walking to the park

[keannu]

Does it have to be "to walk to the park" instead of walking to the park? Doesn't "walking to the park" make sense here? I'd like to know the difference between using gerund and using to-infinitive.

ex)It takes twenty minutes walking to the park.

[5jj]

There are several possibilities here. For me the most natural are, " !t's a twenty-minute walk to the park' , 'It takes twenty minutes to get to the park on foot. or 'It takes twenty minutes to walk to the park.'

'Walking (gerund) to the park takes me twenty minutes' and 'Walking to the park (participle), it takes me twenty minutes are possibilities. The last contains a dangling participle, and many would consider it incorrect.

As regards differences in meaning, they are not particularly significant. It's a matter of personal preference.

[keannu]

There are several possibilitie here. For me the most natural are, " !t's a twenty-minute walk to the park' , 'It takes twenty minutes to get to the park on foot. or 'It takes twenty minutes to walk to the park.'

'Walking (gerund) to the park takes me twenty minutes' and 'Walking to the park (participle), it takes me twenty minutes are possibilities. The last contains a dangling participle, and many would consider it incorrect.

As regards differences in meaning, they are not particularly significant. It's a matter of personal preference.

We usually call it false subject, and the underlined true subject, anyway, are you saying this is impossible or not?
It takes twenty minutes walking to the park.

[5jj]

We usually call it false subject, who is 'we'? and the underlined true subject, ? anyway, are you saying this is impossible or not?
It takes twenty minutes walking to the park. No, I didn't say that. Please don't make leaps like that.

5

[keannu]

5

We usually call it false subject, who is 'we'? and the underlined true subject, ? => "We" is Korean grammarians.

I meant "walking to the park" as a gerund not a present participle, but in your explanation, you accepted it as a present participle. I asked if to infinitive and gerund are interchangeable as I seem to have seen a few cases, but judging from your perception, there seems to be no such chance.

ex)It takes twenty minutes walking to the park.
ex1) It is important to be polite = Being polite is important = It is important being polite(???)

[5jj]

I meant "walking to the park" as a gerund not a present participle, but in your explanation, you accepted it as a present participle. I did not. Read post #2.
I asked if to infinitive and gerund are interchangeable as I seem to have seen a few cases, but judging from your perception, there seems to be no such chance. I did not suggest that. Read posts #2 and #4.

keannu, I see no point in my attempting to respond to your questions if you are not going to read my responses as I wrote them. It is a waste of my time and of that of others if I have to point out every so often that I have not written something that you say I have.

[keannu]

keannu, I see no point in my attempting to respond to your questions if you are not going to read my responses as I wrote them. It is a waste of my time and of that of others if I have to point out every so often that I have not written something that you say I have.

First, I'm really sorry if I caused some annoyance to you. I realize I should have been more careful in understanding your answers and in my follow-ups. Sometimes I couldn't understand fully your answers, and to clarify them, I re-asked again and again, and that probably caused this result. Being a non-native speaker, sometimes I can't fully understand your explanation or implied meanings. I think perfect understanding can occur only between the same levels, but anyway I feel I should strive to understand well and think again before following-up.

In this thread, my understanding was that anyway, you took two possibilities of gerund and present participle, but they were placed in the front of the sentence, and I was curious what happens when it comes at the end of the sentence, so I thought you took it as a present participle. But this might be making leaps.

Anyway, I'll be more careful in understanding and following-up. Thank you!