Think of the oy spelling as a fixed unit that cannot be changed. To form its plural we merely add an 5 (pronounced Izl) as we would with any other vowel spelling. Combinations of other vowels with/ follow the same rule. Here are some more examples of oy, ey and ay plural spellings. | 188 Verb Phrases Get and have both mean to cause somebody to do something. For example The police have got volunteers searching the woods. We have the interns searching the records. One of the difficulties in recognizing this complement type is that present participle verbs look just like present participles used as gerund phrases. Gerund phrases are discussed in detail in Chapter 6. Gerund phrases are -ing forms of the verb used in noun phrases. For example consider the following sentence NP Working on his report kept Rudolph up all night. The gerund phrase working on his report is a noun phrase playing the role of subject. Fortunately there is a simple and highly reliable way to identify gerund phrases they can always be replaced by it it Working on his report kept Rudolph up all night. When we try to substitute it for a present participle verb phrase the result will always be ungrammatical. For example X it I saw him working on his report. The object present participle complement type is very close in meaning and usage to the object base form complement type. For example compare the following sentences Object base We watched him fix his bicycle. Object present participle We watched him fixing his bicycle. There is little difference in meaning between these two sentences. There probably is some slight emphasis on the process of repairing the bicycle in the object present participle complement as compared to the object base form complement but it would be easy to overstate how significant that difference is. A practical problem for nonnative speakers is that the two different complement types use many of the same verbs. For example the following verbs are freely used with both complement types feel have hear listen to notice observe overhear see spot spy watch. Some verbs can be used with the object present participle complement but not the baseform complement catch discover find get leave smell. For example Multiple Verb Complements 189 Object present participle
