5. Lentulus, returning with victorious legions, had amused the populace with the sports of the amphitheater. The participle may be used as an attribute Complement.

6. The natives came crowding around.

Explanation. Crowding here completes the predicate came, and belongs to the subject natives. The natives are represented as performing the act of coming and the accompanying act of crowding. The assertive force of the predicate came seems to extend over both verbs.*

and and

erving bing bbing

miser kept +

7. The city lies sleeping.
8. They stood terrified.

9. The philosopher sat buried in thought.

10. The old miser kept grubbing and saving and starving. The participle may be used as an objective complement.

11. He kept me waiting.

Explanation. Waiting completes kept and relates to the object complement me. Kept-waiting exprses the complete act performed upon me. He kept-waiting me = He detained me. The relation of waiting to me may be seen by changing the form of the verb; as, I was kept waiting. See Lesson 31.

12. I found my book growing dull.†

* Some grammarians prefer to treat the participle in such constructions as adverbial. But is crowding any more adverbial here than are pale and trembling in “The natives came pale and trembling”?

† It will be seen by this and following examples that we extend the application of the term objective complement beyond its primary, or factitive, sense. In "I struck the man dead," the condition expressed

owing

dull

found

book

Explanation. The diagram representing the phrase complement is drawn above the complement line, on which it is made to rest by means of a support. All that

stands on the complement line is regarded as the complement. Notice that the little mark before the phrase points toward the object complement. The adjective dull completes growing and belongs to book, the assumed subject of growing.

13. He owned himself defeated.

14. No one ever saw fat men heading a riot or herding together in turbulent mobs.

by dead is the result of the act expressed by struck. In “I found the man dead," the condition is not the result of the act, and so grammarians say that in this second example dead should be treated simply as an "appositive" adjective modifying man. While dead does not belong to man as expressing the result of the act, it is made to belong to man through the asserting force of the verb, and therefore is not a mere modifier of man. Dead helps found to express the act. Not found, but found-dead tells what was done to the man.

If we put the sentence in the passive form, "The man was found dead," it will be seen that dead is more than a mere modifier; it belongs to man through the assertive force of was found. If dead is here merely an "appositive" adjective, “I found the man dead” must equal “I found the man, who was dead” (or, “and he was dead”). ́ The two sentences obviously are not equal. "I caught him asleep" does not mean, "I caught him, and he was asleep."

If, in the construction discussed above, dead is an objective complement, quiet, stirring, and (to) stir in the following sentences are objective complements:

I saw the leaves quiet.

I saw the leaves stirring.

I saw the leaves stir.

The adjective, the participle, and the infinitive do not here seem to differ essentially in office. See Lesson 31 and page 97.

15. I felt my heart beating faster.

16. You may imagine me sitting there.

17. Saul, seeking his father's asses, found himself suddenly turned into a king.

LESSON 38

PARTICIPLES (NOUNAL VERBS)

Analysis and Parsing

CONTINUED

The participle may be used as principal word in a prepositional phrase.

We

1. We receive good by doing good.

+

receive

good

doing good

1

Explanation. The line representing the participle here is broken; the first part represents the participle as a noun, and the other as a verb.

Oral Analysis. The phrase by doing good is a modifier of the predicate; by introduces the phrase; the principal word is doing, which is completed by the noun good.

Parsing. Doing is a participle; like a noun, it follows the preposition by, and, like a verb, it takes an object complement.

2. Portions of the brain may be cut off without producing any pain.

3. The Coliseum was once capable of seating ninety thousand persons.

4. Success generally depends on acting prudently, steadily, and vigorously.

5. You cannot fully sympathize with suffering without having suffered. (Suffering is here a noun.)

The participle may be the principal word in a phrase used as a subject or as an object complement.

6. Your writing that letter so neatly secured the position.

writing

Your

letter

That

neatly

80

secured position

Explanation. The diagram of the subject phrase is drawn. above the subject line. All that rests on the subject line is regarded as the subject.

Oral Analysis. The phrase your writing that letter so neatly is the subject; the principal word of it is writing, which is completed by letter; writing, as a noun, is modified by your, and, as a verb, by the adverb phrase so neatly.

7. We should avoid injuring the feelings of others.

8. My going there will depend upon my father's giving his consent.

9. Good reading aloud is a rare accomplishment.

The participial form may be used as a mere noun or a mere adjective.

10. The cackling of geese saved Rome.

11. Such was the exciting campaign, celebrated in many * a long-forgotten song.

Explanation. Many modifies song after song has been limited by a and long-forgotten.

* "Manig man in Anglo-Saxon was used like German mancher mann, Latin multus vir, and the like, until the thirteenth century; when the article was inserted to emphasize the distribution before indicated by the singular number." — Prof. F. A. March

12. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.

13. He was a squeezing, grasping, hardened old sinner.

The participle may be used in independent or absolute phrases.

14. The bridge at Ashtabula giving way, the train fell into the river.

Explanation. The diagram of the absolute phrase, which consists of a noun used independently with a participle, stands by itself. See Lesson 44.

15. Talking of exercise, you have heard, of course, of Dickens's "constitutionals."

COMMA RULE. The Participle used as an adjective modifier, with the words belonging to it, is set off* by the comma unless restrictive.

Lightlimits

Explanation. A bird, lighting near my window, greeted me with a song. The bird sitting on the wall is a wren. ing describes without restricting; sitting restricts the application of bird to a particular bird.

Direction. Justify the punctuation of the participle phrases in Lesson 37.

* An expression in the body of a sentence is set off by two commas; at the beginning or at the end, by one comma.