240. Nouns that End with “-ing”

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“-ing” is a common ending of nouns as well as of verbs

SIMILARITY TO GERUNDS

The title of this post may seem a little confusing, since the -ing ending is typical of verbs, not nouns. With verbs, it makes either gerunds or participles (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). Since gerunds are like nouns, it may be thought that they are the focus. However, this is not the case – gerunds are examined elsewhere within these pages in 70. Gerunds.

Nouns with -ing resemble gerunds in that most have clearly been made by adding -ing to a verb. However, not all of them have this characteristic, and even those that do also have characteristics not possessed by gerunds. In this post I wish to explore these special characteristics, whilst also providing as many examples as I can of nouns possessing them. The list is surprisingly extensive, this perhaps indicating that -ing should be added to those suffixes that are considered in depth in this blog in 172. Multi-Use Suffixes.

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DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES

There are both objective and subjective means of recognising an -ing word as a noun rather than gerund. The main objective means is the -ing word being listed separately in a dictionary from any related verb.

A minor objective clue, applicable to just a few words, is the non-existence of a related verb. This is the situation, for example, with awning, evening(s), morning(s), ceiling(s), guttering, hoarding(s), outing(s), tidings and the two nouns in the phrase toing and froing (see 209. Fixed Phrases with “and”). Note that nouns ending with the suffix -ling (= “small” or “close”), such as darling, duckling, fledgling, hireling, inkling, quisling, sapling, sibling and underling, are not included here.

More subjectively, an -ing word is a noun rather than gerund if it cannot logically be used after the gerund-indicating words “the action (or state) of…” (see the discussion of example [i] in 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). This is the case, for example, with a painting meaning “image made with paint” and a liking meaning “usual preference”. One consequence of this feature is that -ing nouns are not a subtype of “action” nouns (which do mean “the action of…”). Action nouns have other endings (see 249. Action Noun Endings).

One other clue, able to help many but not all -ing nouns to be identified, is ability to be plural (i.e. countability). Gerunds usually lack this ability. Thus, if an -ing word is plural, or you know that it can be, you can be fairly sure that it is a noun rather than gerund. Consider this:

(a) Despite numerous failings, the king ruled successfully for 40 years.

Here, failings is not a gerund. The gerund form failing could not be used after numerous: we would instead have to say either much failing or failing numerous times, or use the action noun failures. Failings means not “failures” but “weaknesses”.

Common countable -ing nouns include awakening(s), beginning(s), being(s), blessing(s), booking(s), briefing(s), building(s), christening(s), clearing(s), comings and goings, covering(s), crossing(s), cutting(s), dealings, drawing(s), ending(s), failing(s), feeling(s), filings, filling(s), finding(s), fittings, following(s), gathering(s), happening(s), hearing(s), holding(s), leaning(s), liking, living, longing(s), meaning(s), meeting(s), misgivings, offering(s), opening(s), outgoings, painting(s), proceedings, rating(s), reading(s), recording(s), saying(s), setting(s), shooting(s), shortcoming(s), showing(s), sitting(s), takings, teaching(s), trappings, turning(s), (mis)understanding(s), undertaking(s), upbringing(s), (up)rising(s), warning(s), wedding(s), winnings, workings and writings.

Many of these have a quite unexpected meaning. For example, a clearing is a space without trees in a forest, a living is a means of earning income, and a showing is someone’s performance level in a competition. A shooting is an incident where someone with a gun fires a bullet into someone else – not to be confused with a shoot, which means a hunting expedition or a film-making episode. Further meaning explanations are in a practice exercise below.

Outgoings (= money paid out), shortcomings (= lacks) and upbringing (= childhood nurture and education) correspond to not a verb but a verb + adverb. The corresponding gerunds, going out, coming up short and bringing up, are very different in meaning (see, for example, 290. Ways of Using COME, #18). 

Two words that are not countable -ing nouns are parking and camping. Although both refer to places in some other languages, in English they are only gerunds meaning “the action of…”. To express the place meaning of parking, there must be a suitable following noun, such as lot, area or space. A place for camping is a campsite.

Training is also not a countable -ing noun, but it can be an uncountable one, meaning “fitness resulting from regular exercise”. It cannot by itself refer to the achievement of fitness; for that it needs a partner noun like activity, course, day, event, exercise or session.

Uncountable -ing nouns, which seem less numerous than countable ones, are slightly harder to distinguish from gerunds because of their similar inability to be plural. Common ones are bedding, clothing, colouring, hearing, heating, housing, learning, meaning, piping, reasoning, restructuring, roofing, shopping, seasoning, seating, standing, suffering, teaching, thinking, timing, training, understanding, well-being, wording, writing and wrongdoing.

As an illustration of how uncountable -ing nouns lack the “doing” or “being” meaning of gerunds, learning (gerund meaning = “acquiring knowledge”) just means “knowledge”, as in someone of learning; and reasoning (gerund meaning = “arguing using logic”) means “logic-based evidence”. Thinking (unlike thought) means “rationale”. Well-being (= “happiness and/or prosperity”) resembles outgoings and shortcomings in differing in both form and meaning from the corresponding gerund (being well = “avoiding illness”). For more about shopping, see 165. Confusions of Similar Structures 2, #3. For more about wording, see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #5.

Some of the words in the above list, it will be seen, also appear in the earlier list of countable -ing nouns. Their meanings are different:

a hearing = an examination of a case in a court of law
hearing = ability to perceive sounds

a meaning = the idea conveyed by a particular message
meaning = the idea conveyed by any message

a teaching = a piece of wise or religious advice
teaching = general doctrine

an understanding = an agreement
understanding = lack of confusion

writings = written compositions with a literary or expository purpose
writing = long-lasting visible linguistic communication

In each case, the uncountable meaning is like a substance and the countable one is a place or situation where the “substance” is involved. This is a distinction that is also able to be made by many nouns without -ing (see 43. Substance Locations).

One -ing word that might also belong in the list above is functioning. It is not listed separately in my dictionary, but I think it does have two meanings. Consider the following:

(b) The functioning of a mobile phone is invisible.

I think this is definitely a gerund use: functioning means the action of operation: what is invisible is any sign of it. By contrast, if invisible is replaced by incomprehensible, functioning means the manner of operation, which seems less gerund-like (see 114. Tricky Word Contrasts 3, #3).

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FURTHER MEANING OBSERVATIONS

It is noticeable that -ing noun meanings compared to gerund ones tend to belong to two particular categories. One, illustrated by the meaning of a clearing, is action outcomes: things created by the gerund action. The space of a clearing in a forest is created through the action of clearing trees away from it.

Additional -ing nouns with this kind of meaning include beginning(s), booking(s), building(s), covering(s), cutting(s), ending(s), filings, finding(s), gathering(s), learning, painting(s), recording(s), shopping, takings, thinking, training, understanding(s), undertaking(s), winnings, wording and writing(s).

The second common meaning category is activity locations. These are things or situations that involve the action (or state) expressed by the gerund – they accompany rather than follow it. Thus, a longing (= “strong continuous desire for something”) is an emotion involving the action of longing for (= desiring) something; and an uprising (= rebellious event) involves people rising up (= rebelling).

Other -ing nouns representing an activity location include awakenings, blessings, briefings, christenings, dealings, turnings, failings, feelings, followings, functioning, happenings, hearing(s), housing, meaning(s), reading(s), showings, seating, sittings, suffering, teaching(s), timing, turnings, well-being and workings.

Note that -ing nouns able to be either countable or uncountable, such as meaning, differ in their own meaning in terms of “substance” and “substance location”, but differ from gerunds in expressing the notion of either “action outcome” or “activity location”. Each of these latter notions is also sometimes expressed by ordinary nouns. For details and numerous examples, see 14. Action Outcomes and 19. Activity Locations.

There are also a few other meanings possible with -ing nouns. Clothing, piping and roofing tend, as resources, to refer to a future rather than existing situation. Standing (= “level of esteem”) involves not so much the act of standing as the place.

Cutting across the two main meaning categories is that of “feature” – something that is a part or characteristic of a person or thing. It is conveyed, for example, by cutting, ending, failing, feeling, functioning, learning, liking, meaning, timing, training, turning, understanding and well-being.

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PRACTICE EXERCISE: MEANINGS OF “-ing” NOUNS

Some of the -ing noun meanings above are quite unpredictable. The following exercise aims to assist their discovery and/or memorization.

Here are some -ing noun meanings. Try to match each with the right noun from the lists above (answers below).

1. The earliest section of a document or episode.
2. An artificial valley excavated for a railway, road or canal.
3. Ability to perform an action at the exactly right moment.
4. Good fortune or divine favour.
5. People who regularly monitor a particular person’s ideas or performances.
6. A wise person’s rules for a happy or rewarding life.
7. Shares or property possessed by a financial speculator.
8. Money earned from sales.
9. A medium carrying repeatable visual and/or aural aspects of a performance.
10. A side street joined onto a main road.
11. Arithmetical operations that helped an answer to be found.
12. A repetition-enhanced physical or mental condition.
13. Repeated visits to the same place.
14. A structure carrying an advertisement.
15. Very small, light pieces of iron
16. An opportunity
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Answers

1 = a beginning;  2 = a cutting;  3 = timing;  4 = a blessing;  5 = a following;  6 = teaching/s or sayings;  7 = a holding;  8 = takings;  9 = a recording;  10 = a turning (see 296. Tricky Word Contrasts 12, #6);  11 = workings;  12 = training;  13. toing and froing or comings and goings;  14 = a hoarding;  15 = (iron) filings;  16 = an opening

239. Nouns Combined with a “to” Verb

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When a “to” verb after a noun makes a noun phrase with it, the phrase type is not always the same

DEFINITION OF “TO” VERBS IN NOUN PHRASES

A noun phrase is a group of words that together have a noun role in a sentence. The most obvious kind comprises a central noun with words before and/or after it that help to clarify its meaning. Some, however, have a central verb, made suitable for a noun role either by putting the verb into an appropriate form (with to or -ing: see 70. Gerunds), or by starting with that or a question word (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”).

In noun phrases with a central noun, one of various possibilities that can follow the noun is a verb with to – an infinitive (see 252. Descriptive Wording after Nouns 1). It has to be distinguished from infinitives after a noun that are not making a noun phrase with it. Compare:

(a) There was money to spare.

(b) The project needed money to be completed.

To spare in (a) makes a true noun phrase with money. However to be completed in (b) is a separate adverbial expression indicating the purpose of all the words before, and is movable to the start of the sentence.

Another kind of sentence where the infinitive is adverbial and hence not part of a noun phrase is illustrated by the following:

(c) Einstein was a genius to understand relativity.

Here, instead of making a noun phrase with genius, the infinitive gives a reason for all the words before it. Sentences with this meaning usually have a complement-taking verb like BE (cf. was above) followed by a noun representing a positive or negative quality (a genius). Other examples of such nouns are a hero, an innovator, a master of…, a fool and a trickster.

Similar to sentences like (c) are the following:

(d) Einstein is a joy to study.

Once again, there is a complement-taking verb (is) before a noun representing a positive idea (a joy). The main difference is that the subject of the main verb (Einstein) is now also the object of the infinitive, rather than its subject (just like with certain adjectives, for example easy: see 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb). Another difference is that the living subject (Einstein) could be replaced by a non-living one, e.g. relativity. Examples of nouns that could logically replace a joy in (d) include a dream (= problem-free), child’s play, a challenge, a problem and a trial.

This kind of infinitive use I also rule out as a way of making a noun phrase. I find giving a reason harder to do, but I am struck by the fact that the infinitive could grammatically begin the sentence without changing the meaning.

Another kind of infinitive that does not make a noun phrase with a preceding noun makes instead a noun phrase of its own:

(e) It is a challenge to understand relativity.

Here, the underlined words correspond to it, the subject of the sentence. They are not themselves in the subject position because English does not like to put infinitive verbs there (see 103. Representing a Later Statement with “it”). The way a challenge makes a noun phrase with a following verb is, in fact, with of -ing (see 318. “It is” + Noun & Another Verb).

Finally, some infinitives after a noun complete a verb phrase with an earlier verb:

(f) Nobody should expect success to come easily.

Here, EXPECT is a verb with which any following infinitive is understood as an object – to come is not exclusively linked with success (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive). Slightly different is the following:

(g) There are references to follow.

If this means “references will follow later”, to follow goes with are, so that the sentence could be rewritten References are to follow. This is a use of arrangement-expressing BE TO (see 119. BE before a “to” Verb, #4). Starting with there is probably to avoid a noun subject lacking the (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences).

Infinitives that actually do make a noun phrase are of different types: possible after any noun and possible with only some. Occasionally, a comma may separate the noun from to. Here, the non-comma use is described; for the other see 289. Exotic Grammar Structures 8, #3.

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PHRASE-MAKING INFINITIVES USABLE WITH ANY NOUN

There are two important ways in which an infinitive can make a noun phrase with any noun. The first is as follows:

(h)  The budget includes money to cover expenses.

This may not seem very different from sentence (b) above, where a purpose infinitive is not making a phrase with the noun before it, relating instead to the entire statement. Yet to cover here has two possible meanings: relating either to the entire statement or to the preceding noun money, creating a function-naming noun phrase.

The function-naming use resembles that of for -ing after nouns, as in this example from 60. Purposes Sentences with “for”:

(i) The form has a space for giving details.

A possible reason for using for giving here instead of to give is that space is neither the subject nor object of GIVE – the subject is unmentioned “people”. Money in (h), by contrast, is understandable as the subject of COVER.

Other examples of the function-naming infinitive use are crops to feed…, a room to accommodate…, machines to dig and electricity to power….

The second important way in which an infinitive can make a noun phrase with most preceding nouns is illustrated in sentence (a) above (money to spare). Here, the noun is the object of the infinitive rather than its subject. The combination as a whole commonly follows HAVE (see the end of 116. Rarer Uses of HAVE) or there + BE.

The infinitive here can also be passive, but with a different, more time-dependent meaning. For example, There is work to do does not say when, but with …to be done implies “starting now”. Sometimes a further implication results from this difference (see the discussion of nothing to see / be seen in 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #1).

Both active and passive infinitives here mean who / that + “modal” verb + passive infinitive. Thus, money to spare means “money that can be spared”, the modal can indicating “ability”. Ability is also implied in water to drink, a story to enjoy and somebody to love. By contrast, the meaning of HAVE TO (= necessity) exists in things to do (= “jobs that have to be done”: see 260. Formal Written Uses of “Thing”, #12), a problem to solve, a train to catch and a mountain to climb (= a huge task). Other modal meanings include “will” (an event to be held…) and “must” (laws to obey).

The fact that some nouns with a to verb are its subject and some its object means that double meanings can occur. For example a device to measure could mean either a device with a measuring function or one needing to be measured (see 257. Structures with a Double Meaning 4, #1).

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INFINITIVES ALLOWED AFTER ONLY SOME NOUNS

Whereas the above infinitive uses are possible with most nouns, there is also one that is only possible with some:

(j) The management recognise a need to meet staff.

Here, the noun before to meet (need) is not its subject or its object (= staff). Yet to meet still indicates the kind or nature of the need. Verbs that act like this are not always in the infinitive form: after some nouns they need -ing, often along with a preceding preposition (e.g. possibility of -ing: see 78. Infinitive versus Preposition after Nouns), after other nouns a preceding that (e.g. belief that…: see the end of 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”).

Note that if staff is dropped from (h), the sentence becomes ambiguous: a need to meet could mean either “a need to hold a meeting” or “a need that must be met” (see 182. Structures with a Double Meaning 2, #5).

There are some small clues that can help nouns like need to be identified. Very often, there will be a similarly-spelled verb that can go directly before an infinitive. The verb NEED, of course, has this property (X needs to do Y). Other nouns resembling need in this way include desire, hope, intention, request and wish (for more, see 302 Verbs with a Partner Infinitive).

However, there are plenty of nouns with no corresponding verb: willingness, for example, corresponds to the adjective willing (which also needs any following verb to be an infinitive: see 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it). The noun a chance corresponds to no other word at all.

A second clue is that nouns usable like need often combine with a verb representing a human behaviour. Their own meanings tend to be of particuar kinds:

ABILITY: (in)ability, capacity, chance, failure, freedom, occasion, opportunity, permission, potential, time, turn.

NECESSITY: compulsion, duty, necessity, need, obligation, pressure, requirement, time.

WISH: choice, demand, desire, determination, happiness, hope, inclination, keenness, plan, a pleasure, preference, propensity, instinct, longing, motivation, refusal, tendency, urge, will, (un)willingness, wish, yearning.

PLAN: agreement, arrangement, attempt, commitment, decision, determination, expectation, intent, intention, mission, plan, plot, project, promise, proposal, resolve, scheme, threat, undertaking, vow, wait.

URGING: advice, appeal, call, command, directive, encouragement, help, incentive, instruction, invitation, order, plea, proposal, recommendation, reminder, request, suggestion, warning.

For a comparison of intent and intention, see 195. Tricky Word Contrasts 7, #2. For occasion versus opportunity, see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #3. For more on ability nouns, see 140. Words with Unexpected Grammar 2, #e. For nouns + to in it sentences, see 318. “It is” + Noun & Another Verb.

Note that many wish and plan nouns need that… instead of to before a verb whose action is not performed by the wishing / planning person (see the end of 287. Speech and Thought Nouns). Moreover, wish nouns expressing an emotion, such as happiness and pleasure, precede -ing instead of to if marking an action as ongoing rather than brief. And most urging nouns can freely replace to with that…should… (the advice that X should go…).

In addition to the listed words, aim has limited usability with an infinitive: one seems possible when aim follows a possessive noun (e.g. Caesar’s aim to…) but not when it just follows the (226. Words with Complicated Grammar 2, #3). An infinitive after way makes a suggestion, indicating a future action, but of -ing describes an existing or past action (see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1, #1).

There are some nouns that seemingly belong to a category above but lack the relevant infinitive possibility. Interest needs in -ing instead. Many others have of -ing. Examples are capability, custom, experience, habit, love (see 281. Words with Unexpected Grammar 4, #d), option, practice (see 242. Words with Unexpected Grammar 3, #e), purpose, possibility (see 78. Infinitive versus Preposition after Nouns) and rejection.

After alternative, of -ing names the alternative in question, while to -ing names another alongside it (see 266. Indicating Alternatives, #4).