Level: beginner
We can use the -ing form of a verb:
- as a noun:
I love swimming.
Swimming is very good for your health.
You can get fit by swimming regularly.
- as an adjective:
The main problem today is rising prices.
That programme was really boring.
He saw a woman lying on the floor.
-ing forms as nouns
-ing nouns are nearly always uncount nouns. They can be used:
- as the subject of a verb:
Learning English is not easy.
- as the object of a verb:
We enjoy learning English.
Common verbs followed by an -ing object are:
admit like hate start avoid suggest enjoy dislike begin finish
- as the object of a preposition :
Some people are not interested in learning English.
- -ing form as a noun
-ing forms as adjectives
The -ing adjective can come:
- in front of a noun:
I read an interesting article in the newspaper today.
We saw a really exciting match on Sunday.
- after a link verb like be, look or sound:
Your new book sounds very interesting.
The children can be really annoying.
- after a noun:
Who is that man standing over there?
The boy talking to Angela is her younger brother
- especially after verbs of the senses like see, watch, hear, smell, etc.:
I heard someone playing the piano.
I can smell something burning.
The commonest -ing adjectives are:
amusing boring disappointing |
interesting surprising tiring |
worrying exciting frightening |
shocking terrifying annoying |
- -ing form as an adjective
Patterns with -ing forms
Because an -ing noun or adjective is formed from a verb, it can have any of the patterns which follow a verb. For example:
- it can have an object:
I like playing tennis.
I saw a dog chasing a cat.
- it can be followed by a clause:
I heard someone saying that he saw you.
- -ing form as a noun or adjective 1
- -ing form as a noun or adjective 2
Can you please share the link of this construction sentences ? busy doing something
fun spending time with someone .
be verbs / adjectives / verbing .Thanks
Hello checheA,
As far as I know, there is no special grammar here. Rather, these two phrases -- 'to be busy' and 'to have fun' -- can be followed by a phrase with an '-ing' form to give more information. Just as we can say 'to be busy with something', we can say 'to be busy doing something'. Similarly, just as we can say 'to have fun at a location' or 'to have fun with someone', we can say 'to have fun doing something'.
There are many other phrases that can be followed by the same kind of '-ing' phrases. I'm afraid I can't think of any off the top of my head, and I haven't found any other examples in a quick internet search, but I expect you can find others in your reading and listening.
I hope this helps you.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hi libero,
In this sentence, 'flying' is a present participle used to make a reduced relative clause. As you suggest, it is a reduced form of 'Something that was flying in the sky hit him'. Good work!
You can see an explanation of this on our defining relative clauses page -- look for the last example sentence on the page, just above the exercise.
Best regards,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Sonia,
In general, yes, you should use the particle or preposition of phrasal or prepositional verbs. It's difficult to generalise about this; if there's a specific sentence you'd like to ask us about, feel free to do so.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi SONIAL03,
The rule of whose for animate entities and which for inanimate is a good rule of thumb, but you are correct that which can be used in certain cases. This is actually a relict of how English used to be used several hundred years ago. Today it is very uncommon and generally considered a non-standard form, I would say. You can see which used in place of collective nouns describing people: the group (of people) which I saw or the class (of students) which I taught.
If you have any particular example in mind then we will be happy to comment on it, of course.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello SONIAL03,
I think both forms are possible:
Which you choose is really a question of style. The second may be easier to understand and be less likely to be misunderstood but both are perfectly correct.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ali boroki,
The infinitive is a verb form which is used in a number of ways. You can read about them and see examples on this page and this page.
The gerund is a verb formed with -ing used as a noun in the sentence. You can read more about these on this page and on the page we are on here.
You can also use the search facility to look up 'infinitive' and 'gerund' to find relevant pages. If you have any questions about particular examples then we will be happy to explain, of course.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi amrita,
Yes, 'watching' is a gerund (a noun derived from a verb) and 'soothing' is an adjective. The structure of the sentence is a simple copula: 'X is Y'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello amrita_enakshi,
The words have the form of past participles but are functioning as adjectives in the sentence.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi mehransam05,
The phrase 'game-changing delivery' (it is usually hypenated) has a compound adjective (game-changing) modifying a noun (delivery).
English is a very flexible language and a word fulfil many different roles in the sentence. To identify which role an ing-form has you need to look at the sentence in which it is used. This is why we provide the examples on this page. If the ing-form is the subject or object in the sentence then it is acting as a noun. If it describes a noun then it is acting as an adjective.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lexeus,
The two forms you ask about function as nouns, and yes, they are gerunds, i.e. words formed from verbs that are used as nouns.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi mehransam05,
1a is an acceptable collocation (word combination) in standard British English, but 1b is not. A moving vehicle is a vehicle that is moving at the time you're talking about.
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with any of the other word combinations. If I had some idea what they meant, then I could recommend one over the other, but without some context I can't really say. Sorry.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Anshu,
The phrase 'lying on the floor' here is adjectival as it describes the noun phrase 'a woman'. You can think of it as a reduced relative clause:
The -ing form is formed from a verb but in this sentence it has an adjectival function.
Note that this use of the -ing form comes after the noun, not before. Thus:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi ibrahemyacoup,
I would say that the first sentence is correct. The phrase 'capital spending' has a clear definition in economics:
http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=capital-expenditure%2Fspending
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team