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Originally Posted by gjo123  Humble, you are so kind to attempt a followup attempt at getting me to find and understand a solution to my question. I'm not sure we are on the same page, however. So, allow me to begin afresh. I saw a title on a video. The title was: "Getting Started" . . . If "started is not the predicate, how can I be sure? Started does not seem to meet the criteria you set forth. |
The problem here is the verb "get". It is not normally classified as a linking verb or an auxiliary verb, but it can act as an auxiliary/linking verb. There are those who consider this use to be informal or even incorrect, but it is very common.
It is obvious that "getting started" is the subject of your original sentence. As such, it must be a noun phrase. The only way that could happen is if it is a gerund phrase (participles cannot be nouns). Gerunds, however, because they arose from verbs can only take adverbial modifiers and "started" is not an adverb in that use. So "get started" has to be seen as auxiliary/linking verb + past participle. Adding the -ing to get makes it a gerund in this use.
You could replace "getting started" with "starting" in your sentence, and that would clearly be a gerund/noun.