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A man used his walking stick. Is walking in this case a gerund or an adjective?

SKYLR SONG
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2 Answers2

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A man used his walking-stick

I'd say that "walking-stick" is a single word, a compound consisting of verb + noun, where the verbal element has the ing suffix (i.e. it has the gerund-participle form).

It has a purposive meaning ("stick for walking"), as do these similar examples: "frying-pan" ("pan for frying in"), "chewing-gum" ("gum for chewing"), "drinking-water" ("water for drinking").

BillJ
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    This does nothing to actually answer the question—aside from changing the terminology, and also suggesting an unusual stylistic change that wasn't part of the question. – Jason Bassford May 24 '20 at 13:19
  • @IsabelArcher Yes, I would. I take "swimming-pool" as a single word, a compound noun ("pool for swimming in"), thus hyphenated. The same applies to the others. If they weren't written as a single word they would be syntactic constructions consisting of noun+modifier. But as compounds, they consist of two bases. Such compounds are mainly hyponymic, but there are a few lexicalised exceptions, such as "whipping-boy" and "scapegoat", though these don't have the clear purposive meaning of the others. Not all compounds are hyphenated, of course, cf. "greenhouse", "beehive", motorcycle" etc. – BillJ May 24 '20 at 13:23
  • @JasonBassford It deals precisely with the question of the word class of "walking", adding by implication the interesting and relevant fact that since the word "walking-stick" is a compound, it thus does not consist of separate words in a syntactic construction. Compare "greenhouse" (compound) and "green house" (syntactic construction) – BillJ May 24 '20 at 13:35
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    Is there an easily accessible source that suggests that these terms are compound nouns? I'm not disputing the viability of the concept -- just asking whether it has been espoused by any recognized sources. – Isabel Archer May 24 '20 at 13:40
  • @IsabelArcher Note that even if it were considered a compound noun, whether it should be open, hyphenated, or closed is a matter of style, not of grammar. You can find numerous examples of generally recognized compound nouns that take all three of those stylistic forms. – Jason Bassford May 24 '20 at 13:44
  • @IsabelArcher Yes, the award-winning and currently most authoritative grammar available, The Cambridge Grammar of The English Language by Huddleston & Pullum. – BillJ May 24 '20 at 13:44
  • And no, it's not a matter of style. There are certain tests that can be performed for compoundhood, but they are rather complex for discussion here. – BillJ May 24 '20 at 14:01
  • Compounds are not 'open' as you put it. Such expressions are syntactic constructions (head+modifier or complement). Compounds are single words that happen in some instances to be hyphenated, cf. "ashtray" and "motorcycle" with "honey-bee" and "palm-tree". The hyphenation is relatively incidental to the contrast between compounds vs syntactic constructions. – BillJ May 24 '20 at 14:09
  • @IsabelArcher There have been threads discussing the problems associated with the poser 'when is it correct to consider a two-orthographic-word string a compound?' Is “missing person” considered a compound noun? and Compounds and Phrases {compound nouns vs free combinations, collocations}. – Edwin Ashworth May 24 '20 at 14:37
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    Incidentally, note that compounds like "greenhouse", "sweetheart" and "cotton-plant" are pronounced with the main stress on the first component, while syntactic constructions like "green house", "sweet taste" and "cotton shirt" have it on the second. – BillJ May 24 '20 at 14:44
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Both gerunds and present participles can be used as adjectives. This is a gerund used as an adjective, not a present participle, because the stick itself is not doing the walking. The same goes for "swimming pool" or "reading glasses".

"He looked outside at the falling snow" is an example of a present participle used as an adjective. In this case, the snow is doing the falling.

See Medium for an explanation of the difference between a gerund used as an adjective and a present participle used as an adjective.

Isabel Archer
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