0 INTRODUCTION

5. CORPORA AND METHODOLOGY
(140) but in the taking of it out, care must be had that the Sand be very
neer cold, (E3 1665 Hooke The life and work of Robert Hooke)
(141) How be it, it is necessary or sufferable ouer curiously to search
and attempt the cutting them out by Incision (…) (E2 1602
Clowes Treatise for the artificiall cure of struma)
(142) (…) we need not trouble our selves to find out what kind of Pores
they are, both-8 in the Flint and Steel, that contain the Atoms of
fire, nor how those Atoms come to be hindred from running all
out, when a dore or passage in their Pores is made by the
concussion: (E3 1665 Hooke The life and work of Robert Hooke)
Thus, for statistical purposes, when there is no evidence of the verbal nature of the gerund
apart from the particle itself, as in (138), the –ing form will be considered as ambiguous
between nominal and verbal interpretations. However, when the gerund phrase contains
other constituents, the categorial nature of the nominal can be inferred from these.
Consider in this sense (139) and (140), which illustrate the use of mixed gerunds. On the
one hand, the articles and the post-head of-phrases are nominal features; on the other, the
particle in end position is a verbal feature. Another example is found in (141), where the
gerund cutting is determined by the article the but its post-head complement is a NP. In
turn, (142) shows a verbal gerund, as it simply contains a NP as post-head constituent.
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