GRAMMAR. Participial Constructions

1.Study the following rules.

Participial Constructions

1.The Objective Participial Construction

verb + object + Participle

The verbs of sense perception (feel, hear, notice, observe, perceive, see, watch, listen) and the verbs to have, to get are often followed by the objective participial construction, i.e. by a noun (in the common case) or a pronoun (in the objective case) and a participle, standing in predicate relation to each other.

I heard him practising his violin.

(The objective-with-the-infinitive construction is also used after these verbs, the only difference being that the construction with participles describes the action as being in progress, while the infinitive is used to denote a complete act.)

After the verbs to imagine, to smell, to look (at), to keep, to catch, to set, to start, to leave, to send the objective-with-the-infinitive construction is never used. The only possible construction after these verbs is the objective participial construction.

I can smell dinner cooking.

Please, help me to start these mechanisms working.

When the subject of the participle is represented by a lifeless thing, the second part of the construction is expressed by participle II.

I heard these wordsmentioned several times.

After the verbs to make, to get, to like, to want the construction is used only with participle II.

She wanted her pie heated.

The objective participial construction with participle II, when used after the verb to have, has a special meaning, i.e. it expresses the idea of something done for the benefit of the person, expressed by the subject of the sentence.

I had my room papered, i.e. somebody papered my room for me.

In this case the subject of the participle is always represented by a noun expressing a lifeless thing.

(In colloquial English the verb to have may be substituted by to have got:

He has got his country house painted inside and out.)