Gerund? Linking verb?

[mark mayne]

My student challenged me to come up with a complete sentence that has only one verb and that verb would end in -ing. HELP! Has any one else heard of this challenge or have the answer. :?:

 

[2006]

My student challenged me to come up with a complete sentence that has only one verb and that verb would end in -ing. HELP! Has any one else heard of this challenge or have the answer. :?:

Do you think it's possible to have a sentence with only an -ing verb?

 

[Nightmare85]

Learning is effective.

It's a sentence that contains only one verb which ends in an "-ing".
However, this would be way too easy... :-?

A sentence that has only one WORD (does not matter if it's a verb or whatever) can't exist in my opinion...

Cheers!

 

[2006]

Learning is effective.

It's a sentence that contains only one verb which ends in an "-ing".
However, this would be way too easy... :-?


Cheers!

In your sentence, the verb is "is". "Learning" is a gerund, and a gerund functions as a noun.

 

[Kondorosi]

My student challenged me to come up with a complete sentence that has only one verb and that verb would end in -ing. HELP! Has any one else heard of this challenge or have the answer. :?:

Each grammatical sentence has to have a finite verb. An -ing form is non-finite. If there is no other verb in the sentence, that means there is no finite verb. In this case, by definition, the cluster of words do not constitute a grammatical sentence.

QED.

 

[Raymott]

My student challenged me to come up with a complete sentence that has only one verb and that verb would end in -ing. HELP! Has any one else heard of this challenge or have the answer. :?:

If this is a trick question, and the wording of the question has been correctly reported, then "Please bring me my lunch" would be one of an infinite number of solutions.

 

[Kondorosi]

bring, cling, ring

Damn I am blind! And with laclustre power of imagination.

 

[mark mayne]

I tried bring but acording to the rules I would have to use bringing. I am stumped. My next thought was "Thanks for trying".

 

[Barb_D]

Perhaps it was a trick question. They weren't specifying that it has to be the the -ing form/participle of a verb, but just a verb that ends in -ing, so that bring, cling, etc. meet the rules.

 

[2006]

My next thought was "Thanks for trying".

But "Thanks for trying." is not a "complete sentence".

 

[Kondorosi]

I tried bring but acording to the rules I would have to use bringing.

What rules? :-D

a complete sentence that has only one verb and that verb would end in -ing

This is the "rule". What makes you think "bring" does not fill the bill? Please explain.

 

[indonesia]

What was the answer to this little tea-time teaser?

 

[2006]

What was the answer to this little tea-time teaser?

1...The rules of this exercise seem to be unclear, so it is a waste of time to pursue it further.
2...If the sentence requires a real verb with an added "ing" suffix, the task is impossible. (At least without spending/wasting a lot of time thinking about it, that is my answer.)

 

[Kondorosi]

complete sentence that has only one verb and that verb would end in -ing.

Bring me food.

Is it a complete sentence? Yes.
Does it have one verb? Yes.
Does the verb end in -ing? Yes.