with the main action. Answers the questions “What are you doing?”, “What are you doing?”
Similar verb forms exist in many languages, except for Russian: in Latin, French and others, they are called gerunds.
By origin, the participle belongs toin an unarticulated form, in other words, to a short form of the participle in the nominative case. And it arose due to the loss of the declension form of the inarticulate participle.
Dual Nature
A gerund of any kind is often confused with a verb or an adverb. And all because this part of speech has a dual nature.
Let's consider what features endowed the verb and adverb with the gerund:
|
Sign of the verb |
Sign of adverb | |
| Presence of species |
|
|
| Perfect | Imperfect | |
Example: overcoming, building, smiling. |
(s). Example: overcoming, building, smiling. |
|
| Transitional | Intransitive | |
|
Has a dependent word in the accusative case without a preposition. Example: Exploring the area |
Does not have an accusative dependent. Example:walking, enjoying |
|
| Returnability | ||
| Returnable | Irrevocable | |
Example: bathing (from swimming), to buy (from having bought) |
-in. Example: opening (from opening), building (from building) |
|
| Syntactic role | ||
|
In a sentence, it is an adverbial modifier. Example (irrevocable gerund): Listened, without interrupting. Without thinking about anything bad, the travelers moved towards the rocks. Example (reflexive participle): When I returned, I found only my father at home. |
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Spelling with "not"
In frequent cases, the participle with the particle “not” is written separately (because everyone remembers the well-known rule: “not” is written separately with verbs).
Example: not reading, not solving.
But, as you know, there are exceptions to the rule. The reflexive participle and other types of this part of speech with the particle “not” will be written together if:
- The gerund is formed from verbs that are not used without "not" (indignantly, underestimating, not having seen enough);
- The gerund is formed from verbs with the prefix "nedo-" (not enough s alt, not enough sleep).
Besides, any wordand its spelling must be looked at in context. The insidious Russian language can bring surprises, even references to the suffixes of reflexive participles and irrevocable suffixes cannot help.
Example: undereating and undereating.
Sister leaves for university without finishing breakfast. – Here the word is used in the context of “does not eat whole.”
During the war, people could live without food for months. – Here the word is used in the context of “didn’t eat enough, were almost hungry.”
Syntactic role
The reflexive gerund, as well as other types of gerunds, have the following features:
- Adjacent to the verb-predicate, being a circumstance.
- Do not conjugate.
- Rarely attached to a nominal predicate that is a noun or short adjective.
- Adjacent to the predicate, denoting an additional action that accompanies the main action expressed by the predicate;
- It is possible to replace the conjugated form of the verb.
In writing, there are adverbial phrases that are separated by commas.
