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I need help! Could you please look at this sentence:

When I obtained a credit card, I began spending money recklessly.

I'm doing basic sentence patterns, and I don't know how to analyse this part: began spending money. Is began spending the verb in the sentence or just began without spending? Why?

John Lawler
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kate
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    Began is the verb. – Stan Oct 30 '15 at 07:51
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    Welcome, kate. Have you studied auxiliaries? These are words like do, might, and have that combine with a verb to complete its sense: "do spend" (intensity), "might spend" (uncertainty), "have spent" (present perfect tense), forms of "to be": "was spending" (past progressive tense). (Go here for more http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/what-are-auxiliary-verbs) Do any of those fit "began spending"? In the sentence what word answers the question "What was it that you began?" Only a noun can answer that. I hope that gives you enough hints to answer;let us know. – deadrat Oct 30 '15 at 07:52
  • Please see also: [ell.se] -- Good Luck. – Kris Oct 30 '15 at 12:21
  • What if we changed the word BEGAN to "started," "kept," or "stopped"? I could be wrong and argue that these are being used as adverbs ... To me, "spending" is the obvious verb. However, in all cases, it looks like an infinitive, right? – Stu W Oct 30 '15 at 13:38
  • @deadrat Isn't spending in spending money a verb? – Araucaria - Him Oct 30 '15 at 21:33
  • @Stan Now, Stan, let's not always see the same hands. – deadrat Oct 30 '15 at 21:51
  • @Araucaria Yes. Was that a trick question? – deadrat Oct 30 '15 at 21:52
  • @deadrat Well I think most people would regard it as a verb there, because it takes a Direct Object. Nouns can't do that. So if it was a noun we'd expect if to show the patient of the action in an of phrase. Consider "The sinking of the warship ..." versus "sinking the warship", for example :) – Araucaria - Him Oct 30 '15 at 21:56
  • @StuW Adverbs are modifiers of verbs and adjectives. By "these", I take it you mean began, started, kept, and stopped. What do they modify and how? English modifiers aren't inflected for say, tense, but I can say "start" (now) and "started" (then). I'm not sure what "all cases" means here, but no, English infinitives don't end in -ing. – deadrat Oct 30 '15 at 21:57
  • @Araucaria Yes, I was trying to dance around a verb form acting as a direct object, a nounish thing-like entity. Spending takes an object, and it is an object. And I don't just mean the object of "doing basic sentence patterns", which is Kate's bothersome assignment. And I've probably just ended up confusing everybody else. Sorry. – deadrat Oct 30 '15 at 22:06
  • @deadrat it might be possible to develop a new theory to explain that like "the entire 'began spending' serves as a verb." – just different from what I've learned. Well forget my digression here ... I believe your explanation above is orthodox. – Stan Oct 31 '15 at 07:37
  • @Stan I think you're right that "began spending" is the complete predicate because the sense of the action encompasses a beginning (began) and what was initiated (spending). I was trying for the old-fashioned orthodox that would help a beginner with the kind of assignments traditionally inflicted on beginners. I may have even misjudged that. And kate doesn't have the rep to leave comments, which makes the exercise particularly futile. Oh, well. You know where he path paved with good intentions leads. – deadrat Oct 31 '15 at 08:33
  • 'began spending' is a verb phrase here. It is a verbs-in-phase construction rather like the auxiliary usage 'was spending', and specifically an inchoative usage. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 01 '15 at 19:57
  • Check out "catenative construction", "catenative verbs" and "catenative complements" in my old answer here: http://ell.stackexchange.com/a/55672/3281. – Damkerng T. Nov 02 '15 at 12:09
  • @DamkerngT. That doesn't help loads because the Catenative Complement of began is not spending! You need to write a full, answer! – Araucaria - Him Nov 03 '15 at 14:38
  • Getting overworked, if you ask me. Have you even considered that spending is gerund functioning as a noun (therefore, the object of a verb)? Parse it as I (n) began (v) spending (n) -- and it's all downhill from there. HTH. – Kris Nov 05 '15 at 16:06
  • @Kris There's no way on earth that spending can be a noun here. You can't just consider it a noun! It ain't no noun! – Araucaria - Him Nov 05 '15 at 20:57
  • @Araucaria Think again. Good Luck. – Kris Nov 16 '15 at 12:32
  • @Kris This might help you understand why spending cannot be a noun there – Araucaria - Him Nov 16 '15 at 13:08
  • @Araucaria I think that's an unrelated case. – Kris Nov 20 '15 at 13:28
  • @Kris It's not old bean, it's the fact that spending has a Direct Object here that makes the big difference. If it was spending of the money that would have to be a noun. – Araucaria - Him Nov 20 '15 at 13:30
  • @Araucaria Again! There's no of and so this is a separate issue! No confusion. – Kris Nov 20 '15 at 13:31
  • @Kris Exactly, it's a verb! – Araucaria - Him Nov 20 '15 at 13:34

12 Answers12

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Aspectual predicates like start, begin, continue, remain, finish, end, and stop can take either gerund or infinitive complement clauses, and they can take either A-Equi or A-Raising.

Here's the Syntax Lab report on start

Start
1-place with A-Raising, infinitive or gerund – aspectual predicate: epistemic inceptive.

or
2-place with A-Equi, infinitive or gerund – aspectual predicate: volitional inceptive.

And that's the likely story for I began spending money recklessly, too.
How to tell the Equi ("Control") cases from the Raising cases is still a topic of scholarly dispute.

The two possible analyses go like this (in both, the matrix verb is began):

  1. Raising: The real subject of began is actually not I, but my spending money recklessly.
    That gerund clause is the subject complement of began.
    E.g,
    When I obtained a credit card, my spending money recklessly began.
    The gerund subject my changes to I and becomes the subject of began via A-Raising, which moves the subject of a complement clause up to become the subject of the matrix clause,
    and moves the remaining VP to the end of the sentence, like
    There began to be smoke in the halls.
    There is a dummy that has to come from the complement clause;
    it has no meaning as the subject of began, which shows it's been moved up.

  2. Equi: Volitional actions can have beginnings, and volitional predicates tend to take Equi.
    This means there are two separate references to the subject (I) in I began to spend money;
    my in the gerund clause, just as with Raising, but also I in the matrix clause.
    The upstairs I is the subject of began, and the gerund clause is its object complement.
    I.e, 'I am responsible for the beginning of my spending money.'
    This is a specific sense of the sentences, and may not be what is intended.

HeWhoMustBeNamed
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John Lawler
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    I hate to ask a "for dummies" kind of question, John, but is the verb "began" or "began spending"? Or is this a case where the question doesn't make sense or can't be asked because the matter is more complex than "what's the verb?" BTW, I started reading the paper you linked. Certainly isn't "bed-time reading". – michael_timofeev Nov 04 '15 at 01:50
  • Are there some online sources you recommend for helping me understand "aspect." I'm quite interested in how people know how to use verbs or have a sense of the "right way" or "wrong way" to use them. – michael_timofeev Nov 04 '15 at 01:54
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    Nice answer. For the sake of explicitness, what's your analysis of the grammatical relations in terms of the surface structure? Could you add this to your answer? – Araucaria - Him Nov 04 '15 at 10:13
  • @michael_timofeev: When I wrote "the matrix verb is began" I was intending to answer your question. There is no "THE verb". This sentence contains several verbs. Only one of them is the matrix verb, which is the main verb of the main clause. That's began. Spending is the main verb of the gerund clause. Every non-auxiliary verb in a sentence -- even what looks like a simple sentence -- is the main verb of some clause, and all but one of them is a subordinate clause. – John Lawler Nov 04 '15 at 16:04
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    @JohnLawler I understand this now. I was discussing this with Araucaria and am starting to see this better. Thank you. – michael_timofeev Nov 04 '15 at 16:08
  • @Araucaria: Grammatical relations at the surface level are problematic. They only correlate with semantics at deeper levels; on the surface you generally have to look at how they interact with higher-cycle or post-cyclic rules to tell whether a B-Raised subject is actually a DO (probly; it can Passivize, sometimes obligatorily), or whether an A-Raised subject is actually an upstairs subject (probly; it can be Raised again on the next cycle up). But whether GRs really exist -- or are useful -- in surface structure is a doctrinal question for many syntacticians. – John Lawler Nov 04 '15 at 16:13
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    @JohnLawler thanks for posting How to figure out a sentence. – michael_timofeev Nov 04 '15 at 16:14
  • @michael_timofeev You're welcome. That page is a takeaway sheet summarizing a 4-week syntax unit in one of my classes; all of those points come with lots of details. – John Lawler Nov 04 '15 at 16:15
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    It is Perlmutter's analysis in his paper "The two verbs 'begin'" that "begin" can be either a Raising verb or an Equi verb. In my dissertation, "Subjects and Agents", I proposed the interpretation of his analysis that "begin" has an optional subject, which is the same as to say that it has an optional agent, and when there is an agent, the Equi analysis obtains, but when there is no agent, the Raising analysis is correct. – Greg Lee Nov 06 '15 at 19:31
  • I'd forgotten Perlmutter's paper, Greg; and your thesis, I'm afraid. That's substantially what I mean by the distinction between "epistemic" and "volitional". – John Lawler Nov 06 '15 at 21:17
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It is common for people to confuse participles with verbs in a sentence. Verbs are the words that express the action. "Spending" is not expressing the action. "Began" is expressing the action. This can be further confusing when you think of a sentence such as "I like spending money." Well, which is it? Do you like extra money (as in allowance) or do you like the action of money leaving your pocket? What about "I like having spending money."? Fortunately, your case is similar to the "money leaving your pocket" meaning. Spending is acting as an object.

Let's substitute another word in your sentence to help you see that "spending" is not a verb but a kind of "thing" that we can talk about. (In proper grammar terms, "spending" is a gerund or a an ing form of a verb that can be used as a subject or object in a sentence.)

Consider this sentence: "When I obtained a credit card, I began work on my home." In this case, you can see that "work" is not a verb. It's not a verb for two reasons: it's not preceded by an auxiliary, and in English the progressive tense is formed with an auxiliary as deadrat pointed out in his comment, and a verb cannot follow another verb: *I like love you. *He begins works on the home." By verb, I am not talking about auxiliaries. For example, the future perfect progressive ("I will have been reading") has four verbs together.

So, because it's not a verb it must be "something else." That something else is an object. These "something elses" can be things such as "work" "Bob" "chewing gum" "to watch" "running," "smoking" or "spending."

Once you recognize "ing" forms as objects you will start seeing them everywhere and will see them in many places where they cannot be verbs. For example "He told me that running was good." "He enjoys things such as spending money." or "Government spending is a subject most people love to debate." Also, notice in the opening sentence of this paragraph "seeing" is a gerund. It is not part of "will start." In the same way, "them" is not a verb and is not part of "will see."

Hopefully, this helps clear this up for you.

To go back to the example sentence earlier, "I like having spending money." can you see that the verb is "like"? It is expressing the action and links you with "having spending money." Having is a gerund and spending is a participle telling what kind of money it is.

michael_timofeev
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  • Are participles not verbs? Hmmm, I'd always thought participles could only be verbs ... ;) – Araucaria - Him Nov 02 '15 at 15:39
  • @Araucaria I don't understand why there is all this debate. It's a participle acting as the object. He asks if began spending is the "verb" in the sentence. Began is the "verb" the thing expressing the action. Am I missing something super obvious here? – michael_timofeev Nov 02 '15 at 15:48
  • @michael_timofeev Well, maybe :) There seem to be two verbs in "I began spending money recklessly" and only one noun (not including I ) ... – Araucaria - Him Nov 02 '15 at 15:51
  • @Araucaria so you are saying that the complete verb is began (recklessly) spending. You feel that recklessly is an adverb? – michael_timofeev Nov 02 '15 at 15:54
  • @michael_timofeev But in terms of SVO, there's only one Verb ... (not sure that verbs always describe actions, btw, but that's a different question!) – Araucaria - Him Nov 02 '15 at 15:54
  • @michael_timofeev No, I didn't say that there was only one verb or that the Verb had more than one part! ;) – Araucaria - Him Nov 02 '15 at 15:55
  • So, I think the reason that OP is confused is that we have parts of speech, which include things like adjective, noun, preposition and so forth. Then there are syntactic functions or 'grammatical relations' like Subject or Object or Predicative Complement and things like that. These are different, it seems. Cuz something can be a noun phrase and a Subject or a noun phrase and an Object whilst still being the same noun phrase . So being a noun and being a Subject aren't the same thing. And obviously being a noun and an Object aren't the same thing. ... – Araucaria - Him Nov 03 '15 at 00:32
  • ... Notice also that verbs can be Subjects "To err is human", for example has a verb phrase as a Subject. Unfortunately there seems to be a problem that stuffs up students, which is that there's a syntactic function, like Subject, Object and so on, which used to be referred to as "Verb" in nearly all grammars. This refers to the job that a phrase is doing within a clause. But there's a part of speech called "verb" too. That's different. The first is like "Subject", the second is like "noun". Some grammars use the term "Predicator" for the syntactic function. ... – Araucaria - Him Nov 03 '15 at 00:38
  • ... and reserve "verb" for the part of speech. This is quite useful for us as teachers, if we really want to be rock and roll teachers ... It can really help Ss ( - probably best to continue that discussion in chat (if you'd like to have it!) – Araucaria - Him Nov 03 '15 at 00:41
  • spending is definitely a verb. No ifs or buts about it. The killer evidence is that it takes a direct object, money :) – Araucaria - Him Nov 04 '15 at 10:15
  • Yes! reading is a verb in "I like reading books"! The parts of speech are: I, noun (more specifically a pronoun); like, verb; reading, verb; books, noun. The different functions or different jobs that those words are doing are : Subject: I. Predicator (that job which is always done by a verb and which is represented by "Verb" in "Subject Verb Object"): like. Complement (more specifically maybe a Direct Object depending on your grammar): reading books. The phrase reading books is a non-finite clause. Within that clause books is a Direct Object. – Araucaria - Him Nov 04 '15 at 11:47
  • No, that's correct, but a gerund is a verb, even when it's doing a nouny type job like being a Subject etc – Araucaria - Him Nov 04 '15 at 11:54
  • Yes, the part of speech is a verb. Saying that it's a gerund is just giving more information about the part of speech. It's syntactic function (it's job) is Head of the verb phrase reading books. – Araucaria - Him Nov 04 '15 at 12:03
  • If you want to bring out the verbiness of reading try giving it it's own subject: I like [Mary rubbing my back] for example. – Araucaria - Him Nov 04 '15 at 12:04
  • Yes, that's right :) – Araucaria - Him Nov 04 '15 at 12:12
  • @Araucaria no I meant what is rubbing acting as? Verb gerund? Mystery object from page 493 of the Cambridge Companion? – michael_timofeev Nov 04 '15 at 12:15
  • It can be interpreted in two ways: I like [Mary who is rubbing my back] or I like [Mary's rubbing my back]. – sooeithdk Nov 04 '15 at 23:04
  • "Verbs are the words that express the action" is wrong. How can you say "spending is not expressing the action"? That's incorrect. If it doesn't express the action, it can't take "money" as an object. You have to say "*I began spending of money recklessly*" if spending doesn't express the action. –  Nov 06 '15 at 09:29
  • @Rathony I see. BTW, I should let you know that the comment you made and posted (that you hastily erased a moment later) did in fact appear on my notification screen. – michael_timofeev Nov 06 '15 at 09:36
  • @michael_timofeev I don't mind posting the comment again as it seems to be the fact. I was just surprised to see your answer. –  Nov 06 '15 at 09:37
  • Why do I feel relieved to hear this? You had better edit your answer as I am pointing out the facts. You have to start with the definition of verb: A word used to describe an action, *state*, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen. Then, "gerund", then others. It might not be my last comment, though. –  Nov 06 '15 at 09:58
  • BTW, you can *lose* money by its "*leaving" your pocket. Always dictionary has a better way of explaining* it: Give (money) to pay for goods, services, or so as to benefit someone or something: Also, he obtained a credit card in the context. *Money never goes out of anyone's pocket* unless it is "plastic money". Any reason to use "on my home" and "on the home"? It doesn't sound idiomatic. –  Nov 06 '15 at 10:12
  • @Araucaria what's your analysis of "I began work on my home."? – michael_timofeev Nov 06 '15 at 14:52
  • @michael_timofeev Grammatical functions: Subject - I. Predicate -work on my home. Predicator - began. Direct Object - work on my home. Head of the NP work on my home - work. Complement of the Head noun in this NP - on my home. Head of the preposition phrase on my home - on. Complement of the preposition on - my home. Head of the NP my home, home, Determinative in the NP my home, my. – Araucaria - Him Nov 06 '15 at 15:09
  • @Araucariaso work is not a verb in this sentence? – michael_timofeev Nov 06 '15 at 15:13
  • @michael_timofeev No, I don't think so :) – Araucaria - Him Nov 06 '15 at 15:18
  • @michael_timofeev Parts of speech are: I - noun (more specifically a pronoun). Began - verb. Work - noun. On - preposition. My -pronoun. Home - noun. – Araucaria - Him Nov 06 '15 at 15:20
  • @michael_timofeev The different phrases: I - NP. Began work on my home - verb phrase. Work on my home - NP. On my home - preposition phrase. my home - NP. Home - nominal. – Araucaria - Him Nov 06 '15 at 15:23
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Here is the sentence in question:

When I obtained a credit card, I began spending money recklessly.

I began spending money recklessly--this is the independent clause of a complex sentence. I is the subject; began is the action verb; spending money recklessly is the gerund phrase with the gerund itself being spending. This gerund phrase functions as the direct object of the verb began. In other words, "I began whom or what?" "I began SPENDING MONEY RECKLESSLY."

D. Kern
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  • Nice answer. Before I vote, I'm just wondering whether you regard a gerund as a verb or not? :) – Araucaria - Him Nov 02 '15 at 19:06
  • As to the question of whether or not I regard a gerund as a verb, no, I do not regard it as a verb.

    Explanation: In its own "little world" of the gerund phrase, the gerund acts like a verb, but it technically is not a verb. In the previous example (spending money recklessly), the gerund spending acts like a verb--again, only in that gerund phrase--and has a direct object money. The adverb recklessly is an adverb modifying the gerund spending, as if that gerund were a verb.

     – D. Kern Nov 03 '15 at 15:48
  • One might ask then, "Well, if the gerund is not a verb, what is it?" We simply recall that a gerund is a noun in the context of that sentence. In its own "little world," however, it acts like a verb. – D. Kern Nov 03 '15 at 15:59
  • @D.Kern Recklessly is not modifying "spending" it is modifying "began." – michael_timofeev Nov 04 '15 at 01:18
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    @michael_timofeev I wouldn't read it that way. To me recklessly modifies spending, and the two aren't the same. See I recklessly began spending money and I began spending money recklessly. "Recklessly began spending" implies that the act of spending money itself is reckless, where "began spending recklessly" implies that the manner in which they spent was reckless, not that spending money itself is reckless. Reckless looks really weird to me now... – Tevis Nov 04 '15 at 15:35
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There are two verbs in the sentence. The verb began is in a form of "past tense" indicating the action of "begin" occurred in the unknown past, and the other one is in a form of "gerund" indicating the object of the transitive verb "began" is the gerund itself and at the same time it takes "money" as its "own object".

There are clear distinctions between "began" and "spending":

  1. The most notable one is "began" as a main verb can change its form to all tenses assisted by auxiliary verbs (be, have, will and so on). That's why it is called an "finite verb". However, "spending (gerund)" can't change its form as freely as "began". It has only 2 forms, one with "-ing form" and the other with "having + past participle" form. For example:

I regret having said so.

Its past tense form only indicates the action of "say" occurred before "regret". Gerund can't express any other tenses in the sentence. That's why it is called "infinite/nonfinite verb"

  1. "began" can't be subject/object/completment without changing its form to "to-infinitive" or "gerund". However, "spending" can be any of them. That's why you can use "spending" as an object of "began". You can also use "to spend" as an object of "began".

However, there are some similarities. For example, "began" as a transitive verb can take an object in various forms such as "nouns", "to-infinitives", and "gerunds" which all have a "nominal" characteristics. "Gerund" depending upon the verb before "-ing" also can take an object in various forms as in:

I began enjoying skiing.

There are 3 verbs in this sentence, "began", "enjoying", and "skiing". Here the gerund "enjoying" is taking another gerund "skiing" as its object.

Let's take a look at another example:

I began to regret starting to smoke a cigarette.

Then, how many verbs are there in the above sentence? There are 4 verbs, "began", "regret in a to-infinitive form", "starting in a gerund form", and "to smoke in a to-infinitive form". All the above 4 verbs have different functions in just one short sentence.

Began: A main verb of an independent clause in the past tense.

To regret: An object of the verb "began" taking "starting" as an object.

Starting: An object of the verb "regret" taking "to smoke" as an object.

To smoke: An object of the verb "starting" and taking "a cigarette" as an object.

It is wrong to say spending is just an "object" of "began" as "a noun" because "a noun" cannot take any object without help of "prepositions".

Some grammarians coined a word "verbid" to differentiate "other verb forms" from "main verb" as defined below:

a nonfinite verb form; a verbal; an infinitive, participle, or gerund.

[Dictionary.Reference.Com]

Conclusion: There are 2 verbs in different forms. Answering the question of "what is the verb here?" largely depend on "what verb" you are looking for.

  1. If you are looking for one "main verb", it is "began".
  2. If you are looking for finite/infinite verbs in whatever forms including "verbid (or gerund)", they are "began" and "spending".

It might be wrong to ask, "What is the verb here?" It would be more appropriate to ask, "What is a main verb here?" or "What is a finite verb here?".

  • +1 Reasons for my upvote: You point out that there are two verbs, that spending is a verb, not a noun. You explain that there can only be one tensed verb. Thank you! (also I've never heard of a verbid before) – Araucaria - Him Nov 06 '15 at 12:45
  • It's saying that no-one's voted! I think it must be a jinx when you edited it. I have restored your vote! – Araucaria - Him Nov 06 '15 at 15:51
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It isn't obvious what the best analysis is, because a case can be made that "begin" in this construction is not really a verb, but rather expresses an aspect of the following verb -- we could call it the "inceptive" aspect -- as alternative to the progressive or the perfect aspects. Fritz Newmeyer points out in his dissertation "Aspectual Verbs in English" that "begin" and the following verb with "-ing" cannot have independent aspects:

*"He began having spent money recklessly at an early age."

That could be understood if "begin" was not actually an independent verb here, but rather was an aspect.

Greg Lee
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0

"I began spending money" - "began" is the verb, "spending money" is a two-part object with the gerund "spending". "spending" does not look like an infinitive as Stu W guesses. An infinitve would be "(to) spend".

We may assume that the special verb construction "began spending money" derives from " began with the spending of money" with drop of "with" and "of".

rogermue
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  • I'm not so sure as to drop of with and of... I think that the meaning of the sentence would be completely different were those two prepositions added to the sentence. Or am I the one who's wrong? – sooeithdk Nov 03 '15 at 22:22
  • @sooeithdk 15 What difference do you see? I don't see any. – rogermue Nov 04 '15 at 14:03
  • I'm not sure if other people would interpret it like this, and most likely not, but one possibility is that "I began something with the spending of money", with "something" dropped in the sentence and still understood to be there. – sooeithdk Nov 04 '15 at 22:43
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    @rogermue Begin with is a different idiom altogether. Bare begin VERBing means to start performing the activity VERB; begin with VERBing means that VERBing is the first activity performed, which is presumably followed (or intended to be followed) by performing other activities. – StoneyB on hiatus Nov 04 '15 at 23:48
  • @StoneyB Much as I read your comments with interest, it may be your personal view, but I doubt that it is the general one. – rogermue Nov 05 '15 at 03:29
  • @StoneyB Hey, Stoney, where's your answer? – Araucaria - Him Nov 09 '15 at 00:43
  • @Araucaria I'm still stuck on control v raising. – StoneyB on hiatus Nov 09 '15 at 02:14
  • I think JL already covered the control v raising. What readers really need is the difference between a verb and a Predicator - which is why most of these answers are falling over themselves. It's not clear whether OP wants a "verb" or a "Verb" if you get my drift! (I have 12 hours to award the bounty...) – Araucaria - Him Nov 09 '15 at 07:55
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began spending

"Began" is a "to be" verb. It is the auxiliary verb that supports the main verb "spend.

So this sentence is in present continuous tense and the verb is "began spending."

G3V
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The word 'began' is the verb, while 'spending' is the gerund.

They are separate because the verb + gerund and verb + infinitive forms are commonly used, and the verb is clearly differentiated from the gerund/infinitive.

So "began spending" corresponds to verb + gerund, while "began to spend" corresponds to verb + infinitive.

0

In the sentence, "began" is the principal verb. But "spending" is a verbal that is called participle. Here "spending" is serving the noun "money", thus actin the work of an adjective.

Gilon
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When I obtained a credit card, I began spending money recklessly.

Could be rewritten

...I began to spend money recklessly

so as others have pointed out, began is the finite verb (the verb here in past tense, the to-infinitive has (by definition) no tense/tempus)

http://www.grammaring.com/to-infinitive-or-gerund-begin-start-continue-cease-dread-intend-love

TO-infinitive or gerund: BEGIN, START, CONTINUE, CEASE, DREAD, INTEND, LOVE

These verbs can be followed by either a to-infinitive or a gerund with almost no difference in meaning:

I began to learn languages when I was ten.

He began using this software three years ago.

I started wondering what would happen if I lost my job.

After a while, I started to wonder why she'd said that.

Kate continued wearing her wedding ring after her husband's death.

You continue to surprise me!

Two days later, the screen ceased to function.

They ceased fighting when the commander was killed.

I dread to think what could have happened. (used exclusively in the expression I dread to think/imagine when we don't want to think about something distressing or unpleasant)

I dread asking you this question, but... (I'm afraid to ask you this question, but...)

The list of things he intended to do was getting longer and longer.

We intend contacting the company before taking any action.

I love dancing.

I love to dance.

Stefan
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I've seen a lot of 500+ word answers on here, and not I don't think that's a bad thing at all, but for most of the answers, the point isn't conveyed until halfway through the answer.

Simply put, began and spending are a Verb+Infinite pair, in which 2 verbs are used one after another to convey additional information.

Why?

In this pair, began is the infinitive verb and spending is the base verb.
We know this because if we remove began and change the tense of spending to spent, the sentence still conveys the same point but with less detail


Sources:

Business English Resources

University of WA

EnglishPage.com

(Thanks to @Rathony for helping me to correct my answer)

Scott
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  • Quite interesting theory. Can you attach a link or source that explains that way? –  Nov 08 '15 at 15:43
  • Sure - I have added 2 sources per your request. – Scott Nov 08 '15 at 19:11
  • Sorry but I couldn't find any usage to justify your assertion that "began" is an adverb. –  Nov 08 '15 at 19:16
  • My bad - this is what happens when you post answers at 2AM. Began and Spending are verb pairs - I will update my answer accordingly. – Scott Nov 08 '15 at 19:20
  • No worry Scott. I already upvoted your answer when I first commented. As long as "began" is assisting "spending", there is no reason why it cannot be considred as an "adverb". –  Nov 08 '15 at 19:26
  • That's what I had thought at first, but when I looked at your 2nd post it dawned on me - began didn't end in -ly. I do appreciate your input, though - you learn something new every day. – Scott Nov 08 '15 at 19:38
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I may be confused but isn't aspect still being revealed by the participle in that the finite verb states the action then aspect seems to be projected on to the participle, which is the object functionally, in a way that does demonstrate TAM-like information being conveyed by the verb/object pair on how time flew from the speakers perspective?

This might be confusing but try please make sense of it. I get that there is the finite verb which is exposed due to its versatility. I also understand the gerund verb like form actually functioning as NP as implied by its lack of versatility.

This is very interested but its hard to say that that participle is doing TAM-like work that the finite verb is seemingly unable to do alone. Maybe the verb and object become interdependent much like in a simple declarative sentence "I ran to the store" the subject and verb seem to be one. We can say structure of discourse but it seems the subject is much more intimately involved with the nucleus, especially since subject use is required and I determines the verb form, though english is analytic, as described by the field.

May be bull shit, but I was very interested in the comment of there be 2 verbs employed with "began" alone. It sparked my imagination. that reminded me on how i view subject as verbal pretext in declarative sentences and object as largely free of influence of the nucleus. Though I know in Italian, proximity (valency?) of NP to verb takes on effects of the verb, regardless on subject or object classification. I also know this happens in English, regularly with me. "The corporation I previously worked for are (lousy with) pigs" Valency makes me use verb that agrees with the object. I guess this sentence is complex but that whole part before are could very well be the subject of my declarative sentence.

Guess I have many questions and I'm confused.

Observer
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