Gerund Constructions in Brazilian Portuguese

In this article, we investigate the many uses of the Brazilian-Portuguese expressions formed by the presence of the gerund-forming morpheme '-ndo'. We defend that the constructions can be distributed in "constellations," with the form under investigation constituting the nucleus of a verbal predicate, either in independent, hypotactic or embedded clauses, and functioning as a connective link establishing relationships between phrases/clauses or as a discourse marker contributing to the organization of the inter-personal relationships. With regard to the complex clauses containing a gerund clause, we show that, concerning their grammatical properties, the differences between the various types -- circumstantials, qualifiers and sequentials -- are of statistical nature. Adapted from the source document