Conversation started Apr 6, 2015 at 18:57.
Anonymous
Apr 6, 2015 18:57
@AndrewLeach When you've got a gerund as your verb, the entire clause functions like a noun phrase.
Anonymous
That's how I'd put it.
Anonymous
You can tell it's still a verb inside the clause because it takes the same complementation the verb normally would, in this case an object.
Andrew Leach
Andrew Leach
@snailboat Yes. Or perhaps: "When you need a noun phrase, the verb needs to be a gerund." Does that turn it around correctly?
Anonymous
When you actually use meeting as a derived noun, you end up saying things like "I have a meeting in an hour", where we can see it's actually used as a noun
Anonymous
@AndrewLeach Sure
Anonymous
Apr 6, 2015 19:04
Gerund: "He was expelled for [wantonly killing the birds]." The clause as a whole functions like a noun phrase, but it takes verb-like complementation (the direct object the birds) and modification (the adverb wantonly). It does not take a determiner or inflect like a noun. It is not a noun.
Anonymous
Deverbal noun: "He was expelled for [his wanton killing of the birds]." Now it takes a determiner (his), adjectival rather than adverbial modification (wanton), noun-like complementation (an of-phrase rather than a direct object), and inflects like a noun (his wanton killings is grammatical). It is a noun.
Anonymous
So we can see that although it's accurate to say the clause it's in functions like a noun phrase, it's not really accurate to say the gerund itself functions as a noun
 
Conversation ended Apr 6, 2015 at 19:05.