321. Types of “-ing” Verb after a Verb

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There are  a variety of circumstances where a verb after another one has “-ing”

THE VARIETY OF POSSIBILITIES

A verb ending with -ing may be an adjective-like “participle” or a noun-like “gerund” (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). Either of these forms may combine closely with a verb placed just before them. They can do so in various ways, of which the main ones may be illustrated as follows:

(a) Doctors recommend taking a daily walk.

(b) Doctors foresee children becoming more obese.

(c) Children enjoy hearing (or adults telling) stories.

(d) Children like hearing (or adults telling) stories.

(e) Children can help friends struggling to learn.

(f) Parents should go walking with their children.

(g) A recommended form of exercise is walking.

In (a) here, taking directly follows the verb recommend and is understood as its grammatical object, making it noun-like and hence a gerund. In (b), becoming is separated from the verb foresee by the noun children, the gerund’s subject. Sentence (c) illustrates a verb (enjoy) that can go either directly before an -ing object (hearing) or before an intervening noun (adults telling). In the latter case, both words are the object but the primary meaning is still with the gerund (see 232. Verbs with an Object + “-ing”).

Sentence (d) above is similar to (c), but it illustrates a verb (like) that allows a following -ing verb (hearing, telling) to be replaced by a to (infinitive) verb carrying a slightly different meaning (to hear, to tell).

In (e), struggling follows the verb help and its noun object friends. Unlike in (b) and (c), however, this noun is the primary word in the object – it is only friends that receive the mentioned help, not their struggles. Thus, struggling is merely a description of the type of friends involved, making it adjective-like and hence a participle.

In (f), walking cannot be the object of go before it (because GO is an intransitive verb), but is instead a participle describing the subject of go (parents). In (g), walking is a complement of the verb BE, exactly identifying a recommended form of exercise, the subject of BE (see 117. Restating Generalizations More Specifically, #1). As such, it is a gerund.

The above sentences do not illustrate every possible way in which an -ing verb can follow another verb. One major excluded type is BE + participle, as in Children are playing. It is excluded because the participle is not sufficiently separate from BE, acting instead in partnership with it to make a single verb form, the present continuous tense of WALK. The other major excluded type is what I call “add-on” participles, which are not closely linked to the main verb in the sentence, but describe its subject, like this:

(h) The research ANALYSED markets PAYING particular attention to prices.

Here, the subject of paying is not markets, the object of analysed, but the research, its subject. For discussion of sentences like this, see 101. Add-on Participles.

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VERBS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH TYPE

1. Verbs like RECOMMEND

There seem to be relatively few verbs after which an -ing verb is always an object/gerund without an intervening noun, as in (a). Common ones are ADVISE, CONSIDER (= decide whether to perform the -ing action), DENY, RECOMMEND, REGRET, REJECT, RESUME and SUGGEST. Of these, ADVISE is most able to have a noun before a following verb, but the verb then needs to be changed into the to form (see 250. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar 1, #3).

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2. Verbs like FORESEE

Adding a noun before an -ing object, as in (b), is usually necessary after some cause-effect verbs of the prepositional kind, e.g. CONTRIBUTE TO, HOPE FOR, LEAD TO, LONG FOR, RESULT IN (see 32. Expressing Consequences) and WARN OF, plus a small number of other verbs, including DEMONSTRATE (= “present”), DISCOVER (= accidentally encounter”), FORECAST, FORESEE, PREDICT and SHOW (= “present”).

 

3. Verbs like ENJOY

Ability to be used equally with or without a noun before an -ing gerund is probably the most commonly found. Common verbs possessing it include ACCEPT, ANTICIPATE, APPRECIATE, AVOID, CATCH (= “observe … acting secretly”), ENDURE, ENJOY, ENTAIL, ENVISAGE, HINDER, IMAGINE, INSIST ON, INVOLVE, KEEP, LOOK FORWARD TO, MEAN (= entail), (NOT) MIND, MODEL, NECESSITATE, OBSERVE, PHOTOGRAPH, PREVENT, RECORD, RISK, STOP, STUDY and THINK OF (= picture).

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4. Verbs like LIKE

Verbs that can link with either -ing or to… after them, giving each a different meaning without changing themselves, are of two main types. With the more common, -ing (Children like hearing…) draws attention to its verb’s action through time, whereas an infinitive (Children like to hear…) presents the action as more instantaneous.

Verbs that can make this contrast fall into three meaning groups. LIKE is a like/dislike verb. Similar are LONG FOR, LOVE, PREFER, WANT, YEARN FOR and HATE. However, not all like/ dislike verbs allow the to/-ing choice: only -ing is possible after APPRECIATE, APPROVE OF, DISLIKE, ENJOY, WELCOME, ABHOR, DETEST, DISAGREE WITH and LOATH (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1, #b). Underlined verbs in both lists can also link with it that… (see 190. Special Uses of “it”, #4).

Next among verbs allowing the above -ing/to… choice are a few that express sensation. Examples are FEEL, HEAR, LISTEN TO, NOTICE, SEE, SENSE, SMELL and WATCH. With these, the choice is better said to involve an “infinitive” than a to verb because to must be dropped (see 148. Infinitive Verbs without “to”, #2).

The third choice-allowing group express dependency, with verbs like COUNT ON, DEPEND ON, NEED, RELY ON and REQUIRE. Outside of these three areas, HAVE meaning “cause” also allows the -ing/infinitive choice, the latter again without to (see the end of 116. Rarer Uses of HAVE).

The second broad type of verb that can link with a following verb ending in either -ing or to… also requires the choice to be made according to an aspect of the following verb’s meaning – but not the aspect outlined above.

The verbs FORGET and REMEMBER, for example, need -ing with past remembered events and to with future ones. They allow an intervening noun in the first case but not the second. BEGIN, CEASE and CONTINUE allow either –ing or to…, without any intervening noun. Often, there is no meaning difference, but sometimes there seems to be association with either a single extended action or multiple repeated ones.

TRY needs -ing to imply experimentation with a behaviour, and to… to imply that a preferred behaviour is being attempted with effort that may fail. PROPOSE means “suggest” with -ing and “intend” with to…. OMIT means “not mention” with -ing and “not do” with to…. For more on such distinctions, see 302. Verbs with a Partner Infinitive, #2.

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5. Verbs with an “-ing” Participle

Any verb that can have a noun object is likely to be usable with a subsequent -ing participle, as in (e) above. Some verbs, such as HELP in (e), will not allow an -ing gerund instead, but some will. With the latter, a double meaning sometimes occurs. Consider this:

(i) Some experiments involve animals suffering pain.

If suffering here is a participle, the message is that suffering pain is not the focus of some experiments. Rather, the type of animals involved in the experiments – those already suffering pain – is being specified. By contrast, if suffering here is a gerund, the message is that animal pain is induced during the experiments (see 257. Structures with a Double Meaning 4, #2).

 

6. Verbs like GO

GO is unusual in allowing a following -ing participle without an intervening noun. The noun it describes is instead the subject of the GO verb. Its most typical meaning in such cases is “go out to enjoy…”. Commonly-used participles are driving, hiking, hunting, riding, running, shopping, swimming, visiting and walking (see 176. Ways of Using “Go”, #3).

Similar to GO -ing are COME -ing (see 290. Ways of Using COME), and TAKE someone -ing (see 264. Variations in the Use of TAKE, #17).

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7. Verbs like BE

As mentioned above, BE may combine with an -ing participle to make a standard present continuous tense form. However, if the meaning does not fit this interpretation, as in sentence (g), an -ing form is likely to be a gerund (for a particularly interesting example, see 69. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 2, sentence #b).

The reason for the existence of two possibilities after BE is that it is a verb typically needing a “complement”, a sentence component that may be either adjective-like, opening the way for participles, or noun-like, opening the way for gerunds (see 220. Features of Complements, #2).

Different complement-taking verbs have different requirements. REMAIN is very like BE, but BECOME and SEEM are unlikely to have a following participle (preferring a noun or adjective instead). TURN is unlikely to have either a participle or gerund, normally preferring an adjective. Some complement-taking verbs, moreover, including BE and BECOME, allow a noun before a partner -ing word:

(j) The saddest sight was children begging for food.

In these cases, the distinction between a participle and gerund seems blurred.

320. Special Participle Uses

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Some participle uses involve only a small subset of participles as a whole

GENERAL AND SPECIAL PARTICIPLE USES

Participles – verbs with -ing or passive -ed acting like adjectives to describe a noun – have a variety of uses that might be termed “general”, for example as a replacement for who or which (see 52. Participles Placed Just after a Noun). Uses that I am calling “special”, on the other hand, are ones that require particular participles instead of allowing a free choice. Most help to form fixed expressions like depending on.

The aim of this post is to identify different types of special participle use, and to illustrate them with as wide a variety as possible of their associated participles. The post thus belongs among various others with “special” in their title, such as 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences,  190. Special Uses of “It”,  200. Special Uses of Relative Clauses and 235. Special Uses of “the”.

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TYPES OF SPECIAL USE

1. Preposition Equivalents

Ability to paraphrase a preposition seems to be more usual among -ing participles than -ed ones (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #2). An example of a participle equating to a preposition is accompanying instead of with:

(a)  There will be a letter accompanying the parcel.

ACCOMPANY is a rare verb whose -ed form (+ by) can also replace with:

(b)  The parcel will come accompanied by a letter.

It is only some participles that can replace a preposition. One reason is that many participle meanings are too far away from a preposition meaning to represent one. Another is that usable participles must be made from object-requiring (“transitive”) verbs, so that their object can become the “object” noun that prepositions always need (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #1). Thus, participles from object-refusing verbs, such as SUFFICE, are ruled out.

Participles that commonly act like a preposition include the following:

comprising – of (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns, #12)
concerning – about
considering – in view of (see 296. Tricky Word Contrasts 12, #4)
containing – of (see 160. Uses of “Of”)
covering – over
excepting – except (see 215. Naming Exceptions)
facing – opposite
flanking – alongside, next to
following – after, behind
lacking – without
neighbouring – near
occupying – on
passing – past
piercing – through
preceding – before
regarding – with regard to
spanning – across
supporting – under
surrounding – around
using – with (see 73. Prepositions for Saying How)

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2. In Compound Adjectives

Participles can easily combine with an adverb, adjective or noun to make a compound adjective. In a surprising number of cases, the compounds are common enough to be considered fixed.

Participles combined with an adverb are likely to be derived from an intransitive (object-less) verb (see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive). Fixed combinations include deep-thinking, fast-flowing, free-wheeling, hard-working, high-achieving, long-lasting, never-ending, obstinately-persisting, quick-acting, rapidly-deteriorating, slow-growing, slowly-receding and wildly-fluctuating.

By contrast, participles combined with an adjective are likely to be derived from a complement-taking verb (see 220. Features of Complements). Fixed combinations include bitter-tasting, foul-smelling, good-looking, innocent-seeming, positive-sounding and rough-feeling.

Participles combined with a noun are likely to be derived from a transitive (object-needing) verb. Fixed combinations include all-encompassing, awe-inspiring, breath-taking, disease-carrying, fun-loving, heart-stopping, law-breaking, meat-eating, money-grabbing, pleasure-seeking, record-breaking, self-supporting, time-consuming and trouble-causing. Some of these can drop their hyphen so as to become a noun phrase (see 223. Uses of Hyphens, #4C).

Various other examples do not fit any of these patterns, e.g. self-seeking (= seeking things for oneself), highly-regarded, house-trained (= trained for house living), oven-cooked (= cooked in an oven), water-borne (= carried in water), well-known and wind-assisted (= assisted by wind).

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3. In Multi-Word Prepositions

Prepositions tend to be thought of as single words but can also be multi-word. Prepositions of two, three or even more words can be identified, though the last word will always be a familiar shorter preposition like to. Common examples are along with, according to, in front of and on the basis of.

The word according in according to is a participle. Other multi-word prepositions with one include based on, compared to, depending on, linked to and owing to. For their main uses, see 221. Multi-Word Prepositions, #3.

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4. In Multi-Word Conjunctions

Conjunction-based participles are typically followed by that. Common examples are assuming that, considering that, given that, granted that, provided that, seeing that and supposing that. A typical use might be:

(c) Given that chemical fertilisers often harm the environment, how else can crop yields be maximised?

The two verbs that sentences with a conjunction generally require are underlined. For an in-depth overview of that conjunctions, see 230. Multi-Word Conjunctions, #1.

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5. In a Starting Parenthetical Statement

Information that is not the main message of a sentence is often located at the start by means of an -ing participle and following comma. Most participles are usable in this way, but special ones do more. They tend to indicate that the main part of the sentence expresses the writer’s own belief:

(d) Speaking as economists, we have to disagree.

Such participles are usually ones of speaking or thinking. They often lack an object noun, but then need an as phrase (as economists) or adverb, e.g. honestly. Common verbs besides speaking include arguing, reasoning, thinking and writing. Two frequent verbs that need an object are considering and ignoring.

A further feature of special participles in a parenthetical statement at the start of a sentence is that they tend to be more usable there than ordinary participles when the subject of the main verb differs from their own, like inflation in the following:

(e) Speaking honestly, inflation has to be controlled.

For details of why ordinary participles often cannot be used like this, see 75. How to Avoid “Dangling” Participles.

A complete participle-based parenthetical statement often resembles what I call “communication-describing” adverbs like bluntly, which say how their user is speaking (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs #2). Indeed, some of the adverbs that can accompany speaking etc. – e.g. bluntly, clearly, frankly, honestly, plainly – are also usable alone.

Occasionally, the verb in a parenthetical statement like (d) or (e) is an infinitive (with to) rather than participle. For details, see the end of 183. Statements between Commas.

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6. With GO, COME and TAKE

These verbs can all be followed by an object-less -ing participle expressing a non-domestic leisure activity, such as boating camping, dancing, driving, fishing, hiking, hunting, riding, running, sailing, shopping, sightseeing, skiing, surfing, swimming, touring, travelling, visiting and walking.

GO and COME mean “go/come out to enjoy” (see the introduction to 290. Ways of Using COME). TAKE needs an object noun representing someone co-enjoying the activity under the supervision of the main performer, e.g. take someone swimming (see 264. Variations in the Use of TAKE, #18).

A slight problem with this usage is a few participles that seem eligible for it but are actually not, such as dining, eating, holidaying and praying (see 176. Ways of Using GO, #3).

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7. Describing a Following Noun

This general use of -ing participles becomes a more special one when the resultant noun phrase is a fixed, often idiomatic one (i.e. a collocation). Examples are:

burning desires
compelling evidence
defining moments
diminishing returns
distinguishing features
glaring omissions
helping hands
mounting debts
overwhelming urges
pressing matters
promising situations
running water
sickening regularity
sitting ducks
soaring profits
striking results
training courses
trying circumstances
winning strategies/smiles

Care is needed, in identifying such phrases, not to confuse them with identical-looking gerund-noun combinations like meeting rooms. For the difference, see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”.