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Tashiro Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Sentence structure
Hi, teachers. Please help me.
”The primitive root of the pleasure of parenthood is two-fold. On the one hand there is the feeling of part of one's own body externalised, prolonging its life beyond the death of the rest of one's body, and possibly in its turn externalising part of itself in the same fashion, and so securing the immortality of the germ-plasm.”
My textbook says the bold sentence is a participial construction. If so, usually, there must be the notional subject of the participial phrases. In this sentence, it must be "feeling", but I don't think it makes sense. Eventually, I guess "-ing" phrases are not participal phrases but gerund phrases and that "part of one's own body externalised" is the notional subject of the gerund phrases. I can't explain the comma before "prolonging···", however. My guess is right?
”The primitive root of the pleasure of parenthood is two-fold. On the one hand there is the feeling of part of one's own body externalised, prolonging its life beyond the death of the rest of one's body, and possibly in its turn externalising part of itself in the same fashion, and so securing the immortality of the germ-plasm.”
My textbook says the bold sentence is a participial construction. If so, usually, there must be the notional subject of the participial phrases. In this sentence, it must be "feeling", but I don't think it makes sense. Eventually, I guess "-ing" phrases are not participal phrases but gerund phrases and that "part of one's own body externalised" is the notional subject of the gerund phrases. I can't explain the comma before "prolonging···", however. My guess is right?
Top answer
there is the feeling ( gerund ) of part of one's own body externalised, [thus/thereby] prolonging [ participle ]its life beyond the death of the rest of one's body, and possibly in its turn externalising [ participle ] part of itself in the same fashion, and so securing [ participle] the immortality of the germ-plasm. germ-plasm' would be non-finite clauses acting as adverbials.
- there is the feeling ( gerund ) of part of one's own body externalised, [thus/thereby] prolonging [ participle ]its life beyond the death of the rest of one's body, and possibly in its turn externalising [ participle ] part of itself in the same fashion, and so securing [ participle] the immortality of the germ-plasm.
- germ-plasm' would be non-finite clauses acting as adverbials.
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3 Answers
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This is what I see:
...there is the feeling (gerund) of part of one's own body externalised, [thus/thereby] prolonging [participle]its life beyond the death of the rest of one's body, and possibly in its turn externalising [participle] part of itself in the same fashion, and so securing [participle] the immortality of the germ-plasm
...there is the feeling (gerund) of part of one's own body externalised, [thus/thereby] prolonging [participle]its life beyond the death of the rest of one's body, and possibly in its turn externalising [participle] part of itself in the same fashion, and so securing [participle] the immortality of the germ-plasm
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one's own body externalised prolongs its life beyond the death of the rest of one's body and externalises part of itself in turn and secures the immortality of the germ plasm
Why wouldn't you have a comma? End of one phrase, beginning of another.
Why wouldn't you have a comma? End of one phrase, beginning of another.
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