Participle I, Gerund or Verbal Noun?

Question

Please, check if I did it correctly.1) That was where our fishing(gerund) began. 2) But she didn’t hear him for the beating (gerund) of her heart.3) Going (Participle I) downstairs, looking(nothing here) as alert and self-possessed as any other officer of the bank, he spoke to two clients he knew, and set his face grimly toward noon.4) Henry Marston’s trembling(vebal noun) became a shaking(vebal noun)5) He was not by any means an imbecile: he was devoted to the theatre; he read old and new plays all the time: and he had a flair for confessing (gerund) earnestly  that he was a religious man, and frequently found peace by kneeling (gerund) in prayer.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

1) That was where our fishing(gerund) began.

2) But she didn’t hear him for the beating (gerund) of her heart.

3) Going (Participle I) downstairs, looking(nothing here???) as alert and self-possessed as any other officer of the bank, he spoke to two clients he knew, and set his face grimly toward noon.

4) Henry Marston’s trembling(vebal noun) became a shaking(vebal noun) Why not 'gerund'?

5) He was not by any means an imbecile: he was devoted to the theatre; he read old and new plays all the time: and he had a flair for confessing (gerund) earnestly that he was a religious man, and frequently found peace by kneeling (gerund) in prayer.

All OK except where indicated.
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I don't see anything I'd call a verbal noun, by which I assume you mean something of the form the shaking of the leaves, i.e., typically with 'the' and 'of'.

Now that I think about it, maybe "a shaking" can be analyzed as a verbal noun. I don't think anything is to be gained by such a close analysis, however.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

Given that we have our fishing, the beating of her heart, Henry Maston's trembling, I think we have a batch of verbal nouns here.

CalifJim · Answer

fivejedjonthe beating of her heart

Yup. I definitely missed that one.

So is any -ing with a determiner a verbal noun?

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJimSo is any -ing with a determiner a verbal noun?

It's a matter of opinion.

As Quirk et al point out (A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language,1985.1290-92), there is a gradience from deverbal nouns via verbal nouns/gerunds to present participles. They choose not to make the distinction between gerunds and present participles. Huddleston and Pullum (The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language,2002) take a different approach to Quirk et al on many points of grammar, but they also (pp 82-83) see no point in making the distinction.

If these leading grammarians see no point in distinguishing between gerunds and participles, I am not going to worry about the difference berween gerunds and verbal nouns.

Participle I, Gerund or Verbal Noun?

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