Question about verbs function as nouns and singular nouns

Question

When I use a transitive verb as a noun should I follow it with an object?
Examples: You can't lose weight without eating healthy food.
You can't prove that something is wrong without providing sufficient evidence. (if this sentence is wrong, please rephrase it.)

Second question: Do we precede singular nouns with a/an..even in plural forms? Examples: Our meetings are usually a drag, or our meeting are usually drag.
This guy is a drag.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Mercyful_fateWhen I use a transitive verb as a noun should I follow it with an object?
Examples: You can't lose weight without eating healthy food.

In cases like this, in which the verb may be either transitive or intransitive, to omit the object would cause us to take the usage as intransitive.
I'm assuming it's okay to refer to a gerund as "transitive or intransitive." I see nothing wrong with it.

Mercyful_fateYou can't prove that something is wrong without providing sufficient evidence.

It's hard to imagine this one without the object. Do you have another example?
(It's correct, by the way.)
In most cases, "to provide" without an object would be taken as intransitive. The intransitive use can have a complement, but it's used with "for."
He cared for his family by providing [for their future]. (This is intransitive, with or without the complement.)

Mercyful_fateSecond question: Do we precede singular nouns with a/an..even in plural forms? Examples: Our meetings are usually a drag, or our meeting are usually drag.

The article would go with "drag," not "meetings." (It's determined by the fact that "drag" is singular.)

You could choose to say, "These meetings are usually drags."
However, if you use the uncountable "drag" in the singular, it needs an article.
In "Our meeting are usually drag," assuming it's a regular meeting, we'd say, "Our meeting is usually a drag." The subject is singular, the verb is singular, and the complement is singular.

Mercyful_fateThis guy is a drag.

Everything seems to be singular in this example. You can't omit the article, in my opinion.

Question about verbs function as nouns and singular nouns

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