§ 233. The ing-form as parenthesis tends to become a set phrase.

We mainly find here the verbs to talk and to speak. The ing-form as parenthesis serves to denote some sort of reservation on the part of the speaker or else it is used as an introductory phrase, meaning

'incidentally' (compare with the Russian кстати).

e.g. Secrets, generally speaking, are not very well kept nowadays, with reporters and television cameras all around us.

Roughly speaking, it might have been said that youth and hope in women touched him.

Talking about crime, I can lend you rather a good book, as you are interested in the subject.

Of course, strictly speaking, the excuse was not necessary.

The ing form as parenthesis is in most cases placed at the head of the sentence and, in writing, marked off by a comma.

The Infinitive and the ing-form Compared

§ 234. The infinitive and the ing-form sometimes have similar functions in the sentence and it is therefore necessary to define the spheres of their application.

The distinction between the two verbals partly lies in their dif- ferent tense and aspect characteristics. The infinitive tends to ex- press a single action following that of the predicate verb, while the ing-form generally serves to denote permanent actions, simul- taneous with that of the predicate verb. (These characteristics re- fer to the simple forms of the infinitive and the ing-form. Their Perfect forms are infrequent and do not play an important part in distinguishing between the two verbals). But it should be noted that we are dealing here only with tendencies, not with hard and fast rules. For that reason the difference between the infinitive and the ing-form sometimes becomes obliterated.

In most cases, however, the differentiation between the two verbals rests on linguistic tradition which finds its expression in the following:

1. the infinitive and the ing-form have a different frequency of occurrence in certain functions (and the preference of one form to the other cannot be accounted for by any tangible reasons, grammatical or semantic);

2. the infinitive and the ing-form are in certain functions lexi- cally dependent, which means that their choice is determined by their head-word, but not by any grammatical properties inherent in them;

3. the infinitive and the ing-form are sometimes structurally dependent, i.e. their use is determined by definite sentence patterns;

4. the infinitive and the ing-form may become part of a set phrase.

Besides, in some of the functions there are a few additional factors which affect the choice between the two verbals. The in- finitive, for instance, may acquire modal meaning which is never expressed by the ing-form. The ing-form, in its turn, when preced- ed by prepositions (or conjunctions), can express different mean- ings not typical of the infinitive. In certain functions the infini- tive of terminative verbs serves to express accomplished actions, while the ing form shows the action in its progress.

The Perfect infinitive may, as well as the Perfect ing-form, denote actions preceding that of the predicate verb. But the Per- fect infinitive can also, in certain positions, express unreality.

On the whole, the differentiation between the infinitive and the ing-form is well defined, and the choice between them does not present much difficulty as in most functions there is no overlap. To prevent possible mistakes in the cases where they do overlap, it is necessary to compare the two verbals where they are used in a parallel way.

The Infinitive and the ing-form as Subject