영어 동명사의 시제

On the Tense of Gerund

This article deals with how the tense of gerund is interpreted or how the form of gerund is determined. It is widely known that the tense of non-finite clauses such as gerundive constructions is governed by the matrix tense, which implies that the tense of gerund has nothing to do with the matrix verb itself. In this article, we show that the interpretation of the tense of gerund is determined by the tense features of the matrix verb. The verb remember is distinguished from admit in that its tense feature is just [T₁<T₂], whereas the latter has the tense feature of [T₁=T₂] or [T₁<T₂]. And [T₁<T₂] is realized as a perfective form of gerund, whereas [T₁=T₂] is realized as a simple form of gerund. Given this, the verb remember can have just a unique form of gerund, which is either perfective or simple. For the principle of logic, it should be a perfective form. For the principle of economy, however, it should be a simple form. In this situation, the principle of economy prevails and then a simple form of gerund is selected.