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[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Иван-Царевич really, really disturbed me. This is a children's story? Weird... Anywho...

I don't understand the usage of the case for witch in this fragment: ...отрубил ведьме голову.

And does this phrase "И никто не заподозрил бы её в обмане" mean "And noone seemed to notice her in the illusion?" It's where they're walking to weigh them and she's wearing a heavy-looking (apparently) dress.

And this word, past tense verb female: упала
As well as: широченное

And I didn't know, is this appropriate, that verbs in past tense may not end in -л. Such as ...забыв обо всём на свете... не выдержав её веса. And I don't understand this phrase at all "Но внезапно из леса навстречу ему вышла сестра." Is it "but all of a sudden, from the forest, meeting him, came out his sister?" Sounds weird...

Comments

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

You're right that they aren't equivalent to English gerunds, but for some reason it's not uncommon to refer to them as gerunds in English books about Russian. Wade's grammar isn't an obscure book; it's one of the most popular reference books on Russian. (It's this one (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0631207570/qid=1106315320/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/103-0371366-3042246?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).)

Using "gerund" is somewhat old-fashioned, though. I think that newer books refer to them as verbal adverbs or something else more accurate. Probably should have used "verbal adverb" myself.

[aveleen.livejournal.com]

Participle is the exact translation of the verb причастие, bit it's true that gerunds fulfill in English the same function that причастия and деепричастия do in Russian. Cf:

- I saw a laughing girl./Я увидел смеющуюся девочку.
- Laughing, he came towards me./Смеясь, он подошел ко мне.