I saw her crossing the street

[englishhobby]

In the sentence 'I saw her crossing the street' is 'crossing' more a gerund or a participle?
Is it closer in meaning to the word 'crossing' in 'Crossing the street in this place is dangerous' (gerund) or in 'Crossing the street, she stumbled' (participle)?

 

[jutfrank]

Just call it the -ing form of the verb cross. It's a present participle.

 

[5jj]

Few grammarians these days see any point in attempting to distinguish between present participles and gerunds. Some call all the -ing forms participles, others participle-gerunds, others still -ing forms. I go with -ing forms.