grammar - What is a gerund? A noun or a verb? 'His smoking upset me’

^{NOTE: Please ask only one question at a time. I shall answer the interesting question that wants to know what a gerund is, not the trivial one asking whether his can ever be the subject of a clause, as that answer is curt and boring.}

---

A gerund is always a noun and verb at the same time. It is type of verbal noun, a noun that has verbal properties as well.

I chose those two examples to show you that those -ing words are still functioning like verbs in that they are still the head of a verbal phrase: they are taking objects branching off to the right. In the first case, trick takes a direct object, and in the second, give takes both a direct object and an indirect object.

Those verbal phrases in turn serve as the subjects of those sentences. They can also do anything else a noun can do, like serving as the object of a preposition:

• The lady’s not for burning.

Like infinitives and participles both present and past, gerunds are non-finite forms of the verb. They do not, in English at least, ever inflect for person, number, or tense. Finite verbs do so.

Sometimes words that start live as gerunds — as verbal nouns — lose their verbal properties and become just plain nouns. There have become fully nominalized.

Sometimes these are called deverbal nouns to explain their pedigree and what they no longer do: they no longer act as verbs. A deverbal noun no longer takes any verbal objects the way verbal nouns do.

Furthermore, you can now apply adjectives to them, whereas verbal noun modifiers are typically modified with adverbs. Once something stops being a verb, you cannot use an adverb on it. Here is an example of each:

• Carefully cleaning your teeth is the best way to avoid bad cavities. (gerund, so still verbal)


• His careful cleaning of his teeth prevented the worst cavities. (deverbal noun, no longer verbal)

The first version is a gerund. As a verbal noun, it can take arguments and adverbial modifiers.

The second version is no longer a verb. It is only a noun. It now takes adjectives to the left and longer noun modifiers — here an adjectival preposition — on the right. Here is another pair, the first verbal and the second non-verbal:

• Singing songs well is his only goal. (gerund = verbal noun)


• Good singing is his only goal. (deverbal noun = not a gerund)

Not all words ending in -ing are gerunds or deverbal nouns derived from gerunds. Some are just plain nouns formed out of other morphological elements, like changeling and farthing.

Many others are present active participles, which are another non-finite verb form. These acts as modifiers of nouns and verbs. Being verbal, they too can take arguments. Normally they are participial adjectives, which can be the head of a verbal phrase.

• His petition modifying the bylaws was rejected.

However, just like verbal nouns can lose their verbal properties to become regular nouns, so too can participial adjectives lose their verbal properties to become mere adjectives. This example has two -ing words that are used only as adjectives, not verbs:

• The determining factor in the race was his wife’s winning smile.

Note that it is not always clear just what job an -ing word is doing, and there are legitimate arguments that it is best just to call them -ing words instead of trying to force them into this or that slot from Latin grammar.

In Latin, you had different inflections for each, so it was easy. In English, we do not: we have a single verbal inflection -ing that must serve all these needs. (It is also the only inflected form that has no irregulars.) That’s why sometimes we just call them -ing words and leave it at that. There is still a difference between those that retain verbal properties and those that do not, but whether this is because they started life as a verbal noun or a verbal adjective doesn’t really matter.

Here is an example

• Running horses gives him the greatest of pleasure.
  (gerund, with horses as the object of the verb; since running is the subject, it is singular and so takes a singular verb, gives)


• Running horses are a joy to watch, especially compared with sleeping horses.
  (adjective; notice the subject is now the plural horses, which requires a plural verb are for correct correspondence)


• Running shoes help your race.
  (deverbal noun, once a gerund: the shoes are for running; as a noun–noun compound, the attributive noun running receives phrasal stress)


• Running water sounds wonderful.
  (participial adjective; normally it does not receive phrasal stress, which here falls on water instead; in contrastive scenarios, this can switch though, like not wanting still water but running water)


• Cross-country running is a great sport.
  (deverbal noun; it takes normal adjectives and does not take verbal arguments)


• Running jokes are confusing who aren’t in on the gaff.
  (regular (deverbal) adjective, no longer a verb at all)


• Running jokes about broken ankles strike too close to home to amuse runners.
  (deverbal noun used in a noun–noun compound: they’re jokes about running; therefore this time running takes phrasal stress)


• His bane was clocks always running late.
  (participial adjective, so still verbal, which is why late can be used here)

As an exercise for the reader, figure out just which type of running each instance of it is in the following account:

Carlos went to Pamplona thrice while in his twenties to see the running¹ of the bulls there. Nothing was more exhilarating than watching the bulls running² madly straight at you! Of the three runnings³ he witnessed, it was the last one that was to change his life forever: maddened by the taunting crowds, the bull came running⁴ straight at him, and before he could get out of the way, the creature had trampled Carlos’s leg into a pulp. The ambulances were running⁵ late that day, and their delay doomed his leg. After the amputation, his own two-legged running⁶ days were over forever.

What are your guesses?

I shall reveal the answers anon.
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________
4. __________
5. __________
6. __________