When to use v-ing instead of a noun?

Question

Hi,Could anyone help me to know when to use v-ing instead of a noun?For example:Why we usually say "I did a lot of travelling in my youth" instead of "I did a lot of travel in my youth"OrWhy "I'll apply for a job in advertising" instead of "I'll apply for a job in advertisement"?Thanks a lot

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

There is no rule for every imaginable language context. People often say what they say for no apparent reason, and a student just has to learn what they say.

CB

BillJ · Answer

Phan Thuy LinhCould anyone help me to know when to use v-ing instead of a noun?

I did a lot of travelling / travel in my youth.

I'll apply for a job in advertising / advertisement.

That's a good question.

It's about subtle aspects of meaning. From any English lexical verb V you can form a noun denoting the act of performing the V activity (or whatever --- not all verbs are about actions, but I'm simplifying in the normal way). You do it with the multi-use suffix -ing. Thus from, for example, criticise, you can form a noun criticising to denote the thing that X does if X criticises Y. And so on for thousands of other non-auxiliary verbs.

Travel and travelling have different shades of meaning (a good dictionary will show examples), but for the act of what X did a lot of if X engaged in extensive travel activity for its own sake, the noun travelling is required.

Advertise forms at least two nouns: advertisement is used almost always for the concrete result (the billboard or whatever). For the action that the relevant industry is engaged in, advertising is the appropriate form.

There's no grammar here; it’s just about lexical word formation -- the process of -ing action nominalisation -- and subtle sense distinctions. It's dictionary stuff.

Anonymous · Answer

Advertising = The activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services.

When to use v-ing instead of a noun?

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