Another Zoshchenko question

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

Now I'm reading "Кошка и люди" and have a question about this sentence:

Вскоре стал, конечно, угар по комнате проноситься.

Maybe it's obvious and I'll feel stupid for asking ... but why is this in the infinitive?

I'm assuming that it's the fumes that are moving around the room because of the way the sentence is constructed, but if that was the case I'd expect it to be in the past or present tense, not in the infinitive.

Edit: Thank you! I understand it now. For some reason I thought "стал" was referring to one of the characters suddenly standing up, but it makes complete sense if it's not. :P

Comments

[green-thoughts.livejournal.com]

The structure of this sentence is a little bit complicated.
Think of it as: Вскоре, конечно, угар стал проноситься по комнате.

I guess now it`s clear why "проноситься" is in the infinitive

[ex-ex-mmnd9.livejournal.com]

because of "стал"

стал что делать ?
стал проноситься

[maksa.livejournal.com]

but why is this in the infinitive?

Because of using after «стал». For example, Я стал заниматься физикой = Я начал заниматься физикой means I begin (or began) studying physics.

Here стал проноситься means стал (or начал) распространяться, began spreading.

[ex-fractaliz864.livejournal.com]

стал (что делать?) проноситься

That's usual construction. Like "begin to ...".

[natha1ie.livejournal.com]

You can change the order without changing general meaning: Конечно, вскоре по комнате начал проноситься угар. Начал проноситься - smth like "begun to spread". It's infinitive.

[ozeane.livejournal.com]

it is in the infinitive because of the word "стал".
стал проноситься = начал проноситься
the same construction in eng. may be "began to spread"

[gera.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind, that Zoshchenko (or, rather his characters) use non-standard words and grammar.
This particular sentence is grammatically correct, though, as explained in the above comments.