A long projecting beam

Question

I look up the meaning of cantilever in NEW OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY. It gives me the explanation - "a long projecting beam or girder fixed at only one end, used in bridge construction.".

I can't understand the role of projecting here. I only see the usage of it such as ' a long projecting beam is projecting from somewhere', in which the word 'projecting' was used as a verb. But in the explanation mentioned above why projecting can be used as a adjective here? Can anyone give me some examples about usages like that?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Many verbs in English can be used as an adjective, in their -ed and -ing forms, for example:

I see the man. (Verb)

I have a seeing eye dog. (Adjective)

The beam projects from the wall. (Verb)

This is the projected estimate of costs for the project. (Adjective)

The deck is supported by a series of projecting cantilever beams that are anchored in the wall. (Adjective)

Deadrat · Answer

Because that's what participles do.  You've run into a gerund (-ing form), which can be used as well as a noun:  "Belching smoke is a bad sign for a car engine" or an adverb: "His car departed, trailing smoke."

Li Hang · Answer

Thank you very much!

Li Hang · Answer

How to understand 'seeing' in the sentence 'I have a seeing eye dog'. What is the meaning of it? I know 'The seeing eye dog' is a class of dogs that guide the blind. But what is the subject of 'seeing'? Is it the dog? Not of course.  I really want to know what is the subject of 'seeing' in order to understand it.

Deadrat · Answer

English allows verb forms to act as parts of speech that are not predicates. These forms are the infinitive (to form), the present participle (-ing form of the verb used in the progressive tenses), and the past participle (the form used in the perfect tenses, -ed for regular verbs). It is not necessary for these forms to have subjects in the way that predicates must. In fact, it often would be nonsensical.

Let's analyze "seeing eye dog." This is a type of dog, which, as you note, guides blind people, i.e., people whose eyes do not see. So the dog acts as the eyes for a blind person, and of course, to be an effective guide, the dog's eyes must work, or to put it another way, they must see. So, "seeing" here modifies "eye," telling us what kind of eye the guide dog has. "Eye" is a noun, and modifiers of nouns are adjectives. And that's all work that "seeing" performs, modifying "eye." Adjectival words have no subjects. If I told you I had blue eyes, would you ask what the subject of "blue" was?

Let's take another example: "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Simple English sentence: Subject-Verb-Complement. One thing ("parting", i.e., leaving) is equal to another thing ("sorrow"). We have another present participle "parting," but this time it acts as a noun. (This usage is called a "gerund.") "Parting" doesn't have a subject; in fact it is the subject of the sentence, having the meaning "act of departure." If I said "My eyes are blue," would you ask what the subject of "eyes" was?

These forms are hybrids -- they are derived from verbs and they act as other parts of speech. Because they're derived from verbs, they may appear in phrases that act as non-predicates, and in those phrases they may take subjects, objects, and their own modifiers. But they may also stand alone, and that's what's happening in the sentence about the seeing eye dog.

Li Hang · Answer

So 'seeing eye' means a eye that works normally. I have gotten it.  But in the the example you given - '"Parting is such sweet sorrow.", the gerund 'Parting' doesn't modified a noun. Can you give me several examples of the pattern 'gerund + noun' ?

Deadrat · Answer

That's the point. Present participles may act as adjectives (as in "seeing eye") or as nouns (as in "parting is"). When the participle acts as a noun (i.e., when it's a gerund) it doesn't modify a noun; it is a noun.

The pattern gerund+noun can occur when the gerund (using its verbal nature) takes an object, but the gerund isn't modifying the object. Like any verbal construct, it's acting on its object. Thus: "Studying English is hard." "Studying" is a gerund and the subject of a Subject-Verb-Complement sentence. English is the object of the gerund, what the studying is directed to. It should be clear that "Studying" doesn't modify English. There's no type or dialect of English called "studying." If this is clear, it should also be clear that "studying English" is different from "seeing eye."

Li Hang · Answer

I want to get some examples that are similar to "seeing eye".  I am familiar with the usage of "studying English", but it is different from  "seeing eye". Obviously eye is not the object of seeing. What I want to know is the rule behind "seeing eye". So I can use this rule to create other similar sentences in the future.

Li Hang · Answer

I just saw a sentence that have similar structure.

CIC filters originate from the notion of a recursive running sum filter, which is itself an efficient version of the standard nonrecursive moving averager.

We can see that "recursive running sum filter" and "nonrecursive moving averager" also have the similar pattern of the sentence we mentioned above.

Deadrat · Answer

I'm not sure what rule there is beyond the present participle may be used as an adjective:

running dog lackey of the imperialists
Laughing Cow (cheese)
Sitting Bull (Indian chief)
Burning Man (music festival)
walking stick
"Ramblin[g] Rose" (Nat King Cole song)

Note that the adjectival and nominal uses can raise some ambiguity. Here's an intentional one. There was a US TV series that ran from 1999-2005 called Judging Amy. The main character, played by Amy Brenneman, was a family court judge. So in once sense, the participial one, the show was about a woman named Amy whose job was judging, i.e, doing what judges do. In the show, Amy is under scrutiny from her family and her colleagues, so there are lot of people judging Amy, in the gerundial sense that Amy is the object of other people's judgments.

A long projecting beam

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