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I wonder how often stative verbs are used as gerunds if they function as Object (verb + doing ; verb + preposition + doing) in sentences. Are there any style and register preferences?

  • It would be good if you could give us a few examples of what you are referring to here. – Shoe Feb 21 '19 at 11:12
  • He is always boasting about having two children. She regrets having two dogs. He remembers knowing two words in French –  Feb 21 '19 at 11:31
  • Verbs cannot function as objects; only noun phrases can. In "He is always boasting about having two children", "having" heads a clause functioning as complement of "about". In "She regrets having two dogs", "having" heads a clause functioning as complement of "regrets", and in "He remembers knowing two words in French", "knowing" heads a clause functioning as complement of "remembers". – BillJ Feb 21 '19 at 13:31
  • I don't think so. 'Having two children/ dogs or knowing 2 words in French' are the gerund clauses. In sentences 'He remembers....or He regrets...." - the gerund clauses are the object of the verbs 'remember', regret'. In "He is always boasting about having 2 children" the gerund clause is the prepositional Object –  Feb 21 '19 at 15:37
  • We can say :I love knowing that..... But what about other verbs after which we use gerunds (formed from stative verbs)? Is it better to replace gerund with subordinate clauses if we want to use 'have ', know' , 'understand' and other stative verbs? –  Feb 21 '19 at 15:43
  • You are wrong! Objects consist of NPs, not clauses. "Remember" is a catenative verb, and the gerund-participial clause "knowing 2 words in French" is its catenative complement. Similarly, "regret" is a catenative verb and "having two dogs" is its catenative complement. The non-finite clauses are not direct objects of the verbs concerned. But I agree that "having two children" is complement of the preposition "about" (I did say that in my earlier comment). – BillJ Feb 22 '19 at 09:19

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