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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Present Participle
What's the grammatical function of 'flying' in the sentence 'I saw a bird flying in the sky'? I understand that in 'a flying bird', 'flying' is a participle functioning as adjective; but what about when the participle comes after the noun in front of a preposition?
Top answer
) The present participle can have adverbial modifiers. "in the sky" is a prepositional phrase, an adverb.
- ) The present participle can have adverbial modifiers.
- "in the sky" is a prepositional phrase, an adverb.
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3 Answers
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It is called an object complement, (in particular, a post-object complement.)
The present participle can have adverbial modifiers. "in the sky" is a prepositional phrase, an adverb.
The present participle can have adverbial modifiers. "in the sky" is a prepositional phrase, an adverb.
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AnonymousWhat's the grammatical function of 'flying' in the sentence 'I saw a bird flying in the sky'?With this type of structure, the "ing" form is a present participle which describes or modifies the object.
I saw Mary getting a cup of coffe
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Anonymouswhat about when the participle comes after the noun in front of a preposition?The participle and any objects or prepositional phrases that go with it can be thought of as a sort of reduced relative clause.
I saw a bird (which was) flying in the sky.
It's very common to omit a relative pronoun (which, who) and a form of to be
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