What Are Words Called That End in Ing
Gerunds and -ing words in English
Gerunds, verbal nouns, present participles all ending in -ing
► ► See also: Consecutive verbs: gerund or infinitive?
1. The different types of word ending in -ing:
The English language does not use many grammatical "endings", but some of those it does use have several different functions. The -ing ending is one of them. Words ending in -ing can be gerunds, verbal nouns, or present participles. Distinguishing (= gerund) between these, and using them correctly is not always easy – until you understand these three simple rules.
Definitions
- The gerund is a verb which is used as if it were a noun (Examples 1 & 2 below). Since it is a verb, it can not be qualified by an adjective, nor preceded by an article, but, like other forms of the verb, it can be modified by an adverb and take a complement .
- A verbal noun (Examples 3 & 4) is a noun formed from a verb; some verbal nouns end in -ing.
Verbal nouns, like other nouns, can take a determiner, and be qualified by adjectives. - A participle is an adjective or part of a participial phrase qualifying a noun or a pronoun. (Examples 5 et 6). The present participle is also used in the progressive aspect of verb tenses (Examples 7 & 8).
See the differences of use that are illustrated by these examples.
Words in -ing: Gerund, noun or present participle (and progressive verb form)
- Seeing is believing.
- Living cheaply in New York is quite possible.
- The book was easy reading !
- He managed to make a good living.
- Smiling, the lady told them they'd won the big prize.
- I heard them arguing last night.
- I'm taking my brother to the station tonight
- The man was phoning his friend, when the lights went out.
2. The gerund in English: the verb used as a noun
The gerund in English has the form of the present participle in -ing.
It is the most common form of the verb used as a noun, and can be the subject (examples 1 to 7), or the object of a sentence (8 & 9) , or follow prepositions (10 to 13).
Examples:
- Seeing is believing.
- Reading that book was very interesting.
- Drinking is essential
- Drinking too much pop can make you fat.
- Taking the bus was rather a good idea.
- Swimming regularly is very good exercise.
- Taking too many aspirins is dangerous.
- I really like sailing .
- This article really needs completely rewriting.
- He drove two hundred miles without ever stopping.
- I look forward to seeing you again next week.
- I'm thinking of painting my house.
- I started by carefully turning off the electricity
- Do you mind shutting the window, please ?
- Will you consider taking the job?
- I've really enjoyed meeting you.
As the examples above show, the gerund is a verb used as if it were a noun, but not in the same way as a noun. In other words, it keeps its verbal qualities. Since it is not used like a noun, it cannot be qualified by an adjective; on the contrary, it keeps some of the essential features that distinguish a verb, notably that it can take a direct object (examples 2, 4, 7, 11 - 16 above) , and/or be qualified by an adverb (examples 9 & 13).
When gerunds are used as verbal complements (second verbs following a first verb), as in examples 8 and 9 above, they can often be rephrased using an infinitive instead of the gerund.
However a few verbs require a gerund, not an infinitive (Examples 14 - 16 above). The most common of these are admit, consider, dislike, deny, enjoy, finish, involve, miss, mind, suggest,
► For more details on this, see consecutive verb structures
3. Verbal nouns: nouns that are derived from verbs
There are a large number of ways of creating a noun from a verb: among the most common of these are words that use the root form of the verb and a noun ending such as -ment (as in achievement), -ance (as in disappearance), -ion (as in confirmation) , or -ing (as in The changing of the guard.) You can see that these -ing forms really are nouns, not verbs, as they can be qualified by adjectives and preceded by a determiner (article, quantifier etc) .
Examples:
- That is a very nice painting
- We're going to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
- After a slow beginning, the show got a bit more lively.
- This story has a rather unexpected ending..
- The commission demanded the breaking up of the company into two separate units.
- Our last meeting was not very productive.
4. Areas of possible confusion
Sometimes it is difficult to decide if a word is a gerund or a verbal noun; and in fact, the quality of the -ing word can change according to context. Look at these examples:
Examples:
- For musicians, practising is essential.
- For musicians,practising an instrument is essential
- For musicians, regular practisingis essential.
- For musicians, regular practising an instrument is essential. NO !
- For musicians, regularly practising an instrument is essential.
- For musicians, the regular practising of an instrument is essential.
In examples 1 and 2 above, practising is clearly a gerund; in example 2 it is followed by a complement, an instrument.
But in example 3 it is preceded by an adjective regular; so this time it is being used differently, as a verbal noun. We can verify this if we try to add a complement, as in example 4. It is not possible.
We cannot say "For musicians, regular practising an instrument is essential.". An -ing word cannot simultaneously be preceded by an adjective and followed by a direct complement. Other solutions are needed; the ing word must either be used as a gerund, or as a verbal noun, but not both at once.
So while example 4 does not work, there are two solutions.
Example 5 uses the word practising as a gerund, as in examples 1 and 2; and as it is a gerund, it is modified by an adverb, regularly.
Finally, example 6 rephrases example 5, but using practising as a verbal noun, not a gerund. We can see that it is a noun, as it is now part of a noun phrase introduced by an article and including an adjective.
5. Present participles
Participles are adjectives; they can either stand alone, before or after their noun, as the situation requires, or else they can be part of an adjectival phrase.
Participles are often used to make a shortened form of a subordinate clause, as in examples 1 and 3 below,
- Looking out of... is an ellipsis or contraction of As I was looking out of...,
- ... I saw the tornado coming is a contraction of ...I saw the tornado that was coming.
Elliptical phrases may come before the noun or pronoun (e.g. Looking out of the window, I saw ....) or after it (e.g. I saw the tornado coming).
However, when the participle phrase is a shortened form of a relative clause, it MUST come after the noun (examples 4 & 7 below).
Present particples are also used to form the progressive forms of present and past tenses (Examples 8 - 10).
Examples:
- Looking out of the window, I saw the tornado coming.
- In the course of the coming week, I have three interviews to go to.
- I saw the child standing in the middle of the road.
- The people living next door are very friendly.
4b The living next door people are very friendly is impossible. - This is a seriously interesting book.
- The winning team will go through to the finals.
- The team winning in the first round will go through to the finals.
- I was looking out of the window when I saw the tornado.
- At the moment, he's living in Bristol.
- The company has been doing very well for the past two years.
Active and passive
Gerunds and participles are most commonly used in the active voice; they can however be easily used in the passive too. Examples 1 - 3 : gerunds, examples 4 & 5 participles.
Examples:
- Being seen is more important than being heard.
- Dominic drove three hundred miles without ever being stopped.
- They began their holiday by getting hopelessly lost.
- Everyone watched the building getting demolished.
- At the moment they're being sold at half price.
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What Are Words Called That End in Ing
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