1.78 Referring to activities and processes: '-ing' nouns

You often want to refer to an action, activity, or process in a general way. When you do, you can use a noun which has the same form as the present participle of a verb.

These nouns are called different things in different grammars: gerunds, verbal nouns, or -ing forms. In this grammar we call them '-ing' nouns.

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish an '-ing' noun from a present participle, and it is usually not necessary to do so. However, there are times when it is clearly a noun, for example when it is the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.

• Singing's one of my interests --- I belong to a choir.
• They were at school when the emphasis was on teaching rather than learning.
• He told how hard the days of walking had been, how his muscles had ached.
• The coming of the transistor could not have been foreseen.
• Some people have never actually done any computing.

The use of '-ing' adjectives is explained in paragraphs 2.67 to 2.80.