Do the washing/wash

Question

1. If you ask him to do the washing, he will do the washing.Is this correct? 2. When you say "do the wash", is there a possibility that the wash is either refering to the act of washing or clothing?

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

'Do the wash' sounds unnatural to me.

Onizo · Answer

Thank you.

Can you confirm again that the article "the" in front of washing is correctly used, or is "ask him to do washing" equally ok?

CalifJim · Answer

onizo1. If you ask him to do the washing, he will do the washing.

Correct as written.

onizo2. When you say "do the wash", is there a possibility that the wash is either referring to the act of washing or clothing?

It refers to the clothing.

Where I live people say the washing, the wash, or the laundry in that situation.

CJ

Onizo · Answer

Thank you CJ.

Then, when I ask the robot to do the washing, what am I asking him to do?
1. Do the wash
2. Do washing = do the washing? = do some washing?

CalifJim · Answer

onizoThen, when I ask the robot to do the washing, what am I asking him to do?

You are asking the robot to put the clothes in the washing machine, add water and soap, turn on the machine, wait until the machine finishes, take the clothes out of the machine, put the clothes into the dryer, turn on the dryer, wait until the clothes are dry, take the clothes out of the dryer, iron the clothes, and hang the clothes on hangers.

You are asking the robot to do all that no matter whether you say any of these:

Do the washing. Do the wash. Do the laundry.

Do not say "Do washing". Do not say "Do some washing".

CJ

Onizo · Answer

Thank you CJ.

You do recommand people to say "(i'm gonna) do some cooking". What difference make these to be different?
No do some washing but do some cooking.

Can I say, "I am going to do cooking"?

CalifJim · Answer

onizoYou do recommand people to say "(i'm gonna) do some cooking". What difference make these to be different?

These expressions with "do some -ing" are very unfocused in meaning, very vague and uninformative, so people don't use them much.

I'm going to do some cooking is possible, but it says little. It's better to give more information. I'm going to cook some rice. I'm going to cook a meal. I'm going to cook a stew.

I'm going to do some washing is also possible, theoretically, but it's even more vague than the example with cooking. There are almost an infinite number of things that you could wash. Again, when we speak to people, we don't try to be mysterious and secretive about what we are doing. We try to give more information. I'm going to wash my car. I'm going to wash the windows. I'm going to wash the kitchen floor. I'm going to wash my shirts.

I've noticed that you seem to be almost obsessed by verb forms that end in -ing used as nouns. They are really not as useful as you may think. You will go farther by learning more nouns that are not formed from verbs.

CJ

Onizo · Answer

Thank you, CJ.

I am obsessed with this because I haven't understood it.

So, if you could explain about do cooking or do washing form as you did with some cooking, it will really be helpful.
Can you try please? What wouldn't you use this form and what does it mean, etc.

you also said they are not really usual, but I see this form quite often and can't get my head around.
for example, timing, building, decking, flooring, clothing, and washing(is this clothes or action; you answered it already, but still not clear. I will get back to this when I am more clear; or did the "the" make it into the noun form)

CalifJim · Answer

onizoSo, if you could explain about do cooking or do washing form as you did with some cooking, it will really be helpful.

I'm sorry, but I have already explained those as well as I could in my previous post. Maybe you should read it again.

onizotiming, building, decking, flooring, clothing, and washing

These are only very weakly related to verbs. They should all be treated as ordinary nouns like "house", "car", or "dog". The fact that they end in -ing is of little or no significance with respect to verbs. We would never say, for example, I'm going to do some clothing with the intention of saying that we're going to perform some activity. I'm going to do some clothing is pure nonsense.

CJ

Do the washing/wash

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