Gerund vs Participle

Question

There are many singing and dancing scenes in the movie.I think that "singing" and "dancing" in this sentence are adjectives derived from present participle, not gerund. Am I right?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

park11603I think that "singing" and "dancing" in this sentence are adjectives

Yes.

Here is the gerund:

There is a lot of singing and dancing in the movie.

Anonymous · Answer

park11603I think that "singing" and "dancing" in this sentence are adjectives derived from present participle, not gerund.

They are nouns derived from the ·ing form of the verb. Gerundial nouns. Or gerunds, if you like. Or you may simply call them nouns. They modify the noun scenes, which should come as no shock since it is very common for nouns/nominals to modify other nouns: a cowboy hat, a baseball game, its entertainment value, a young children’s show. We don’t call these adjectives because they lack the distinctive properties of adjectives. For example, adjectives can be modified by adverbs (a very short scene, a tragically ironic scene), whereas nouns are quite resistant to them (*a very singing scene, *an absolutely dancing scene).

Verbs ending in ·ing can also modify nouns. Note the difference:

Noun
There are many singing scenes. (“many scenes featuring singing”)
It was that song that inspired her to pursue a dancing career. (“a career in dancing”)

Verb
Ah! Look at the dancing girls! (“the girls who are dancing”)
Michigan J. Frog, the famous singing frog from the classic cartoon (“the famous frog that sings”)

Gerund vs Participle

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