Singing - adverbial?

Question

I can’t hear myself think because of the birds singing outside.

1. Do you think "singing" is an adverbial participle?

2. Can we also say: I can’t hear myself think because of the birds' singing outside. (Gerund usage, I mean.)

Thanks.

Tkacka15 · Accepted Answer

anonymousthe birds singing

I see it as a noun phrase in which determiner "the" and the noun "birds" in the attributive position modify the head of that phrase "singing".

BillJ · Answer

anonymous
I can’t hear myself think because of the birds singing outside.
1. Do you think "singing" is an adverbial participle?

[1] I can’t hear myself think because of [the birds singing outside].

It is a participle but it is not adverbial. The bracketed element is a noun phrase, and "singing" is a gerund-participle verb functioning as head of the gerund-participial clause "singing outside", which modifies the noun "birds". Gerund-participial modifiers are semantically similar to relative clauses: compare "the birds who are singing outside".

anonymous2. Can we also say: I can’t hear myself think because of the birds' singing outside. (Gerund usage, I mean.)

[2] I can’t hear myself think because of the birds' singing outside.

[3] I can’t hear myself think because of [the birds' constant singing] outside.

[4] I can’t hear myself think because of [the birds' constantly singing outside].

The genitive marking on birds' affects the analysis.

[2] is strictly speaking ambiguous. "Singing" could be a noun or a verb.

The ambiguity can be resolved by either adjectival pre-modification as in [3], in which case "singing" is a noun and the bracketed element thus a genitive noun phrase, or by adverbial pre-modification as in [4], in which case "singing" is a verb and the bracketed element a clause with "the birds' as subject.

Singing - adverbial?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions