§ 227. The ing-form in the function of attribute is found in different constructions.

The ing-form may immediately precede its head-noun. In this case it expresses an action which is performed by the person or thing denoted by the head-noun (i.e. the head-noun is the subject of the action expressed by the ing-iorm). The ing-form is always a single word in this case, not an extended phrase. This attribute is not lexically dependent — it may modify any noun.

e.g. There was nothing to be seen or heard, not even a barking dog. Passing the Comedy Theatre I happened to look up and saw

the clouds lit by the setting sun.

I reached for a cigarette with trembling hands, and lit it. Singing people, arm in arm, filled the streets.

This kind of attribute is not of frequent occurrence in En- glish. However, ing-forms appear to be quite common as at- tributes when they are used metaphorically.

e.g. They delivered their views on the burning questions of the day. Arthur gave a creaking laugh.

"Hungry," said Mrs Nenneker, in a trumpeting voice. Carbury cocked an inquiring eye at him. He watched it with despairing incredulity.

It is characteristic of the ing-form in this function to become adjectivized — the ing-form is devoid of the idea of action in this case and its lexical meaning is often changed as compared with the meaning of the corresponding verb, e.g. a charming girl means 'a very nice girl,' an amusing story is 'an interesting, funny story,' a promising writer is 'a talented writer' (For adjectivization see also "Verbs", §172).

e.g. We had a very good view of all the surrounding scenery.

A desolate loneliness settled on me — almost a frightening

loneliness. In her ringing voice, she turned to the man on her right:

"Reggie, what do you think I ought to do?" They were preoccupied with the coming debate.

Such adjectivized ing-forms are in common use in English. An- other peculiar feature of the ing-form in this function is its ten-

dency to form, in combination with its head-noun, a set phrase, e.g. the reading public, the presiding magistrate, a racing man, working people, a fighting officer, a leading politician, revolving doors, running water, a booking office, a publishing house, closing time, walking shoes, etc.

§ 228. The ing-form as attribute may closely follow its head- noun. It also expresses an action performed by the person or thing denoted by the head-noun (i.e. the head-noun is the subject of the ing-iorm). But unlike the ing-form in pre-position to the noun, it I is a more or less extended group, not a single word. This kind of attribute is not lexically dependent — it may modify any noun. Yet its use is structurally dependent when it serves to modify a noun after there is (are).

e.g. There are some people coming in here now. There is a lot of work waiting for me to do. "Aren't you coming to the music room?" "Not if there is any

music going on." "There was a man hurrying down the street in front of me.

We find the structurally dependent use of the ing-form in coming on (in, up) when it modifies a noun which is an object of the verb to have (to have got).

e.g. I saw at once he had an attack of malaria coming on.

Sam thinks that he ought to return home by the next boat. He

has got his exams coming on. You've got too many things coming up to get involved in such

an affair.

This kind of attribute is used in literary as well as in spoken English.

Note. It is noteworthy that running in post-position to a plural noun is used in the meaning of 'one after another', 'in succession'.

e.g. He says he has received three telegrams running from them.

§ 229. In all other instances the use of the ing-form as at- tribute in post-position is free. It is a loose attribute in this case and, hence, may be separated from its head-noun by a pause. In all other respects this attribute is similar to the structurally depen-

dent one: the head-noun is also the subject of the ing-form and the ing-form is generally part of a more or less extended group.

This kind of attribute is neither lexically nor structurally de- pendent — it can modify any noun and the noun can have differ ent syntactic functions in the sentence.

e.g. I could hear the voices of the kids waiting for the school bell

to ring.

They stumbled on the snow turning to icy water. Then I picked up a booklet depicting various scenes of Navy life.

The loose character of the ing-form in this function is always marked off by intonation, and it may also sometimes be indicated by the use of a comma.

e.g. The wardrobe was empty, except for one dress, swinging on a hanger.

The door was opened by one of the man-servants, bearing an envelope, addressed to me in Collingwood's bold hand.

This loose attribute is frequently used in literary style but is not typical of spoken English.

§ 230. The ing-form in the function of attribute may be pre- ceded by a preposition. In this case it always follows its head- noun and is generally part of an extended phrase. The ing-form is lexically dependent here.

In most cases the ing form is preceded by the preposition of and the attribute acquires appositive meaning, i.e. serves to ex- plain the meaning of its head-noun. That is why it can modify only certain abstract nouns that admit of and sometimes even require an explanation of their meaning. The number of nouns thus used is quite considerable. The most commonly occurring of them are: action, (dis)advantage, adventure, aim, appearance, art, attitude, business, capacity, case, chance, charge, choice, (dis)comfort, com plication, conception, consequence, consideration, consolation, (in)convenience, cost, custom, danger, delight, difficulty, disap pointment, disgrace, effect, emotion, enterprise, evidence, expendi ture, expense, experience, fact, fascination, favour, fear, feeling- gesture, gift, grief, guilt, habit, honour, hope, horror, humiliation.

idea, ignorance, illusion, impertinence, importance, impression, in- cident, initiative, instant, intention, interest, issue, job, joke, joy,

labour, lightness, limit, love_t luck, luxury, madness, magnificence, manner, means, medium, memory, merit, method, misery, misfor- tune, mistake, moment, motion, movement, necessity, notion, object, opinion, opportunity, pain, pity, pleasure, point, policy, possibility, power, precaution, pretence, pride, privilege, process, proof, pros- pect, purpose, question, relief, reputation, result, risk, role, routine, rule, satisfaction, sensation, sense, shame, shock, sign, signal, sin, sorrow, sort, speciality, stage (=level), standard, state, success, sup- port, surprise, symptom, talent, task, terror, thought, trick, trouble, use, way, week, wisdom, work and some others.

e.g. He said that he had no chance of learning the truth. I don't want her to make a habit of being late. I have no hope of discussing it, Mr Birling. There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. I had the privilege of meeting your mother and dad some

weeks ago. The prospect of travelling with two elderly very dull people

made me regret my hasty decision yesterday. He admired his way of doing things very much. After a while I began to have a feeling of being watched. Miss Moss gave no sign of having heard his words. She experienced an unreasonable feeling of having been cheated. Her parents are terribly upset at the thought of her giving ev- idence.

The ing-form may also be preceded by the prepositions for, in, at, about and to. But they are by far less common than of. These prepositions are found after a limited number of nouns which reg- ularly require their use:

for — cause, excuse, genius, gift, grounds, motive, passion,

pretext, reason, reputation, talent;

in — advantage, belief, believer, difficulty, experience, harm, hesitation, ingenuity, meaning, object, participation, pleasure, point, purpose, sense, skill, use;

at — amazement, astonishment, attempt, delight, dismay, ir- ritation, pleasure, satisfaction, shyness, surprise; about — fantasy, obsession, scruples; to — objection, preparation.

e.g. She had a real passion for reading detective stories. Did he have any special reason for doing that? There was no point in going further. I saw no harm in asking a few questions. He felt irritation at being disturbed. I was making up my mind to another attempt at persuading

him to do it. After three months I got an obsession about having a place of

my own. Certainly I should have no objection to working with the man.

For the means of expressing the subject of the action denoted by the ing-form see "Verbs", § 166.

This ing-form is not restricted to any particular style and is widely used in English.

(For comparison with the infinitive see §§ 203-204, 242.)

§ 231. The ing-form may be used as an attribute in a sentence pattern with it as a formal subject. The ing-form is lexically de- pendent here — it is regularly used only after it is no good and it is no use with appositive meaning.

e.g. It's no use lamenting over things that are past and done with. "It's no use going on like this," he said. It's no good trying to fool yourself about love. It's no good my saying I'm sorry for what I've done. That

would be hypocritical. If she had made up her mind to anything it was no good our

opposing her.

Note. We also find a synonymous construction there is no use followed by an

ing-form.

e.g. There was no use pretending that they were different from the others. There was no use complaining.

This construction is less common than the one with the formal if, still less common is the pattern in which the ing-form is preceded by the preposition in.

e.g. You can see now there's no use in trying to make him understand.

Sometimes the ing-form occurs after a number of other nouns which are, as a rule, semantically pale, such as thing, business, chance, idea, problem and some others. The nouns are usually modified by an adjective which is semantically more important than the noun.

e.g. In this filthy weather it's the hardest thing in the world get- ting things dry.

I'd like to give it to him myself. It's not the same thing send- ing it in a letter.

It's been a great chance my meeting you like this.

It'll be such a surprise to her seeing you.

It should be mentioned, however, that the ing-form is not common after these nouns. We normally find an infinitive here (see "Verbs", § 206). The use of this ing-form is mainly restricted to spoken English.

For the means of expressing the subject of the action denoted I by the ing-form see "Verbs", § 166.

§ 232. The ing-form may also be used as an attribute in a sen- tence pattern with it as a formal object of the verbs to find, to think and to make. The formal it, in its turn, is followed by a noun. It is to this noun that the ing-form serves as an attribute.

e.g. Won't you find it rather a bore having me at home for so long?

It should be noted that this construction is of rare occurrence. (For comparison with the infinitive see § 207.)

The ing-form as Parenthesis