Is “bubbling” a noun or participle form of bubble?

[rezaaa]

The Cabinet Office said ministers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had endorsed a "shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days". If it is noun, does that mean “to gather”?

 

[probus]

I guess in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, a bubble is the strictly limited social circle with whom a person can have contact while still limiting risk. I'm a poor gramnarian but I'd call bubbling a participle or a gerund rather than a noun.

 

[Phaedrus]

The Cabinet Office said ministers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had endorsed a "shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days". If it is noun, does that mean “to gather”?

"Bubbling" is clearly a gerund (a noun formed from [verb+ing]), not a participle, in that phrase.

The noun/gerund "bubbling" is modified by adjectives, as nouns can be but verbs cannot. It is also introduced by the quantifier "some."

In the context of the article, there should be a hyphen between "additional" and "household": "some limited additional-household bubbling."

The meaning is that some bubbling involving additional households is to be facilitated to a limited extent during the holiday season.

 

[PaulMatthews]

The Cabinet Office said ministers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had endorsed a "shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days.

I'd go along with what Phaedrus says.

Further evidence of nounhood comes from the fact that "bubbling" can take an of PP, as in the bubbling of year groups.

 

[PeterCW]

I read it as:
...shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days.

rather than

...shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days.

 

[emsr2d2]

I read it as:
...shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days.

rather than

...shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days.

It's hard to tell which was intended but if it's the second, "additional-household" needs to be hyphenated.

 

[jutfrank]

The meaning is that the number of households that can form a bubble is going up from two to three.

 

[Tdol]

The meaning is that the number of households that can form a bubble is going up from two to three.

It's still only an objective- don't get your hopes up.

 

[emsr2d2]

The meaning is that the number of households that can form a bubble is going up from two to three.

I didn't make myself clear. I understood the main meaning. However, I don't know if the writer intended it to be read as:

1. "additional + household bubbling"
2. "additional-household + bubbling"

 

[jutfrank]

I didn't make myself clear. I understood the main meaning. However, I don't know if the writer intended it to be read as:

1. "additional + household bubbling"
2. "additional-household + bubbling"

I don't follow. You were suggesting that you didn't understand because your numbers 1 and 2 have different meanings.

My post was meant to point out that the writer means what you're representing with sentence 2. The word additional relates to household, not bubbling. The person quoted was talking about one additional household, not additional bubbling.

 

[Phaedrus]

The word additional relates to household, not bubbling. The person quoted was talking about one additional household, not additional bubbling.

Apart from adding a hyphen between "additional" and "household," it's difficult to think of a clearer way to state the gerund phrase. This is the best I can do:

". . . ministers endorsed a shared objective of endorsing some limited bubbling together of additional households for a small number of days . . . ."