Query nParticleShape name

[myopicfalcon]

Hey there.  I'm creating a button to toggle the intermediateObject status of a list of nParticles.  "mc.setAttr(nPatricleShape1.intermediateObject,1" works, but I'm not sure how to get the particle-Shape- name using Python.  "mc.getAttr('nParticleShape1.shapeName')" says #Error:  TypeError: Object nParticleShape1.shapeName is invalid.  What's my mistake here?

Thanks