Gerund/participle

Question

Sir,

1.I have a fishing rod.

2.I read an interesting book.

Is in (1) ,fishing a gerund or a participle?

In (2), interesting is a participle. Am I right?

Then why "fishing" in (1) is not a participle.

Thanks.

Paco2004 · Accepted Answer

Hello Hanuman

"Fishing" is a noun meaning action of fish catching.
It has been used as a noun since 1300.
"Fishing rod" is a noun-noun phrase and it was originally hyphenated as "fishing-rod"

"Interesting" is an adjective. Its antonym is "uninteresting".
You can say "uninteresting book".

paco

Just the truth · Answer

1.I have a fishing rod.

2.I read an interesting book.

Is {in (1)} fishing a gerund or a participle in 1? OR "In 1, is fishing a ..."

JTT: The placement of 'in 1' is unnatural, Hanuman.

In (2), interesting is a participle. Am I right?

Then why ISN'T "fishing" in (1) [is not] a participle.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Paco has covered this well. I'll just add a few comments.

'fishing rod' is a compound noun. It's the name of an item. As Paco noted new compound words are often hyphenated but the hyphen is dropped as the word becomes notable on its own.

These types of compounds abound in English; paring knife, carving knife, roasting pan, rolling pin, roasting rack, shopping cart, coloring book, parking garage, parking meter, etc.

The intonation for compound nouns is different than that of phrases where the ____ing is an actual participle.

darkroom (for photography) is different from "a dark room", one without lights.

dark horse (an unknown person who surprises everyone with their talent) is different from "a dark horse", a horse that is dark.

dark glasses (sunglasses) are different from "dark glasses", perhaps colored drinking glasses or eyeglasses with dark frames

Pieanne · Answer

Hi, JTT, just an attempt at answering your post... well, the part that's not for Paco.
Both interesting and fishing are gerunds, I guess.
But "interesting" is also recognized as an adjective: a good/silly/interesting book: a book that is good/silly/interesting.
"fishing" is also recognized as a noun, but not as an adjective: a fishing rod: a rod that's used for the activity called "fishing", not a rod that is fishing.
So in my opinion, interesting IS an adjective in the example, fishing IS NOT. It's a noun that determines the kind of rod.

Just the truth · Answer

PA:
Both interesting and fishing are gerunds, I guess.

JTT: No, I don't think they are, Pieanne. "fishing rod" is a compound word as is "fishing tackle" and "fishing line". I didn't state that 'fishing' was an adjective.

Oxford:

fishing rod
• noun a long, tapering rod to which a fishing line is attached.

fishing line
• noun a long thread of silk or nylon attached to a baited hook and used for catching fish.

fishing tackle
noun: gear used in fishing

I can't imagine how "interesting" could be a gerund, but ... .

X.mehrdad · Answer

Both are participles since they are serving as adjectives, and not as nouns.

Pieanne · Answer

I didn't mean fishing & interesting ARE gerunds in the examples, JTT, sorry I wasn't clearer. i meant " they are also gerunds" or "they can be gerunds".

X.mehrdad · Answer

- I love fishing.(gerundif)
- Look at that fishing bird !(participle)

Pieanne · Answer

In "I love fishing" I'm not sure fishing is a gerund? fishing is a gerund, used as a noun.
In " look at that fishing bird", fishing is a participle used as an adjective.
I agree with you!

X.mehrdad · Answer

How about this one :" Fishing is a nice sport."You've got to look at its function, when it is used as noun it's a geround, and when it's used as an adjective, it's a participle Cheers!

Pieanne · Answer

Yes, but in the dictionnary, "fishing" is not recognized as an adjective... only as a noun.
When you speak of a fishing bird, you refer to a bird in the action of fishing, it is fishing, as I would be smoking. Fishing is not a quality, it's an action. "Interesting" CAN be a quality (qualificative), fishing cannot...

Gerund/participle

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions