Many income funds are worth considering ...

[Bambook]

In these two lines are the "ing" words after "worth" gerunds or verbs in progressive forms? If they are gerunds here, then in all similar sentences, there are many such by the link I am giving, they are also gerunds, right?

Many income funds are worth considering since the total return is often better than from a growth fund.
It is worth keeping an eye on rates over the coming weeks.

Source - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/worth

 

[BobK]

In these two lines are the "ing" words after "worth" gerunds or verbs in progressive forms? If they are gerunds here, then in all similar sentences, there are many such by the link I am giving, they are also gerunds, right?

Many income funds are worth considering since the total return is often better than from a growth fund.
It is worth keeping an eye on rates over the coming weeks.

Source - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/worth

In that extract, 'considering' and 'keeping' are gerunds; 'coming' is not.

The structure is 'It is worth +<gerund>'. Maybe you haven't met it...? I think a good way of thinking of it is as another way of saying 'It is worth YOU doing something'. (You may hear some older speaskers - like me - saying 'It is worth YOUR doing something' but I fear this possessive is falling into desuetude - like 'desuetude' )

 

[Bambook]

In that extract, 'considering' and 'keeping' are gerunds; 'coming' is not.

The structure is 'It is worth +<gerund>'. Maybe you haven't met it...? I think a good way of thinking of it is as another way of saying 'It is worth YOU doing something'. (You may hear some older speaskers - like me - saying 'It is worth YOUR doing something' but I fear this possessive is falling into desuetude - like 'desuetude' )

What a woderful reply! "YOU doing something" and "YOUR doing something" and "desuetude" will come handy for me as well.
The problem with "worth" for me was that I saw explanations like "It is worth +doing", and though I could use it, I could not clearly understand it. And now when it came to explaning this structure to my son I did not want to pass my vague understanding to him. I am happy I have you here to ask from.
Thank you for taking the trouble of mentioning "YOUR doing something" and explaning about some older speakers. Because I tought it was some special structure, and kept postponig to study it.

 

[Annabel Lee]

In these two lines are the "ing" words after "worth" gerunds or verbs in progressive forms?

Worth is complemented by a substantive (e.g., The ring was worth a thousand dollars), so the -ing phrase after worth functions as a substantive, not as a progressive form. After worth, -ing phrases normally have a passive meaning:

Many income funds are worth considering

In that example, many income funds functions, semantically, as the direct object of considering; thus, the sentence has the same meaning as Many income funds are worth being considered. Notice, too, that the direct object of consider would follow that verb directly in the related infinitive construction: It is worthwhile to consider many income funds.

It is worth keeping an eye on rates over the coming weeks.

I find that example a bit awkward. Native speakers do talk like that; I probably even do myself from time to time. But the -ing form, in examples like that, does not take the subject (it) as its implied direct object; the idiom keep an eye on has rates as its object, and that appears within the -ing phrase. One possible fix is to have rates replace it as subject:

​

Rates will be worth keeping an eye on over the coming weeks.​

I prefer will be worth to are worth there. A second possible fix is to use dummy it as subject, worthwhile or worth your/our while instead of worth, and an infinitive instead of the -ing phrase:

It will be worthwhile to keep an eye on rates over the coming weeks.​

It will be worth your while to keep an eye on rates over the coming weeks.​

A third possible fix (the least elegant, in my opinion) is to use dummy it twice over, as native speakers sometimes do, and an infinitive instead of the -ing phrase:

It will be worth it to keep an eye on rates over the coming weeks.​

Personally, my favorite revision is the blue one.

 

[jutfrank]

In these two lines are the "ing" words after "worth" gerunds or verbs in progressive forms?

This is not a great question because it depends on what definition of 'gerund' you're using. Also, why does terminology matter?

What you and your son need to know about meaning and use is that the -ing phrase after 'worth' denotes some kind of action.

 

[emsr2d2]

What a woderful reply! "YOU doing something" and "YOUR doing something" and "desuetude" will come word missing here handy for me as well.
The problem with "worth" for me was that I saw explanations like "It is worth +doing", and though I could use it, I could not clearly understand it. And now when it came to explaning this structure to my son I did not want to pass my vague understanding to him. I am happy I have you here to ask from.
Thank you for taking the trouble of mentioning "YOUR doing something" and explaning about some older speakers. Because I tought it was some special structure, and kept postponig to study it.

I suggest you install an English spell-checker on your browser. It would have flagged up the spelling errors I've marked in red above.

 

[Bambook]

I suggest you install an English spell-checker on your browser. It would have flagged up the spelling errors I've marked in red above.

Thank you for pointing out my errors as always! As to the spell-checker, I would rather struggle with my own errors than simply have spellings checked. And now there are not that many of them as before .

 

[Bambook]

This is not a great question because it depends on what definition of 'gerund' you're using. Also, why does terminology matter?

What you and your son need to know about meaning and use is that the -ing phrase after 'worth' denotes some kind of action.

Oh oh. It starts to break my fragile understanding that I though I had finally obtained. I hope you do not mean to say that gerund here, in the context of this topic, is not a noun at all? My understanding is that gerund, discussed here, is a noun having an idea of action inherited from the verb it was formed from. So in the very short it is a noun, but not a verb.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you for pointing out my errors as always! As to the spell-checker, I would rather struggle with my own errors than simply have spellings checked automatically. And Also, now there are not that as many of them as before .

That's all well and good for you but the main reason we ask people to install a spell-checker is so that we have less work to do. It gets really boring having to fix basic errors in posts when a spell-checker would have flagged them up before the post was submitted.

 

[jutfrank]

I hope you do not mean to say that gerund here, in the context of this topic, is not a noun at all?

You can think of gerunds as verb forms that function in noun-like ways, and that's the important thing as far as syntax goes.

 

[Skrej]

Thank you for pointing out my errors as always! As to the spell-checker, I would rather struggle with my own errors than simply have spellings checked. And now there are not that many of them as before .

Then consider the spell-checker a kind of instant-feedback. Then decide if you actually didn't know how to spell the word, or just made a typing error. Look for patterns in the words that get flagged, and treat it as a learning tool. You still have to check your own writing, to make sure the spell-checker didn't autocorrect to the wrong word. Consider it a tool, not a crutch.

The problem is, we can't tell if you honestly don't know how to spell the word, or just made a typo. It's kind of frustrating to spend time correcting a post, only to be told "sorry, I knew that but it was just a typo". It lets volunteers focus on things like grammar, incorrect word usage, and misunderstanding of definitions, etc.

Even as a native speaker, I frequently make typos when typing things in haste. I do know how to spell most of the words I mistype, but my brain often doesn't catch them when focusing on what I'm trying to say.

 

[Bambook]

Then consider the spell-checker a kind of instant-feedback. Then decide if you actually didn't know how to spell the word, or just made a typing error. Look for patterns in the words that get flagged, and treat it as a learning tool. You still have to check your own writing, to make sure the spell-checker didn't autocorrect to the wrong word. Consider it a tool, not a crutch.

The problem is, we can't tell if you honestly don't know how to spell the word, or just made a typo. It's kind of frustrating to spend time correcting a post, only to be told "sorry, I knew that but it was just a typo". It lets volunteers focus on things like grammar, incorrect word usage, and misunderstanding of definitions, etc.

Even as a native speaker, I frequently make typos when typing things in haste. I do know how to spell most of the words I mistype, but my brain often doesn't catch them when focusing on what I'm trying to say.

Oh. I am sorry. I did not know you can not just overlook my typos and let them alone. From now on I will be checking all I write in here.

 

[Bambook]

You can think of gerunds as verb forms that function in noun-like ways, and that's the important thing as far as syntax goes.

It is an opportunity for me to understand what gerund is. Let me ask you more.
I noticed that where I can use a gerund I can also use a noun. E.g. I like dancing (gerund). I like dance (noun). That is why I was thinking of a gerund as a noun. Am I very far from right understanding?

 

[Piscean]

Nouns cannot have a direct object.
Gerunds formed from transitive verbs can: Eating pork is forbidden in some religions.
Nouns cannot be modified by an adverb.
Gerunds can: Chewing slowly aids digestion.

 

[BobK]

I should add that 'you/your' is not the only possible implied actor. In other contexts, for example, 'it was not worth [HIS] going ...' or 'it was not worth [OUR] doing ...' (or any other pronoun you care to use). But in that context - a piece of financial advice - the proposed actor is the person reading the advice.

 

[Bambook]

Worth is complemented by a substantive (e.g., The ring was worth a thousand dollars), so the -ing phrase after worth functions as a substantive, not as a progressive form. After worth, -ing phrases normally have a passive meaning:

In that example, many income funds functions, semantically, as the direct object of considering; thus, the sentence has the same meaning as Many income funds are worth being considered. Notice, too, that the direct object of consider would follow that verb directly in the related infinitive construction: It is worthwhile to consider many income funds.

I find that example a bit awkward. Native speakers do talk like that; I probably even do myself from time to time. But the -ing form, in examples like that, does not take the subject (it) as its implied direct object; the idiom keep an eye on has rates as its object, and that appears within the -ing phrase. One possible fix is to have rates replace it as subject:

​

Rates will be worth keeping an eye on over the coming weeks.​

I prefer will be worth to are worth there. A second possible fix is to use dummy it as subject, worthwhile or worth your/our while instead of worth, and an infinitive instead of the -ing phrase:

It will be worthwhile to keep an eye on rates over the coming weeks.​

It will be worth your while to keep an eye on rates over the coming weeks.​

A third possible fix (the least elegant, in my opinion) is to use dummy it twice over, as native speakers sometimes do, and an infinitive instead of the -ing phrase:

It will be worth it to keep an eye on rates over the coming weeks.​

Personally, my favorite revision is the blue one.

Your reply was the most difficult for me to comprehend, so it took me a while to sort it out. You didn’t mention a word about gerunds and I now understand why. I have been trying to evade those difficult grammar notions and get by with simpler terms, but they got me here . Thank you for such a comprehensive reply!