High English | Nominalisation of Words with a Gerund or Ing Form

High School English Quiz - Grammar 48 - Nominalisation - Using ‘ing’ form 2 (Questions)

In this, the last of our High English grammar quizzes on nominalisation, we continue to look at nominalisation using the 'ing' form of words, or the gerund.

The gerund, or the ‘-ing’ form, of nominalisation is versatile and is applied to verbs. It is possible to use the '-ing' form as the subject of the verb, the object of the verb, or the object of a preposition. This form is very useful when we want to refer to activities in a general manner. For instance, when we want to refer to people who suffer we may use ‘the suffering’ in a collective and general way to describe people who suffer. The ‘-ing’ form is very useful when describing activities involving hobbies and sports. Generally, this form is a variation of the verb ‘to go.’ Look at these examples:

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‘My brother and I love to go fishing whenever we get a chance.' Here the verb ‘fish’ is nominalised to ‘fishing’ and is used as a noun.
‘When I visited her last she had been doing the cleaning.’ Here 'clean' is nominalised to ‘cleaning’ and used as a noun.

Another facet of the ‘-ing’ form of words is that the nominalised verbs are predominantly uncountable nouns because they usually represent activities in a general way. For instance, in the ‘fishing’ and ‘cleaning’ examples we can’t say ‘two fishings’ or ‘three cleanings.’ Other such uncountable examples are ‘washing’, ‘plumbing’ and ‘cooking.’ However, there are exceptions and some nominalised verbs can act as countable nouns. Here are two examples:

‘Five people were killed in three separate shootings in the city.’
'A husband told his wife that his winnings at the race course amounted to a substantial sum.’

Just as in so many cases the negative form using ‘not’ can also be used in sentences. For instance, in the sentence ‘she asked me if I had not been skiing yesterday’ ‘not’ is used to indicate something that was not done. As mentioned earlier, nominalisation is an import element in English and it is good to learn nominalisation of words using their gerund, or 'ing' form.

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"Ayesha and Mustaq love to go _______ in their fast car whenever they have had a fight."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	driving
[ ]	swimming
[ ]	sailing
[ ]	kayaking

"When I went to see the professor he had been ________ his desk."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	writing
[ ]	reading
[ ]	drawing
[ ]	clearing

"The crowd tried to enter the concert venue. Security personnel prevented them."
Combine the two sentences using the '-ing' form of a verb from the following options.

[ ]	Security personnel preventing the crowd entering the concert venue.
[ ]	Security personnel prevented the crowd entering the concert venue.
[ ]	Security personnel prevented the crowd to entering the concert venue.
[ ]	Security personnel prevented the crowd entering to the concert venue.

"My motorcycle is unable to start."
This sentence is posing a problem and the options that follow are unusual solutions. Choose the one that is apt.

[ ]	Why don't you try starting it by offering a prayer?
[ ]	Why don't you try starting it by immersing it in a bucketful of water?
[ ]	Why don't you try starting it by giving it a kick?
[ ]	Why don't you try starting it by doing a 'homa'?

"Sonu Nigam has made more __________ than any other playback singer."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	washings
[ ]	sufferings
[ ]	trainings
[ ]	recordings

"I have watched nine train _________ today from my balcony."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	crossings
[ ]	crossing
[ ]	blasting
[ ]	flying

"I admire the fine _______ of my wife."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	swimmings
[ ]	dancings
[ ]	cooking
[ ]	cookings

Choose the sentence which has an '-ing' form acting as an adjective.

[ ]	Stop creating a nuisance forthwith!
[ ]	The girl started to wail, dreading that she would be spanked by her mother for doing poorly in the test.
[ ]	Why don't you try dunking him under water?
[ ]	I vaguely recall dating the first girl.

Choose the sentence which has an '-ing' form acting as an adjective.

[ ]	Watching their team lose, the crowd left the stadium in silence.
[ ]	Jogging is very good for the overall health of a person.
[ ]	Travelling to far off places is very time consuming.
[ ]	Thinking is excellent for invigorating the mind.

10.

Choose the sentence that has an '-ing' form acting as a noun.

[ ]	Recognising other team members' contributions fosters better results.
[ ]	Anamika and her husband sighted their young niece playing on the swing.
[ ]	Anticipating his ousting from the cabinet, the minister tendered his resignation.
[ ]	Reading the present state of slow batting progress, the coach sent in a pinch hitter at the fall of the next wicket.

High School English Quiz - Grammar 48 - Nominalisation - Using ‘ing’ form 2 (Answers)

"Ayesha and Mustaq love to go _______ in their fast car whenever they have had a fight."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[x]	driving
[ ]	swimming
[ ]	sailing
[ ]	kayaking

'Driving' is associated with cars. 'Driving' is the '-ing' form of 'drive' and is formed by adding the suffix '-ing' to the verb with modifications. Remember the ‘-ing’ form is very useful when describing activities involving hobbies and sports. Generally, this form is a variation of the verb ‘to go.’ The other options are not associated with cars

"When I went to see the professor he had been ________ his desk."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	writing
[ ]	reading
[ ]	drawing
[x]	clearing

'Clearing' is associated with desk. 'Clearing' is the '-ing' form of 'clear' and is formed by adding the suffix -ing' to the verb. The other options are associated with desk but not in the way the sentence is structured. You write, read and draw at a desk - the word 'at' is missing from the sentence in the question

"The crowd tried to enter the concert venue. Security personnel prevented them."
Combine the two sentences using the '-ing' form of a verb from the following options.

[ ]	Security personnel preventing the crowd entering the concert venue.
[x]	Security personnel prevented the crowd entering the concert venue.
[ ]	Security personnel prevented the crowd to entering the concert venue.
[ ]	Security personnel prevented the crowd entering to the concert venue.

'Entering' is the '-ing' form of 'enter' and is formed by adding the suffix '-ing' to the verb. The other options are all grammatically incorrect

"My motorcycle is unable to start."
This sentence is posing a problem and the options that follow are unusual solutions. Choose the one that is apt.

[ ]	Why don't you try starting it by offering a prayer?
[ ]	Why don't you try starting it by immersing it in a bucketful of water?
[x]	Why don't you try starting it by giving it a kick?
[ ]	Why don't you try starting it by doing a 'homa'?

While all the options ('offering', 'immersing', 'giving', and 'doing') correctly use the '-ing' form, the solution in option 3 is the most plausible

"Sonu Nigam has made more __________ than any other playback singer."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	washings
[ ]	sufferings
[ ]	trainings
[x]	recordings

'Recording' is the '-ing' form of 'record' and is formed by adding the suffix '-ing' to the verb. Remember the ‘-ing’ form is generally an uncountable noun but sometimes they take on the character of a countable noun and here 'recording' is considered a countable noun and hence 'recordings' is the correct answer. The other options are inappropriate

"I have watched nine train _________ today from my balcony."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[x]	crossings
[ ]	crossing
[ ]	blasting
[ ]	flying

'Crossing' is the '-ing' form of 'cross' and is formed by adding the suffix '-ing' to the verb. Remember the ‘-ing’ form is generally an uncountable noun but sometimes they take on the character of a countable noun and here 'crossing' is considered a countable noun and hence 'crossings' is the correct answer. The other options are inappropriate

"I admire the fine _______ of my wife."
Fill up the blank to complete the sentence choosing the '-ing' form of a verb.

[ ]	swimmings
[ ]	dancings
[x]	cooking
[ ]	cookings

'Cooking' is the '-ing' form of 'cook' and is formed by adding the suffix -ing' to the verb. Remember the ‘-ing’ form is generally an uncountable noun and 'cooking' is an uncountable noun. The other options are also uncountable nouns and hence using the plural form is inappropriate

Choose the sentence which has an '-ing' form acting as an adjective.

[ ]	Stop creating a nuisance forthwith!
[x]	The girl started to wail, dreading that she would be spanked by her mother for doing poorly in the test.
[ ]	Why don't you try dunking him under water?
[ ]	I vaguely recall dating the first girl.

The sentence is an example of a present participle which has the characteristic of functioning like an adjective. Here, the sentence clearly identifies the girl as dreading her mother spanking her. The other options are '-ing' forms (creating-create; dunking-dunk and dating-date) resembling a noun

Choose the sentence which has an '-ing' form acting as an adjective.

[x]	Watching their team lose, the crowd left the stadium in silence.
[ ]	Jogging is very good for the overall health of a person.
[ ]	Travelling to far off places is very time consuming.
[ ]	Thinking is excellent for invigorating the mind.

The sentence is an example of present participle which has the characteristic of functioning like an adjective. the other options are '-ing' forms (jogging-jog; travelling-travel and thinking-think) resembling a noun

10.

Choose the sentence that has an '-ing' form acting as a noun.

[x]	Recognising other team members' contributions fosters better results.
[ ]	Anamika and her husband sighted their young niece playing on the swing.
[ ]	Anticipating his ousting from the cabinet, the minister tendered his resignation.
[ ]	Reading the present state of slow batting progress, the coach sent in a pinch hitter at the fall of the next wicket.

'Recognising' is the '-ing' form of 'recognise' and is formed by adding the suffix '-ing' to the verb. The sentences in the other options are examples of present participles which have the characteristic of functioning like an adjective