'-ing' forms

Learn about the -ing form of a verb and do the exercises to practise using it.

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: ReorderingHorizontal_MTY0Mzg=

-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: ReorderingHorizontal_MTY0Mzk=

**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: GapFillDragAndDrop_MTY0NDA=
-ing form as a noun or adjective 2: GapFillTyping_MTY0NDE=

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You are right, Peter. I had added the word "that", because of my ignorance, that makes the sentence wrong. Thank you very much for the correction and the explanation. If I am not mistaken with your explanation, I assumed your answer works like this below, The first sentence : ...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand him, who said 'Stop' (that means "you must stop!”). Or in my short sentence, ...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand him. The second sentence : ...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand 'Stop', which was said by the policeman (that means “You must stop!”). Or in my short sentence, ...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand 'Stop'. How about my opinion, Peter?

Hello again Parikenan,

...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand him, who said 'Stop' (that means "you must stop!”).

This sentence is not correct. It's not clear who the relative pronoun refers to and the structure is not clear and is not natural English.

...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand him.

This sentence is correct grammatically, but it no longer includes any reference to the particular sentence the policeman is saying, so it's more general now.

The second sentence :

...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand 'Stop', which was said by the policeman (that means “You must stop!”).

Here, you need to change the sentence as follows:

...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand 'Stop', which was said by the policeman to mean “You must stop!”.

Or in my short sentence,

...the person the policeman is talking to will probably understand 'Stop'.

This is grammatical, but it is more general as it does not tell us how the person understands this, only that they do understand it.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

OK, Peter. It is clear now. I completely understand what you mean. Thank you very much for you explanation.

Hi LearnEnglish Team, Could you help me with this sentence, please ? 1. Write all the sentences below with adverbs of frequency, telling how often each person works. 2. Write all the sentences below with adverbs of frequency, which is telling how often each person works. Do they both sentences have the same meaning ? If they don't have the same meaning, how can the phrase "telling how often each person works." after the comma as in the sentence number 1 be created ?

Hello Parikenan,

Sentence 1 is correct and 2 is not. In 1, 'telling how ...' is a participle phrase acting as a reduced relative clause -- it means the same as 'which tell how often ...'. Although our participle clauses page doesn't discuss reduced relative clauses much, it's a similar idea that I think you might find useful.

Hope this helps.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much, Kirk. It is very clear now.

Hello LearnEnglish Team, Could you please help me with my two sentences below, 1. "To write a report of something that happened in the past, you need to add a subject to every clause and use past tense verbs." 2. "To write a report of something happening in the past, you need to add a subject to every clause and use past tense verbs." Do they both sentences have the same meaning?

Hello Parikenan,

They do have the same meaning, but I'd recommend you use the first one because it sounds more natural.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much, Kirk. It is clear now.

Kirk, what if I omit the word "that" from the sentence to reduce or to make the sentence sorter ? "To write a report of something that happened in the past, you need to add a subject to every clause and use past tense verbs." so that the sentence becomes like this, "To write a report of something happened in the past, you need to add a subject to every clause and use past tense verbs." Does it work, Kirk ?

Hello Parikenan,

I'm afraid you can't omit 'that' in this case. This is because the antecedent of 'that' is the subject of the verb 'happened' in the relative clause. In a case like this, the relative pronoun cannot be omitted.

When 'that' is the object of the verb (rather than the subject), then it can usually be omitted. For example: 'Laura likes the book that I got for her' can also be said or written as 'Laura likes the book I got for her' because 'that' is the object of the verb phrase 'I got'.

Does that make sense?

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello LearnEnglish Team, I am copying Sakura30's question. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Gibson: You didn’t happen to find anything in this brush, did you? Bob: Nothing much. Gibson: Yeah but enough to justify somebody kidnapping your child to keep your mouth shut. Can I replace "somebody kidnapping your child ...." in the narration above with "somebody's kidnapping your child ...." ?

Hello Parikenan,

It is certainly grammatically possible to use the possessive here, but it is a form which is slowly disappearing from modern English and I think in this context it is quite unlikely to be used.

I don't have any frequency analyis to support this, but my sense is that the possessive form in such constructions is very rare with indefinite pronouns (somebody, anybody etc).

I noted that you reposted your question. Please post questions once only. It may take us a few days to answer as we are a small team here but please be patient. Posting the same question more than once only delays the process as we have to check and delete the repeat post.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much for this very clear explanation, Peter. And I am very sorry for my not being patient. I have reposted my question because I thought my first question was lost in the wrong place, so The LearnEnglish Team can't see my question. I, on the other hand, really wait for the answer. So Thank you very much again, Peter.

Hi LearnEnglish team, I'm having trouble understanding the difference between Begin to do and Begin doing. They begin talking to each other They begin to talk to each other Is there any difference? Thank you so much

Hi Alexandre,

Traditionally, begin to do is used when describing a particular action:

I jumped over the side of the boat and began to swim to shore.

Begin doing is tradionally used with a more general meaning:

I began swimming when I was five years old.

However, this distinction is disappearing in modern English. I think most people today use the two forms interchangeably. In your example I don't think there is any difference between them.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I’m having trouble figuring out who was justified of what in the following sentence. This is a scene from the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Gibson: You didn’t happen to find anything in this brush, did you? Bob: Nothing much. Gibson: Yeah but enough to justify somebody kidnapping your child to keep your mouth shut. Thank you so much in advance for your kind support!

Hello Sakura30,

Here the idea is that since Bob's child has been kidnapped, he must have found something significant in the brush. In other words, the kidnapping doesn't make sense if Bob really found nothing in the brush.

So here 'justify somebody kidnapping your child' means something like 'explain why somebody would kidnap your child'.

Does that make sense?

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear Kirk Thank you so much for your reply. Please excuse me to ask a little further. If I were to rewrite the above sentence, which would it be? ”Yeah, (it must have been nothing much,) but (something which is) enough to justify somebody kidnapping your child to keep your mouth shut) ” meaning that it was a good reason for somebody to kidnap the child. Or “Yeah, but (there was) enough (of something inside for you) to justify somebody kidnapping your child” meaning that Bob knows why his child was kidnapped. What I’m confused here is, who was Justified? Is it Bob or the Somebody(kidnapper)? Thank you again, for your kind attention Sakura30

Hello again Sakura30,

I'm afraid it's difficult for me to say which one is meant without knowing more about the film, but what I understood when I first read it was the first explanation.

I don't get the sense that anyone is justified (in the sense of being right) here. I think 'justify' means something like 'give a reasonable explanation for' in this case. In other words, the kidnappers had a reasonable reason for kidnapping Gibson's child (assuming that they are more concerned about their self-interest than Gibson's or his child's), but this doesn't mean it was justified -- it is, after all, a crime.

Hope this helps.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear Kirk, Thank you! It makes so much sense now! Have a wonderful day. Sakura30

Could you please explain how can we use "meant to or meant to be " ? i am perplexed .

Hello sejal thakur

This means 'to be intended to'. If you look at the third entry (INTEND) for 'mean' in the Cambridge Dictionary (follow the link), you'll see a light blue box with this definition and some example sentences. There's also another explanation on this grammar page.

Best wishes

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, When do we use "of"? what is the rule of using "of" with "-ing" words? For example: "visiting of parents is allowed in the afternoon" vs "visiting parents is allowed in the afternoon". Thank you.

Hello ryuo,

In your examples, there is a big difference in meaning:

visiting parents means people are coming in order to visit their parents. You might say this if the parents are in hospital, for example.

visiting of parents suggests that it is the parents who are doing the visiting. You might say this if the parents have a child in hospital, for example.

More generally, the phrase with of shows a possessive relationship, while in the phrase without of we have a direct object. Which is the better option really depends upon the particular example, the context and the speaker's intention.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, please help me. I don't understand why in the next sentence "I love watching my son play football" the verb play is without s.

Hello Tossa,

The verb watch is an example of a verb of perception. These verbs describe something we see, hear, feel etc. They have three common constructions:

verb of perception + object + bare infinitive

I heard her sing a song.

This means that the speaker heard the whole song from start to finish.

verb of perception + object + -ing form

I heard her singing a song.

This means that the speaker heard part of the song; she was in the middle of singing it.

verb of perception + object + past participle

I saw her arrested by the police.

This has a passive meaning: she was arrested by the police.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you, it is helpful to me.

Please confirm 1. In sentence "what is the meaning", is meaning a Verbal noun, It doesn't seem a gerund or Is meaning a base word (noun) not derived from verb mean? 2. Are there any ing words which are noun in their base form.

Hello John Mccan

That is a question that a historical linguist or lexicographer might be able to help you with, but I'm afraid I'm not completely sure. My sense is that the noun 'meaning' is not a gerund because its meaning is far from a verbal noun.

There are many similar words or words that end in 'ing' which do not seem to be derived from verbs -- a few examples are 'acting', 'advertising', 'fundraising', 'evening', 'timing', 'gaming', 'handwriting', and many more.

That's not a very precise explanation, but I hope it helps you.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, could you help me... In this sentence, She told me that you sent her an email telling her that you would like to have more pen pals from the US. what is the function of the -ing form of the word telling? I am confused...

Hello cindymaria

That is an '-ing' form used to create a reduced relative clause. It could also be written 'an email that told her that ...' -- 'telling' replaces 'that told'. This is an advanced use that is not explained on this page, but I'm sure you can find more information about it if you do an internet search.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi! Can the sentence "She enjoys cooking." be transformed in the passive voice "Cooking is enjoyed by her."

Hello Micicia,

Grammatically, yes. However, it seems a very odd sentence and I cannot think of a context in which you would want or need to say this.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Could you please help me with my question? I would like to know if the following sentences are correct: He analyzed it interesting. (to mean he analyzed something in an interesting way.) He did/expressed/used it interesting. (to mean he did/expressed/used it in an interesting way.) I know that I can use "interesting" after link verbs and also sentences like "I found it interesting" are correct. But do my examples make sense? And if they are wrong please tell me how I can express the same meaning correctly. Thank you in advance.

Hello Sep80

Those sentences are not correct in standard British English. Some people might understand your meaning, but I think many might not. I think the simplest way to express your ideas is in the way you have explained them already: 'He analysed it in an interest way', or for the second one you could also say 'He did/said something interesting'.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, Is the -ing form of the verb, ‘laugh’ in the sentence below a noun? If yes, kindly give me the reason. If no, what is it? Sentence: What are you laughing about? Thanks, Jonathan

Hello Jonathan

In this case, 'laughing' is a present participle. It is part of the present continuous verb 'you are laughing', which in a question is 'are you laughing'.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi,Sir. Could you tell me the difference between these two sentences 1. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo. 2. Amelia Eahart became the first woman flying solo. From the sentence, which one is the more appropriate, using to fly or flying? Thank you.

Hi Risa warysha,

The correct form here is 'to fly'.

We can use verb-ing in this kind of sentence to explain how a person achieved something. For example:

John earned a lot of money acting in science-fiction films.

Here, 'acting in science fiction films' explains how John earned a lot of money.

Your second sentence would mean that flying solo was how Amelia Earhart became the first woman, which obviously does not make sense. There were a lof women before Amelia Earhart!

You can read more about this structure on this page:

Participle clauses

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much,sir

In the sentence "he started practising ahimsa" .Here we know that ahimsa is a noun.Please clarify whether practising is noun or adjective?

Hello Surigi Jhansee In this case, 'practising' is a gerund, i.e. the noun form of the verb 'practise'. Since the gerund is a kind of verb form, it can have an object (here, it is 'ahimsa'). It might be useful to point out that in British English, 'practise' is a verb and 'practice' is a noun. In American English, both forms are spelled with a 'c', i.e. 'practice' is the spelling for both verbs and nouns. All the best Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

I Learnt That Verbal Adjectives Make Use Of The Past Participle Or Present Participle Of A Verb, In Sentences. When Should Know When To Use The Present Or Past Participle In Sentences. For Example: (1) Her Crying Attitude Appauls Me. Why Not The Past Participle "Cried". (2) To Live In The Days Of Fallen Heroes Are Unbearable. Why Not The Present Participle "Falling". (Though Out Of Context, Am I Supposed To Put A Period After A Quotation Mark?)

Hello CIJO,

You can find a general explanation of this on our Adjectives with -ing and -ed page, though it also depends on the specific adjective you are using.

Please note that not all present participles and past participles are used as adjectives, and sometimes they have a meaning that is different from the meaning of the verb. For example, 'crying' means 'needing urgent attention'. I would probably say something like 'her whiny attitude' instead.

'fallen heroes' is correct. 'falling' would have a present meaning and 'fallen' has a past meaning, which is appropriate here.

Where exactly a full stop is put after a quotation is a matter of style, i.e. sometimes it is put inside and other times outside.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello team, You have a good, useful site here. But I think you need to expand on this section here. I'm a native English speaker and I think this must be one of the most difficult parts of English grammar. For example, grammatically speaking, there's no such thing as "-ing verb form". It's either a gerund or a present participle. And to confuse matters even more, it can be a pure adjective or a pure noun. For example: "Shouting loudly is rude". (shouting here is a gerund, "shouting loudly" acting as a noun and the subject). "I saw a man shouting at the store clerk" (shouting here is a present participle, acting as an adjective modifying "a man") "Loud shouting is not good manners (shouting here is a pure noun, modified by an adjective, correct?) "The shouting match lasted for half an hour". (shouting here is a pure adjective?) And what about "it was a very exciting game". Is "exciting" a pure adjective here or a present participle? I was under the impression that if we take the present participle of many/most verbs, they become an adjective by themselves (i.e. "to excite"-->"exciting"). Thank you in advance for any feedback.

Hello sunsetlover,

Thanks for your comment. We are in the process of revising the English grammar section and hope to be able to publish the new version in the next few months. So please keep your eye out for this update.

This section, as well as the revised version we are working on, were written to serve as a general reference on what its writer (Dave Willis) considered to be the most essential English grammar for learners. It is not intended to be comprehensive and, as you've noted, doesn't always use technical terms which he did not consider essential to learning to use the language (as opposed to describing it or parsing it for more specialist use).

As for your questions, we don't normally go into this level of detail but I'll tell you what I think. I agree with your first three statements. As for the fourth, I'm honestly not sure, though I'd probably say that it's a gerund being used adjectivally, i.e. as a sort of noun + noun combination with 'match'. Finally, I'd say 'exciting' is a pure adjective in this case.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Sir, I didn't get reply for this one. Please respond to this query. Thanking you in advance. 'Reasonably good research exists about the muslim bourgeoisie anchoring the league.' 'Surely, it was not the first time the state has been brought to its knees by rampaging zealots.' Sir, why was comma not used after 'reasonably', while it was used after 'surely'? Does it make any difference if we put or don't put comma after these adverbs? Does the meaning change if we remove the comma after 'surely'? Sir, please enlighten us about this.

Hello ali shah,

In these sentences, 'surely' is a sentence adverb, i.e. an adverbial that expresses the speaker's attitude to or view of what is said. Commas are used after sentence adverbs when they are in initial position, as is the case here.

'Reasonably' is not a sentence adverb here (nor is it commonly used as one). Here it modifies the adjective 'good'.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, As long as I know "go running" is described as an activity. But in the sentence "I went running towards him" "running" modifies the verb "went".Because that is the answer of "how" question. Am I okay? Thank you.

admit	like	hate	start	avoid
suggest	enjoy	dislike	begin	finish