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syoshioka99 · Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 185 Location: Korea

　Linguists believe that, among the world�s 6,800 languages, half to 90 % could be extinct by 2100. One reason is that half of all languages are spoken by fewer than 2,500 people, though languages need at least 100,000 speakers to pass from generation to generation. Of course, that languages die is not new; thousands are believed to have disappeared already. The distinguishing thing is that it is happening at such an alarming rate right now. When a language dies, linguists, anthropologists and others lose rich sources of material for their work recording a people�s history, finding out what they knew and tracking their movements from region to region. In order for the world not to become linguistically less diverse, governments can help by encouraging people, especially children, to speak other languages in addition to their native tongues.

(question)
In the red sentence, you see 3 '~ings', which I do need to know because I am a teacher here in Japan. My understading of how to determine whether it is gerund or present participle will be like this:
---gerund---
the smoking room=the room FOR smoking

---present participle---
the smoking man= the man who is smoking

In the sentence above, I guess I can say '...for their work FOR recording...finding...and tracking...' instead of 'their work WHICH is recording...finding...and tracking...' The latter sounds very weird to me.
Therefore, my guess is all of the 3 are 'Gerund'

I'm really lookin forward to hearing from you soon!!!

Satoru

Tochigi, JPN

Mister Micawber · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 774 Location: Yokohama

.
Their work of recording, finding out and tracking....

In your sentence, they appear to be 3 gerunds to me-- noun phrases postmodifying work.
.
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...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

Eric Thompson · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:29 am Post subject:

Three

points:
1. There is an implied preposition between 'work' and 'recording'. Mister Micawber says it's 'of'. I think 'in' is better.
2. So, the 3 '-ing phrases' are the objects of the implied preposition.
3. But, within each of the prepositional phrases, the '-ing' word functions as a present participle. And each present participle has its direct object ('history', 'what they knew', 'movements').

syoshioka99 · Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 185 Location: Korea

Mary W. Ng · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 261

Eric Thompson · Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:55 am Post subject:

Syoshioka99, When I speak of implied preposition, I mean that it is not spoken and a shortcut has been made between 'work' and 'recording'. But, the idea of a preposition ('in' or 'of') is there. The phrase 'recording a people's history' consists of the present participle verb 'recording' and its object 'history'. If you put an 'in' before that phrase, the phrase as a whole becomes the object of the preposition 'in'. 'Recording' is not really a gerund because it has a direct object after it. It acts like a verb. Mary Ng's idea about 'recording' being an appositive of 'work' is interesting, but I submit that, with a direct object following the word 'recording', 'recording' is not acting like a noun, but like a verb. (Appositives only apply to nouns.) I know it's getting complicated, but it's nice to stretch the mind once in a while. I hope you see what I see. Micawber was just responding to your question, like me. He also saw an implied preposition (of).

Mary W. Ng · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 261

Eric Thompson · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:21 am Post subject:

But Mary, do gerunds really have direct objects? Maybe we are engaged esoteric semantics. Laughing

lotus · Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 862

Hi,

With the sentence as it is written, the three phrases in question are participial phrases, as they are adjectives to "work."

If a preposition is inserted after "work", the phrases become gerund phrases because they would be noun objects to the preposition.

And yes, the gerund phrase (noun) and the participial phrase (adjective) can have identical form - that of a participle/gerund and an object.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/course/sentence/2_4d.htm#participial

The gerund phrase can serve as an appositive if it immediately follows the word it modifies.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm#appositive

--lotus
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War does not make one great --Yoda