Gerunds with adjectives

Question

Good day to you all, are the underlined words gerunds? 1- Good thinking 2- Hard working

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

It depends on how you use these terms in a sentence.

The adjectival form is usually written with a hyphen.

Hard working is unlikely to be used as a gerund.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you Clive for your time,

Please check this link http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/present%2Bparticiple?q=present+participle

The people at Oxford say that a present participle can be a noun as in good thinking.

Is this true ? if so, is it a gerund

Can a gerund be modified by an adjective and an adverb ?

Thank you.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Please check this link http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/present%2Bparticiple?q=present+participle

The people at Oxford say that a present participle can be a noun as in good thinking.

Is this true ? Yes if so, is it a gerund Yes

Can a gerund be modified by an adjective and an adverb ? Yes

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

So what is the difference between a gerund and a present participle ?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Here's how I see it. Others may offer you an explanation in much more technical grammar terms.

Participle A word formed from a base verb (eg cooked, cooking)
and used in compound verb tenses (eg Mary is cooking, Mary has cooked)
or used as an adjective eg (a cooked chicken, a cooking pot).

The -ing form is a present participle, and the -ed form is a past participle.

Gerund A noun (or what you might call a word that is like a noun) formed from a verb, and ending in -ing (eg cooking).
It can usually be identified by the way it is used in a sentence. If you are not sure, try substituting a noun, and see if he sentence still seems OK
eg
Baseball is fun, ('baseball' is a noun.)
Cooking is fun. ('cooking' is a gerund.)

If you wish, post some sentences you are unsure of.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

What is troubling me are the terms themselves.

I was told that the present participle cannot be a noun. It can either be an adjective or a continuous tense only.

and that the present participle is different from a gerund.

So, please confirm the following statement:

adding ing to a verb will make that verb a present participle. A present participle can be an adjective, a present continuous tense or a noun. A present participle noun is called a gerund.

Is this Correct?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

So, please confirm the following statement:

adding ing to a verb will make that verb a present participle. A present participle can be an adjective, a present continuous tense or a noun. A present participle noun is called a gerund.

Yes, there is a difference in the terminology. You have the general idea correct. Here is how I would phrase it:

present participle - one of the four English verb forms, formed by adding the -ing suffix to the base form.
Function: a present participle can be used syntactically as different parts of speech: verb (as a part of continuous tenses), adjective (as modifying a noun, pronoun or other nominal), and noun (in which case, it is called a gerund.)

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you all very much.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Here's a simple way to say all this.

What you call the word depends on how you use it.

Clive

BillJ · Answer

AnonymousWhat is troubling me are the terms themselves.
I was told that the present participle cannot be a noun. It can either be an adjective or a continuous tense only.
and that the present participle is different from a gerund.
So, please confirm the following statement:
adding ing to a verb will make that verb a present participle. A present participle can be an adjective, a present continuous tense or a noun. A present participle noun is called a gerund.
Is this Correct?

Traditionally (for example, in the grammar of Latin) a "gerund" is a verb-form that is functionally similar to a noun, whereas a participle is one that is functionally similar to an adjective. So one can hardly talk about a 'gerund' being a form of present participle. Here's the paradigm for the verb "take" (the non-finite forms are exactly the same in traditional grammar):

Preterite: took
Present (3rd sing): takes
" (other): take
Infinitive: take
Gerund: taking
Pres. participle: taking
Past participle: taken

The fact that the gerund and the present participle have an identical shape is irrelevant. They are separate inflectional forms in the paradigm with quite distinct functions: the gerund like that of a noun; the present participle like that of an adjective (the present participle also has a secondary use in forming the progressive aspect).

Essentially, that's why we make a distinction between participles (which are functionally similar to adjectives), and gerunds (which are functionally similar to nouns).

See what I mean?

BillJ

Gerunds with adjectives

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