Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 3. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 29)
Csaba Ceglédi: On the Constituent Structure of Infinitives and Gerunds in English
INFINITIVES AND GERUNDS IN ENGLISII 95 Chomsky (1986) too raises the possibility that gerunds may be NPs, but he finally appears to conclude that gerunds are CPs, that is, they have a C position. This raises the problem that gerunds, as contrasted with finite and infinitival clauses, do not appear ever to be introduced by complementizers, at least not by #V>complementizers, as is shown by the following paradigm (cf. Chomsky 1986:84): 5 (53) a. I remembered that he read the book. b. I remembered his reading the book. c. I remembered why he read the book. d. *I remembered why his reading the book. On the assumption that gerunds as well as infinitives are CPs, the problem of constituency would practically reduce to the exceptional character of gerunds that they do not occur with ^-complementizers. I will consider the arguments for the sentential status of gerunds in the following section. 3.2 Why Gerunds Are Sentences As we saw in the previous section, distributional properties of gerunds suggest that they are noun phrases. Let us now consider aspects of their internal structure that they share with ordinary sentences, /^/-clauses, and infinitival clauses, which would favor a sentential analysis. The reasons that gerunds ought to be analyzed as sentences include the following (cf. Jackendoff 1977 and Abney 1987): We find both English aspectual auxiliaries in gerunds, as in ordinary sentences: (54) a. Byrne having been refusing the offer just when Nixon arrived b. Byrne's having been refusing the offer just when Nixon arrived 5 This sharp contrast between finite and infinitival clauses on the one hand and gerunds on the other may diminish somewhat if from in gerundive complements on verbs like prevent, stop, etc. is analyzed as a complementizer, as Mair (2002), for example, seems to allow, in sentences like This prevented me from leaving early.
