Indication VS indicating VS indicative

Question

What is the difference between these three words:indication, indicating, indicativeI am asking purely in terms of meaning not if they are noun or adjective etc.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

I am asking purely in terms of meaning not if they are noun or adjective etc.

On that basis, they all mean the same thing.

Ali.h · Answer

Okay maybe you can help me out with this, in my Arabic-English dictionary when I looked up an Arabic word in the English definition side it said that this word is "indication & indicating". So if they mean the same thing why would the dictionary provide both words, so I guess because indication means a noun and indicating means an adjecitve and hence the dictionary is trying to say that that particular word is both a noun and an adjective? and is indicative also an adjective?

Avangi · Answer

I'm sorry I know nothing about Arabic.
If I understand what your saying, you look up a given word (I'll call it ABC), and your dictionary says that the English equivalent is "indication" and "indicating." That doesn't necessarily suggest that "indication" means the same thing in English that "indicating" does.
Couldn't it possibly mean that "ABC" in Arabic has two senses?
Do you have the "equivalent" of verbs, nouns, and adjectives in Arabic?
Anyway, the difference between indication, indicating, and indicative is tied up in the difference in the functions of the words, as represented by the different "parts of speech," that is, verbs, nouns and adjectives.
I'm afraid that all I can do is give you examples.
The doctor found no indication of cancer. "Indication" is a noun here. It's like a suggestion, evidence, proof. (not necessarily positive proof)

The speedometer is indicating that we're travelling at 60 mph. "Indicating" is the present participle of the verb, "to indicate," and functions here as part of the present continuous tense, "is indicating." So if something is "indicating," it's performing an action. It's doing something. You could also say, "The doctor found no signs [that were] indicating cancer.
So you might say that an indication is a sign which is indicating something.

"Indicative" is an adjective describing the function of this sign. It can tell what the sign indicates, in a manner of speaking.
The doctor found no signs [which were] indicative of cancer.
In other words, you can say that an indication is a sign which is indicative of something.
But that doesn't mean that "indicating" and "indicative" are the same. If they were, you could substitute one for the other without changing the structure of the sentence.
But you can't do that, because they're different parts of speech.

The speedometer is indicating a speed of 60 mph.
The reading on the speedometer is indicative of a speed of 60 mph.
The speedometer is giving us the/an indicationthat our speed is 60 mph.

Ali.h · Answer

So is 'indicating' a verb or a noun?

Avangi · Answer

It depends on how it's used.

Technically, it's the present participle form of the verb. (As you probably know, the infinitive is "to indicate.")

Both participle's , past and present, can function as adjectives, and can also function as components in certain verb tenses .

"Indicating" can also function as a noun, in which case it's called a gerund.

This instrument is an indicating manometer. (P.P. as adjective)

I wish he would stop indicating a left turn. (gerund, as noun)

I don't like his indicating he's in favor of the idea when he's really not. (gerund as noun)

The speedometer has been indicating 100 mph for the last ten minutes. (P.P as part of present perfect continuous tense - in other words, it's a verb)

Avangi · Answer

The gerund may seem a little confusing at first. We say it's also a noun because it functions as a noun in the sentence.
Indicating atmospheric pressure is the main function of this device.
"Indicating" is the subject of the sentence. Some would say the whole phrase, "Indicating atmospheric pressure," is the subject. I guess one is the simple subject and the other is the complete subject.
Its direct object, "atmospheric pressure," tells what it indicates.

Note: I tried to add this to the above post, but the site went down and (I guess) stayed down for several hours.

I can imagine how frustrating this information about verb tenses and parts of speech must be.
In terms of technical grammar, it's quite advanced stuff. Many "native speakers" wouldn't be able to explain it. They've simply learned how to say things by experience. There are usually many different ways to say the same thing.

CalifJim · Answer

Ali.hwhen I looked up an Arabic word in the English definition side it said that this word is "indication & indicating".

In that case I suspect the sense in which they are taking the Arabic word is as a noun, and the English equivalents listed are both also intended to be taken as nouns. In actual practice, the use of "indicating" as a noun is pretty rare, and you may take the Arabic word to mean simply "indication".

It is possible that in a translation to or from Arabic, however, you may have to use a synonym of that Arabic word which you looked up or a synonym of "indication" in order to produce an accurate idiomatic translation in either language.

CJ

Indication VS indicating VS indicative

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