0 INTRODUCTION

6. FINDINGS
frequency of 9.3 and 13.2 respectively), their frequency decreases in E3, especially in
those nominalizations having only pre-head dependents (normalized frequencies of 4.9 and
11.3, respectively).
(148) This is a necessarie member to al the body; for if it fayle in his
working, al the members of the body shal corrupte. (E1 1548
Vicary The anatomie of the bodie of man)
(149) and are made by the turning about of the two Poles of the
Zodiaque, [...] (E2 1597 Blundevile A plaine treatise of the first
principles of cosmographie)
Mixed formations such as those in (149) and (150) below are marginal in my data
(showing a normalized frequency of 2.2 in E3). Thus, in my data the level of hybridization
of –ing nominals having both pre- and post-head dependents is not as high as in Fanego’s
(1996) study, where hybrid formations represented half of the –ing nominalizations having
both pre- and post-head dependents during the 2 nd half of the 17 th century (see Section 2.3
above for further details).
(149) Some years after the making the Experiments about the
Production of Electricity, having a desire to try, whether in the
Attractions made by Amber, the motions excited by the air had a
considerable Interest, or whether the Effect were not due rather to
the Emission and Retraction of Effluvia, (...)(E3 1675-6 Boyle
Electricity & magnetism)
(150) But do this with moderation, lest you break some notable Vessels,
and a Flux of bloud or some ill Accident befall in your extracting
it. (E3 1676 Wiseman Of wounds Surgery)
However, the findings in Table 11 show a different tendency for verbal –ing
nominalizations. As was mentioned above, they are especially frequent in phrases having
only post-head constituents, reaching a normalized frequency of 26.2 in E3 (see examples
[151] and [152] below):
172