Gerund or participle
Hi,
I want to ask you one question , whether "Trying" is Gerund or Participle in the sentence below ?
1) The vice president is analyzing the sales data, trying to understand why the company sold less than expected last month.
Is "Trying " in the above sentence a gerund , participle or a verb ?
Top answer
trying to understand... is adverbial, so "trying" is a participle, not a gerund. However, I would argue that the gerund-participle distinction is not very useful or meaningful.
- trying to understand...
- is adverbial, so "trying" is a participle, not a gerund.
- However, I would argue that the gerund-participle distinction is not very useful or meaningful.
- In trying to understand...
- trying is a verb regardless of the function of the clause it heads.
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trying to understand... is adverbial, so "trying" is a participle, not a gerund.
However, I would argue that the gerund-participle distinction is not very useful or meaningful. In trying to understand... trying is a verb regardless of the function of the clause it heads. It's simpler just to call it an ·ing form or a gerund-participle, in my opinion.
0It's a present participle and of course also a verb as all participles are verbs.
CB
0
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