Is snorkeling a gerund: The children are going snorkeling

[leslieking]

Is "snorkeling" a gerund in this sentence? The children are going snorkeling.
Is the sentence in the present continuous tense?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes and yes.

 

[leslieking]

Is it the same thing like: They are going fishing?
fishing is gerund too?

 

[Matthew Wai]

The -ing form after 'go' is a gerund, according to http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/go_gerund.htm

Not a teacher.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Zoltankr:

You have already received the answers to your questions.

I just wanted to share some information that may interest you.

*****

1. In English, sometimes there is more than one way to analyze a sentence.

2. "The girl came running."

a. One analysis claims that in older English, there was the preposition "a": The girl came a-running. And, as you know, an -ing word after a preposition is defined as a gerund.

i. Therefore, one can say that in "The girl came running," there is an "understood" preposition; thus, "running" is a gerund.

b. Another analysis says that in "The girl came running," the -ing word "running" is a participle.

As you know, a participle is used as an adjective.

i. Therefore, this analysis claims that "running" modifies (refers to) the subject "the girl."

*****

3. "Let's go fishing." According to one of my favorite books, you have this choice of analysis:

a. "Let's go fishing" = "Let's go a-fishing." ("Fishing" is a gerund, after the preposition "a.")

b. "Let's go fishing" = "Fishing" is a participle that modifies (refers to) "us." ["Let's" = Let us.]


I do NOT know which analysis is preferred by most American teachers in 2014.


James


Sources: Pence and Emery, A Grammar of Present-Day English (1963); House and Harman, Descriptive English Grammar (1950).