Not exactly....do you have a textbook for grammar, verb chart or kanji dictionary, by the way ? These questions are pretty easily answered with any standard reference materials, or of course a basic search of the JREF database :=)
I don't want to sound harsh or disrespectful, but I think if you aren't going to post an explanation or examples, maybe it would be better not to say anything.
To answer your question I DO have a grammer textbook and have searched countless verb charts (all of which didn't show the -i form because they didnt show bases, but the completed forms) and I do have a kanji dictionary. With those materials I do not understand the use of this form and that is why I posted. As for the JREF databse, I don't believe it gives a complete explanation, or at least I haven't found it.
The JREF grammer section says this:
Continuative form (連用形 ren'yōkei)
is used in a linking role. This is the most productive stem form, taking on a variety of endings and auxiliaries, and can even occur independently in a sense similar to the -te ending. This form is also used to negate adjectives.
All this tells me is that it has different endings, makes things negative, and is used like -te. I don't know what the different endings are, or how it negates things.
Also, my main question was how it is being used in the quotes I gave. The JREF grammer section said it can occur independently in a sense similar to the -te ending, but the -te ending by itself is used as a command, and I'm pretty sure the quotes I gave don't have commands in them.
Again I hope I didn't come off as angry

, but I would appreciate a more detailed response.
[Edit - Elizabeth, I just read your response to my other thread and I just want to make it ultra clear that I am not angry, in fact I am extremely appreciative of you responses in that thread. :sorry: ]