Premodification of Nouns by Present Participles in English<BR><BR>

�@�@Almost all PPP constructions can be represented by this structural formula [V-ing Noun �� Noun that V-s]. This means that the present participles in the constructions are habitual or permanent in meaning. But there are two kinds of exceptions to this rule. In the case of process verbs, noun phrases using the present participles are represented as in this rule [V-ing Noun �� Noun that is V-ing]. The other kind of exceptions is the group of emotional verbs. Their present participles are full adjectives, because they can be preceded by intensifiers and are sometimes gradable. The examples have illustrated four uses of the PPP constructions: descriptive use, characteristic use, distinctive use, and adjectival use. The PPP constructions seem to have taken root firmly in present-day English, especially in journalism, on account of their brevity. This trend is reinforced by some types of complementary pairs (-ing and -ed, -ing an non-ing) and three forms of expanded PPP constructions, which can be generated by the same principle.