Can we consider -ing as verb

Question

Can we consider -ing as verb? e.g. singing, talking, running.
My teacher taught his students that -ing form is not considered as verb.
Please help me ASAP.
Thanks,

(thread title edited to make it more informative)

Terryxpress · Accepted Answer

Such words, ending -ing, can be a part of the verb form in Continuous tenses:
I am singing in a choir...
I was talking too my teacher...
I have been running.
AND
a gerund, when we change the verb 'to sing' into a noun:
Talking in class is not allowed.
Running is good exercise.

Mister Micawber · Answer

AND

A verb form in itself as part of a non-finite clause:

Playing in the rain, the children all got drenched.

Terryxpress · Answer

Playing in the rain, the children all got drenched.

The shortened form of:
Because they were playing in the rain, the children all got drenched. (Past Continuous)

Mister Micawber · Answer

That is another good sentence, Terry; however, mine is not a 'shortened form' of anything, but a clause in itself, since there are a number of equivalents:

Because they were
Because they had been
Since they were
etc

Terryxpress · Answer

I don't grasp your meaning.

The sentence, as a use of the gerund, would be:
The children all got drenched from playing in the rain.

The more 'poetic' version of that is:
Playing in the rain, the children... (with the 'from' omitted).

My first post was intended to show both the uses: gerund, and in Continuous Tense verb forms. In my second post, I gave one version of this:

Because they were playing in the rain, the children all got drenched. (Continuous Tense verb form).

'from playing' is its use as a gerund.

Mister Micawber · Answer

My sentence is not a shortened form of your sentence.

BillJ · Answer

Terryxpressa gerund, when we change the verb 'to sing' into a noun:Talking in class is not allowed.Running is good exercise.

I wouldn't go along with that.

Talking and Running are both verbs, not nouns, in those sentences. They head the subordinate non-finite clauses Talking in class and Running.

Traditionally they are called gerunds, but that's because they head expressions that are functionally similar to nouns; it does not mean they are actually nouns, cf:

1. [Talking in class] is not allowed.

2. [Disruption in class] is not allowed.

In each example the bracketed part functions as subject of the sentence. In 1. the bracketed part is a clause with the verb Talking as its head. In 2. it is a noun phrase with the noun Disruption as its head. The similarity between the verb-form Talking and the noun Disruption is simply this: they head expressions with the same function.

The same applies to the other example. The subject of the sentence Running could be replaced by the noun Tennis, so the verb-form Running and the noun Tennis again head functionally similar expressions.

Noun interpretation can be forced by adjectival premodification, as in Occasional talking..., Vigorous running....etc.

BillJ

Terryxpress · Answer

Would you have preferred my expressing this way instead:

...and a gerund, when we change the verb 'to sing' so that it functions as a noun.

((funny - I remember thinking as I was writing just 'noun', and decided, to explain it as a 'verbal noun' might be being overly-correct in the context of the thread!!!)

Terryxpress · Answer

...however, if we are being very correct, then
Talking and Running are both verbs, not nouns, in those sentences."

No - they're participles.
'talk' is the verb.
'is talking' is a verb form.

BillJ · Answer

Present participles are verb-forms that function like adjectives (they also have a secondary use in forming the progressive aspect); gerunds function like nouns, as I demonstrated. There is nothing adjective-like about "Talking" and "Running" in the examples you gave.

BillJ

Can we consider -ing as verb

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions