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Is the sentence below grammatically correct?

Good writing requires hard work.

Or should it read:

Writing well requires hard work.

Can a gerund be modified by an adjective or must it be modified necessarily by an adverb?

If it can be modified by an adjective, when you diagram it, would the good come off of the word writing on the stilt, or would it go below the regular baseline?

tchrist
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Elizabeth
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1 Answers1

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Don't tell me.
Somebody has taught you that a noun formed from a verb by adding -ing is a gerund.
Indeed, that's what the "gerund" tag above says:

  • Gerund: A noun formed from a verb by the addition of -ing.

Unfortunately, this is not true. A gerund is a verb, not a noun. And it behaves like a verb.
There are nouns formed from verbs with -ing -- as well as other things -- but they are not gerunds.
There are ways to check.

For instance, nouns can take articles and adjectives, while gerunds can take direct objects.
The writing in this book is atrocious. There's good writing and there's bad writing. (noun)
*The writing the novel exhausted her. *Good writing a novel is what you want. (gerund)

In the case of the first sentence, that's the noun writing, which can take an adjective.
In the case of the second, that's the gerund writing, which can take an adverb.

John Lawler
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  • I'm not sure I understand the second set of examples: "The writing the novel exhausted her." or "Good writing a novel is what you want." They seem fragmented? I was taught the definition: "A gerund is a present participle verb form used as a noun." Isn't "writing" functioning as a noun in my example sentence? Thank you for clarifying. – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 00:14
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    There's an asterisk before ungrammatical sentences. Those are ungrammatical sentences. The definition you learned is wrong. The gerund is not used as a noun; the clause of which it is the main verb functions as a noun phrase, but the gerund itself functions as a tenseless verb form, not a noun. Check the link for more details. – John Lawler Mar 01 '14 at 00:25
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    Ok, I checked out the link and am pondering these things. So, a present participle verb can function as a noun but not be a gerund? Is it considered a present participle verbal in this case? A test is---if it can take an adjective, it is NOT a gerund. Is this correct? Can you give me an example of a gerund taking an adverb? Must a gerund be a part of a phrase and have a direct object? I am trying hard to get a grip on this....thank you. – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 01:34
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    No, no. You misunderstand me. The gerund clause functions as a noun phrase, usually as subject or object of a predicate. But the gerund itself is the verb of the gerund clause, and is not a noun itself. If it were a noun, it could take articles; but since it's a verb, it can take direct objects. Grammar is about constituents, like clauses and phrases, rather than about words. – John Lawler Mar 01 '14 at 01:40
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    Since gerund clauses are a type of complement, perhaps this handout on English complement types will be helpful. – John Lawler Mar 01 '14 at 01:43
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    @Elizabeth: John Lawler's ungrammatical sentences could be made grammatical by simply omitting the words "The" and "Good." That is, "Writing the novel exhausted her," and "Writing a novel is what you want [to do]." – rhetorician Mar 01 '14 at 02:09
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    Ok...thank you for hanging with me. I am trying again to understand....honestly, this discussion makes me feel dumb as a rock! OK, so the gerund clause functions as a noun clause. The gerund itself is the verb in the gerund clause, so it is NOT a noun, but the verb portion of a noun clause. Is that correct? – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 02:30
  • I also looked at your complements handout. You state that there are four kinds of complements--infinitive, gerund, that clause and embedded question. I'm trying to mesh this with what I know of complements---subject complements (adjectives and nouns that rename or re-describe the subject "Susan is a homemaker. Susan is industrious."---and object complement nouns and adjectives: "He called me brother. He called me lazy." My definition of complement may indeed be muddy. I'm thinking that a complement completes or fills out a our understanding of a noun? – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 02:31
  • Also, I am intrigued by your sentence: "Grammar is about constituents, like clauses and phrases, rather than about words." I think this is the key to me making sense of the "my" in my other question as well as the key to my understanding of this gerund issue. I think you are saying that it's about groups of words and how they group together...not the individual words. – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 02:33
  • I am also grappling with the idea of non-infinite clauses (infinitives and gerunds) as I think of a clause: "A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a verb." You mention that they "often do not have overt subjects" because they may be "indefinite or under identity." So do gerunds and infinitive clauses have implied subjects? – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 02:39
  • Finally, I think I understand POSS-ing is possessive form, but I am not sure what ACC-ing refers to? The term "matrix predicate" completely blows my mind...reading that over and over but still can't understand it. – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 02:42
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    That's more questions than I can answer this way, Elizabeth. Don't be concerned about terminology; it's just names. The matrix predicate is the main verb (or predicate adjective or predicate noun, etc) of a clause. Yes, untensed clauses frequently have missing subjects: Playing the tuba at 3am is not popular. What is the subject of Playing? Indefinite. – John Lawler Mar 01 '14 at 03:46
  • Yes, I see your point about the missing subject in the example above. Bear with me for two more questions, then I will stop. 1) In my sentence above "Good writing requires hard work," would you say writing is a "true noun" or "a verbal noun" (#5 in your original link) but not a gerund? 2) What book/site do you recommend I consult to straighten out all these grammar questions I'm generating? Thank you again! – Elizabeth Mar 01 '14 at 04:11
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    It's hard to tell in a specific instance; changing the sentence by tests may cause it to mean something else than what was intended. But I would say it's a "true noun"; I used "verbal noun" only to indicate that it derives from a verb, and has the same shape as a verb form, like adjectives formed from participles (e.g, shelled in soft shelled crabs, which is clearly not a participle because there's no English verb shell meaning 'have a shell'). As for books, McCawley 1998 is where this is laid out most clearly. – John Lawler Mar 01 '14 at 16:22