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journeyman
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journeyman
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Ha, it is probably the only time all provinces agree on something. (inside joke for Canadians)I don't think I agree with that.  Ali
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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So far Nick, your explaination make the most sense to-- but durative? I would have thought it was a gerund--
I lit the lamp at the door, and it the lighted the way up the stairs to the door.
(but i might have used illuminated-- but as i say it, its sounds, oh i don't know, overdone? to fancy a word?)
So now enlighten me, how is durative different from a gerund? (do gerunds have to end in ing-- and lighting-- the lighting in the room was harsh-- well that not a gerund...its a noun... so what is the gerund form of light? (I am at a loss-- can lighting be used as verb? I can't think of a sentance right now...)
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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I'd forgotten all about the term "gerunds".
Would an example of lighting as a gerund would be something like a decription of the traditional candle lighting ceremony in a Christian wedding? "The lighting of the unity candle represents a joining of the two"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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ger�und
ger�und (jĕr'ənd)
n. (Abbr. ger.) Grammar.
In Latin, a noun derived from a verb and having all case forms except the nominative.
In other languages, a verbal noun analogous to the Latin gerund, such as the English form ending in -ing when used as a noun, as in singing in We admired the choir's singing.
ge�run'di�al (jə-rŭn'd�-əl) adj.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American Heritage� Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright � 1992, 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
But isn't it a bit more complicated in actual English (rather than the Let's-Pretend-It's-Really-Latin of so many prescriptivists)? Surely lighting is a gerundial form of a word that was originally a noun that was then verbed...
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veteran
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veteran
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Mav's question about gerunds
OfTroy -- aren't you glad you asked? I gather that "durative" is a verb tense used in Asiatic languages which has no real counterpart in Indo-European languages (except maybe the aorist tenses in classical Greek).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks Mav, but i would say agerund is a verb that expresses a continuing state of being--
as I can't go fishing today, I didn't go fishing yesterday, and i won't go fishing tomorrow-- our favorite fishing hole has a new sign-- No Fishing
No Fishing means no fishing now, and no fishing tomorrow, no fishing ever-- a continues state of being--
but in i won't go fishing today-- fishing is not gerund--since it is limited to "today"
So, yeah, the idea of lighting a candle of unity to commemerate joining (joined today, joined tomorrow, joined forever)-- a continues state of being! is a gerund.
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Carpal Tunnel
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>Surely lighting is a gerundial form of a word that was originally a noun that was then verbed
Seems very convoluted. Can you give me more examples. Would the same be true for bat, batting, batting?
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Carpal Tunnel
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fishing is not gerund--since it is limited to "today"My understanding is that a gerund is a word that has the quality of a verbal noun. In other words, it is a name for describing the state of doing something. So I would have figured: A fish = noun (name of an object/animal) To fish = verb (formed from the elided concept of �catching a fish�) Fishing = gerund (the continuing action of the verb-from-the-noun) That would have led me to find no difference between your two examples of �fishing� � but I think it does still get something of your idea of an ongoing action, doesn�t it? (and BTW good for you with your outlook on teaching yourself � that�s just what I�m doing here!)And belM, yes, though my initial way of trying to get at this way in which we stretch one form of word into another form was convoluted, I do think bat and batting is just the same. You could trace the same effect anytime a verb has been formed from the name of an object: say, root - rooting, shoe - shoeing, ball -
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Well it Bel, bat, batting, batting works for that stuff you do with a balls, in sports arenas.. but since i am not a sports fan, when i first read it-- i was puzzled-- and a quick glance and M-W 10th didn't help--since it only gives bat/batting as some thing done in a ball field (or seperately as an mammal)
(tsuwm-- oh, wondererous one with the OED handy, please help on this!)
to me Bat is a roll of wool-- and batting is a soft mat of wool (well, acutally now, poly fil, though i do have 1 wool quilt). It is the stuff that gets stuffed into the middle of a quilt! and it never gets made into a verb-- one never bats a quilt with batting-- and quilts are never batting! (but they do contain batting)
you begin to see just how strange i am-- a three letter word, taught in a primer- and i get it wrong-- or at least different! i am sure that i learned bat (as in baseball bat) first, and later at some point in my life bat (as in a roll of wool) later became the primary defination.
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I think one of the lovely things, Helen, about the conversations on this board is that it allows us all to consider how 'strange' we each are - unique in our similarity, or vice versa! I like this a lot; never visit here without learning something (even bloody recipes !)
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