"Painting" as a verb?

[glenn_zucman]

If I want to make an artist's portfolio website, I might have a category or menu item labeled "Paintings." Here "Paintings" is a plural noun and it means that I've made a number of this type of object and if you click on this button you can take a look at them.

If, however, I label it "Painting," I don't mean it as a singular noun, that I've only made one of this type of object and it's at the link. Instead, I mean that painting is a thing that I do and that you can go see samples of this thing that I do at the link. In this case, "Painting" feel verb-like. But I think it's still not a verb, even though it is an activity or thing that I do. What is "Painting" in this context?

 

[Tarheel]

The word "painting" as a genre is a noun. Painting as an activity is also a noun. It can, of course, be a verb.

 

[teechar]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

If, however, I label it "Painting," ... I mean that painting is a thing that I do ... In this case, "Painting" feels verb-like. But I think it's still not a verb, even though it is an activity or thing that I do. What is "Painting" in this context?

It's a gerund.

 

[5jj]

What is "Painting" in this context?

I'd call it an -ing form.

Warning

What follows, which I have posted before, is not helpful for people wishing to communicate in English. It is intended for the minority of members/(weirdoes) who may be interested in -ing forms. It is a summary of how some leading grammarians of the last forty years deal with them,

Aarts, Bas (2011), Oxford Modern English Grammar, does not differentiate between gerunds and participles. He refers to both as -ing participles.

Carter, Ronald and Michael McCarthy (2006) Cambridge Grammar of English, do not differentiate between gerunds and participles. They refer to both as -ing forms.

Chalker, Sylvia (1984), Current English Grammar, does not differentiate between gerunds and participles in the body of the book. She refers to both as -ing forms. She writes: A distinction is often made between gerunds ('verbal nouns') and participles, which are more like verbs or adjectives. In fact the -ing form cannot be quite so neatly divided.

Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey Pullum (2002), The Cambridge Grammar of the English language, write: [...] we reject an analysis that has gerund and participle as different forms syncretised throughout the class of verb We have therefore just one inflectional form of the verb marked by the -ing suffix; we label it with the compound term 'gerund-participle' .

Quirk, Randolph et al (1985), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, note a complex gradience of fourteen different uses of -ing- forms from nouns (deverbal count nouns , abstract-non count verbal nouns), through the traditionally named gerund to the traditionally-named (present) participle. They write of the forms that are not clearly nouns, [...] we do not find it useful to distinguish a gerund from a participle, but terminologically class all these forms as PARTICIPLES.

Typoman - Writer of Rongs

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, it's a gerund, which is kind of between a verb and a noun. Think of it as a noun denoting an action. Actions are most typically denoted by verbs, which is why it feels like a verb.

 

[teechar]

In fact the -ing form cannot be quite so neatly divided.

I think in some cases, that might well be true, but not in all.
For example, in "He went fishing", I think it's reasonable to label "fishing" a gerund or gerund-participle.
By the same token, in "This is an exciting prospect", the -ing form is clearly adjectival.
If we lump all -ing forms together, we miss such (useful) distinctions.