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BoSsSy Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Can a gerund be an adverbial ?

Can a gerund be an adverbial ? For example:

John likes playing a lot

here a lot modifies the adverbial playing and the adverbial playing modifies the verb "likes"so the verb "likes"is modified by the full adverbial phrase "playing a lot". Do I understand this correctly ?

  

Top answer

BoSsSy Can a gerund be an adverbial ? For example: John likes playing a lot I'd call 'playing' a direct object. BoSsSy Do I understand this correctly ?

— Mister Micawber

  • BoSsSy Can a gerund be an adverbial ?
  • For example: John likes playing a lot I'd call 'playing' a direct object.
  • BoSsSy Do I understand this correctly ?
  • No, I don't think so.
  • 'A lot' is an adverbial modifying 'likes'.
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4 Answers
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BoSsSyCan a gerund be an adverbial ? For example: John likes playing a lot

I'd call 'playing' a direct object.

BoSsSyDo I understand this correctly ?

No, I don't think so. 'A lot' is an adverbial modifying 'likes'.

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No. I parse it this way.

John subject

likes verb

playing gerund, as object

a lot adverbial phrase modifying 'likes'

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BoSsSy

Can a gerund be an adverbial ? For example:

John likes playing a lot

here a lot modifies the adverbial playing and the adverbial playing modifies the verb "likes"so the verb "likes"is modified by the full adverbial phrase "playing a lot". Do I understand this correctly ?

Not quite.

"A lot" is a noun phrase funct

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He likes playing. He likes ice cream. The gerund "playing" is a noun in your sentence, and a gerund cannot be an adverbial.

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