being unable to walk outdoors is leaving me depressed

[JACEK1]

Hello everybody!

I would like to know if "being" in "being unable to walk outdoors is leaving me depressed" is a gerund or present participle.

The whole sentence was created by me and reads as follows:

Despite the recovery that I have made at long last, however, being housebound is leaving me depressed.

I think it's a gerund but I prefer to check with you.

Thank you.

 

[BobK]

:up:

b

 

[Tdol]

Maybe I'm a Luddite, but I can't get too worked up on the issue. -

 

[JACEK1]

Excuse my asking again, but does the answer in post 2 mean that my answer is right or wrong.

 

[Rover_KE]

The upward-pointing thumb shows that Bob agrees with you.

Rover

 

[Raymott]

Despite the recovery that I have made at long last, however, being housebound is leaving me depressed.

I think it's a gerund but I prefer to check with you.

Thank you.

You don't need 'however'. That function has already occurred with 'despite'.

 

[BobK]

Maybe I'm a Luddite, but I can't get too worked up on the issue. -

I don't think not getting worked up about this makes you a Luddite. Being able to tell a gerund from a present participle lets you decide between a 'smoking jacket' (casual attire) and 'a smoking jacket' (the result of a fire in a wardrobe), but I don't see it as an indispensable life-skill ;-)

b

 

[5jj]

I don't see it as an indispensable life-skill

You might if you were wearing the jacket.

 

[BobK]

But that life skill is just common sense. If it's a jacket that is smoking, you don't think 'It's a gerund - I'm OK' (which a friend might correct 'Nonsense; it's a participle - get out of there!')

b

 

[Odessa Dawn]

I don't think not getting worked up about this makes you a Luddite. Being able to tell a gerund from a present participle lets you decide between a 'smoking jacket' (casual attire) and 'a smoking jacket' (the result of a fire in a wardrobe), but I don't see it as an indispensable life-skill ;-)

b

Honestly, I couldn't understand your post, Bob. Do you mean that …

​

... if writers don't know the difference between “rack” and “wrack,” or between a gerund and a participle, why should we trust them on anything else?
Grammar News - The New York Times

 

[emsr2d2]

I can't find anything in Bob's post which suggests that we should or shouldn't trust writers. The simple truth is that we native English speakers can easily get through our entire lives quite happily and with no adverse effects, without ever knowing the difference between a gerund and a participle. The only people who need to know the difference are teachers. When a word is spelt/pronounced the same whether it's a gerund or a participle, we don't need to know which one it is.

 

[Tdol]

I don't think not getting worked up about this makes you a Luddite. Being able to tell a gerund from a present participle lets you decide between a 'smoking jacket' (casual attire) and 'a smoking jacket' (the result of a fire in a wardrobe), but I don't see it as an indispensable life-skill ;-)

b

Or even a smoking smoking jacket.

 

[BobK]

No - I think that attitude is pretty silly. Language is a tool, not a straitjacket (and if people want to spell that 'straightjacket' I'm not particularly bothered). ;-)

b

 

[BobK]

This was the post I was responding to in my last post. When I said 'I didn't mean that' I meant the one expressed in that NYT column (although I haven't yet read the column, and wonder whether the column itself actually takes the side expressed in that elitist quote.

Honestly, I couldn't understand your post, Bob. Do you mean that …

​

b

 

[JACEK1]

It is not always easy, for me at least, to distinguish between the present participle and gerund.

 

[emsr2d2]

Context and the surrounding grammar are really your only clues when the two are spelt the same.

 

[5jj]

It is not always easy, for me at least, to distinguish between the present participle and gerund.

As most native speakers can't distinguish between the two, I wouldn't worry too much.