-ing is a suffix used to make one of the inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words like morning and ceiling, and in names such as Browning.
Etymology and pronunciation
The Modern English -ing ending, which is used to form both gerunds and present participles of verbs (i.e. in noun and adjective uses), derives from two different historical suffixes.
The gerund (noun) use comes from Middle English -ing, which is from Old English -ing, -ung (suffixes forming nouns from verbs). These in turn are from Proto-Germanic *-inga-, *-unga-,*-ingō, *-ungō, which derives from Proto-Indo-European *-enkw-. This use of English -ing is thus cognate with the -ing suffix of Dutch, West Frisian, and the North Germanic languages, and with German -ung.
The -ing of Modern English in its participial (adjectival) use comes from Middle English -inge, -ynge, supplanting the earlier -inde, -ende, -and, from the Old English present participle ending -ende. This is from Proto-Germanic *-andz, from the Proto-Indo-European *-nt-, and is cognate with Dutch and German -end, Swedish -ande, -ende, Latin -ans, -ant-, Ancient Greek -ον (-on), and Sanskrit -ant. -inde, -ende, -and later assimilated with the noun and gerund suffix -ing. Its remnants, however, are still retained in a few verb-derived words such as friend, fiend, and bond (in the sense of "peasant, vassal").
The standard pronunciation in modern English is /ɪŋ/, with a velar nasal consonant. Variants include /ɪŋg/ (e.g. Northern England), /ɪn/ or /ən/ (widespread) and /i(ː)n/ (mainly US, but also in Canada).
The variants with /n/ may be denoted in writing with an apostrophe: runnin' for running. Sometimes known as g-dropping, the use of variants such as these is one of the most frequently studied sociolinguistic variables in English.
Formation
All English verbs (except for modals and other defective verbs that do not have gerunds or participles) make the inflected form in ‑ing regularly. Thus go makes going, read makes reading, fail makes failing, and so on. In certain cases there are spelling changes, such as doubling of consonants (as in sit → sitting) or omission of mute e (as in change → changing). It does not apply in the case of monosyllabic words in English that are omitting the mute e (as in age becoming ageing, though aging is also found). For details of these rules, see English verbs.
Uses
The -ing form of a verb has both noun uses and adjectival (or adverbial) uses. In either case it may function as a non-finite verb (for example, by taking direct objects), or as a pure noun or adjective. When it behaves as a non-finite verb, it is called a gerund in the noun case, and a present participle in the adjectival or adverbial case. Uses as pure noun or adjective may be called deverbal uses.
The distinctions between these uses are explained in the following sections.
Distinction between gerunds and present participles
Gerunds and present participles are two types of non-finite verb; the difference is that gerunds are used to produce noun phrases, and participles to produce adjectival or adverbial phrases. This is illustrated in the following examples:
- I like eating cakes.
- Here eating is a gerund; the verb phrase eating cakes serves as a noun, being the object of the main verb like.
- I saw him eating a cake.
- Here eating is a present participle; the verb phrase eating a cake serves as an adjective, modifying him.
- Trying to succeed makes success more likely.
- Here trying is a gerund; the verb phrase trying to succeed serves as a noun, the subject of the main verb makes.
- He hurt his knee trying to get over the fence.
- Here trying is a present participle; the verb phrase trying to get over the fence has the function of an adverb in the main clause.
Confusion is most likely to arise when the -ing word follows a verb, in which case it may be a predicate adjective and hence a participle, or a direct object (or predicate nominative) and hence a gerund. There are certain transformations that can help distinguish these two cases. In the table that follows, the transformations produce grammatical sentences with similar meanings when applied to sentences with gerunds (since the transformations are based on the assumption that the phrase with the -ing word is a noun phrase). When applied to sentences with participles, they produce ungrammatical sentences or sentences with completely different meanings. (These cases are marked with asterisks.)
| Transformation | Gerund use | Participle use |
|---|---|---|
| (none) | John suggested asking Bill. | John kept asking Bill. |
| Passivization | Asking Bill was suggested. | *Asking Bill was kept. |
| Pronoun substitution | John suggested it. | *John kept it. |
| Substitution of pure noun | John suggested the asking of Bill. | *John kept the asking of Bill. |
| Replacement with finite clause | John suggested that Bill be asked. | *John kept that Bill be asked. |
| Subject marking with possessive | John suggested our asking Bill. | *John kept his asking Bill. |
| Clefting | Asking Bill is what John suggested. | *Asking Bill is what John kept. |
| Left dislocation | Asking Bill John suggested. | *Asking Bill John kept. |
For more details of the usage of English gerunds and present participles, see Uses of non-finite verbs in English.
Distinction between verbal and deverbal uses
When used as a gerund or present participle, the -ing form is a non-finite verb, which behaves like a (finite) verb in that it forms a verb phrase, taking typical verb dependents and modifiers such as objects and adverbs. That verb phrase is then used within a larger sentence, with the function of an adjective or adverb (in the case of the participle) or with the function of a noun (in the case of the gerund).
However the same verb-derived -ing forms are also sometimes used as pure nouns or adjectives. In this case the word does not form a verb phrase; any modifiers it takes will be of a grammatical kind which is appropriate to a noun or adjective respectively.
For example:
- Shouting loudly is rude. (shouting is a gerund, modified by the adverb loudly)
- Loud shouting is something I can't stand. (shouting is a pure noun, modified by the adjective loud)
- I saw him exciting the crowds. (exciting is a participle, taking the object the crowds)
- It was a very exciting game. (exciting is a pure adjective, modified by very, an adverb typically applied to adjectives)
When used as a pure noun or adjective (i.e. having lost its grammatical verbal character), the -ing form may be called a deverbal noun or deverbal adjective. Terminology varies, however; it may also be called a verbal noun or adjective (on the grounds that it is derived from a verb). In other cases the latter terms may be applied additionally, or exclusively, to gerunds and participles, as well as other non-finite verb forms such as infinitives.
In some situations, the distinction between gerund/participle uses and deverbal uses may be lost, particularly when the -ing word appears on its own. For example, in "I like swimming", it is not clear whether swimming is intended as a gerund (as it would be in "I like swimming fast"), or as a pure noun (as in "I like competitive swimming"). There may be a distinction in meaning between the two interpretations: as a gerund, it means that the speaker likes to swim, while as a pure noun it does not specify in what way the speaker enjoys the activity (as a competitor, spectator, etc.)
The -ing form used as a pure noun usually denotes the action encoded by the verb (either in general or in a particular instance), as in the above examples. However it sometimes comes to take on other meanings, such as a physical object or system of objects: building, fencing, piping, etc.
For more information on the uses of non-finite verbs and verbal nouns, see Uses of non-finite verbs in English.
-ing words in other languages
English words constructed from verbs with the ending -ing are sometimes borrowed into other languages. In some cases they become pseudo-anglicisms, taking on new meanings or uses which are not found in English. For instance:
- brushing means "blow-dry" in many languages (including Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish);
- camping means "campsite" in many languages (including Bulgarian, Dutch, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish);
- footing has been used to mean "jogging" in some languages (including French and Italian)
- parking means "car park" or "parking lot" in many languages (including Bulgarian, Dutch, French, Italian, Persian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish);
- lifting means "facelift" in many languages (including Bulgarian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Hebrew, and Spanish);
- shampooing means "shampoo" in French (pronounced [ʃɑ̃pwɛ̃]);
- shopping means "shopping mall" in Portuguese and Spanish;.
Other Germanic languages (including Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic) have a native -ing suffix, used mainly to form verbal action nouns, though generally not as productively as in English. For details, see the Wiktionary entry for -ing.
In Balochi the suffix -ag is used in a similar manner as -ing, by adding the suffix to the first form of a verb in order to construct a continuous verb, or to convert a verb into a noun. For example, war (eat) becomes warag (eating) or Òšt (stand) becomes Òštag (standing).
Other meanings of the suffix
The suffix -ing also has other uses in English, although these are less common. It may be used to form derivative nouns (originally masculine) with the sense "son of" or "belonging to", used as patronymics or diminutives. Examples of this use include surnames like Browning, Channing and Ewing, and common nouns like bunting, shilling, and farthing. The suffix can also mean "having a specified quality", as used in sweeting, whiting, and gelding.
For further details see the Wiktionary entry for -ing.
See also
- Ng (digraph)
References
- "-ing (1)". Online Etymology Dictionary.
- , Latino prōvincia, il suffisso indeuropeo *-enqu- e le formazioni germaniche in -inga- -unga- -ingō -ungō, Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1941.
- Metcalf, Allan (2000). "The Far West and beyond". How We Talk: American Regional English Today. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 143. ISBN 0618043624.
Another pronunciation even more widely heard among older teens and adults in California and throughout the West is 'een' for -ing, as in 'I'm think-een of go-een camp-een.'
- Walker, James A. (2019). "Sociophonetics at the intersection of variable processes: Variable in English (ING)" (PDF). In Sasha Calhoun; Paola Escudero; Marija Tabain; Paul Warren (eds.). Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019. Canberra: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc. pp. 34–37.
- Phil White (August 7, 2006). "Re: Post Hey man, I gots [sic] ta know (Gerund versus gerundive)". Mon 1:35 pm
ing is a suffix used to make one of the inflected forms of English verbs This verb form is used as a present participle as a gerund and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective The suffix is also found in certain words like morning and ceiling and in names such as Browning Etymology and pronunciationThe Modern English ing ending which is used to form both gerunds and present participles of verbs i e in noun and adjective uses derives from two different historical suffixes The gerund noun use comes from Middle English ing which is from Old English ing ung suffixes forming nouns from verbs These in turn are from Proto Germanic inga unga ingō ungō which it derives from Proto Indo European enkw This use of English ing is thus cognate with the ing suffix of Dutch West Frisian and the North Germanic languages and with German ung The ing of Modern English in its participial adjectival use comes from Middle English inge ynge supplanting the earlier inde ende and from the Old English present participle ending ende This is from Proto Germanic andz from the Proto Indo European nt and is cognate with Dutch and German end Swedish ande ende Latin ans ant Ancient Greek on on and Sanskrit ant inde ende and later assimilated with the noun and gerund suffix ing Its remnants however are still retained in a few verb derived words such as friend fiend and bond in the sense of peasant vassal The standard pronunciation in modern English is ɪŋ with a velar nasal consonant Variants include ɪŋg e g Northern England ɪn or en widespread and i ː n mainly US but also in Canada The variants with n may be denoted in writing with an apostrophe runnin for running Sometimes known as g dropping the use of variants such as these is one of the most frequently studied sociolinguistic variables in English FormationAll English verbs except for modals and other defective verbs that do not have gerunds or participles make the inflected form in ing regularly Thus go makes going read makes reading fail makes failing and so on In certain cases there are spelling changes such as doubling of consonants as in sit sitting or omission of mute e as in change changing It does not apply in the case of monosyllabic words in English that are omitting the mute e as in age becoming ageing though aging is also found For details of these rules see English verbs UsesThe ing form of a verb has both noun uses and adjectival or adverbial uses In either case it may function as a non finite verb for example by taking direct objects or as a pure noun or adjective When it behaves as a non finite verb it is called a gerund in the noun case and a present participle in the adjectival or adverbial case Uses as pure noun or adjective may be called deverbal uses The distinctions between these uses are explained in the following sections Distinction between gerunds and present participles Gerunds and present participles are two types of non finite verb the difference is that gerunds are used to produce noun phrases and participles to produce adjectival or adverbial phrases This is illustrated in the following examples I like eating cakes Here eating is a gerund the verb phrase eating cakes serves as a noun being the object of the main verb like dd I saw him eating a cake Here eating is a present participle the verb phrase eating a cake serves as an adjective modifying him dd Trying to succeed makes success more likely Here trying is a gerund the verb phrase trying to succeed serves as a noun the subject of the main verb makes dd He hurt his knee trying to get over the fence Here trying is a present participle the verb phrase trying to get over the fence has the function of an adverb in the main clause dd Confusion is most likely to arise when the ing word follows a verb in which case it may be a predicate adjective and hence a participle or a direct object or predicate nominative and hence a gerund There are certain transformations that can help distinguish these two cases In the table that follows the transformations produce grammatical sentences with similar meanings when applied to sentences with gerunds since the transformations are based on the assumption that the phrase with the ing word is a noun phrase When applied to sentences with participles they produce ungrammatical sentences or sentences with completely different meanings These cases are marked with asterisks Transformation Gerund use Participle use none John suggested asking Bill John kept asking Bill Passivization Asking Bill was suggested Asking Bill was kept Pronoun substitution John suggested it John kept it Substitution of pure noun John suggested the asking of Bill John kept the asking of Bill Replacement with finite clause John suggested that Bill be asked John kept that Bill be asked Subject marking with possessive John suggested our asking Bill John kept his asking Bill Clefting Asking Bill is what John suggested Asking Bill is what John kept Left dislocation Asking Bill John suggested Asking Bill John kept For more details of the usage of English gerunds and present participles see Uses of non finite verbs in English Distinction between verbal and deverbal uses When used as a gerund or present participle the ing form is a non finite verb which behaves like a finite verb in that it forms a verb phrase taking typical verb dependents and modifiers such as objects and adverbs That verb phrase is then used within a larger sentence with the function of an adjective or adverb in the case of the participle or with the function of a noun in the case of the gerund However the same verb derived ing forms are also sometimes used as pure nouns or adjectives In this case the word does not form a verb phrase any modifiers it takes will be of a grammatical kind which is appropriate to a noun or adjective respectively For example Shouting loudly is rude shouting is a gerund modified by the adverb loudly Loud shouting is something I can t stand shouting is a pure noun modified by the adjective loud I saw him exciting the crowds exciting is a participle taking the object the crowds It was a very exciting game exciting is a pure adjective modified by very an adverb typically applied to adjectives When used as a pure noun or adjective i e having lost its grammatical verbal character the ing form may be called a deverbal noun or deverbal adjective Terminology varies however it may also be called a verbal noun or adjective on the grounds that it is derived from a verb In other cases the latter terms may be applied additionally or exclusively to gerunds and participles as well as other non finite verb forms such as infinitives In some situations the distinction between gerund participle uses and deverbal uses may be lost particularly when the ing word appears on its own For example in I like swimming it is not clear whether swimming is intended as a gerund as it would be in I like swimming fast or as a pure noun as in I like competitive swimming There may be a distinction in meaning between the two interpretations as a gerund it means that the speaker likes to swim while as a pure noun it does not specify in what way the speaker enjoys the activity as a competitor spectator etc The ing form used as a pure noun usually denotes the action encoded by the verb either in general or in a particular instance as in the above examples However it sometimes comes to take on other meanings such as a physical object or system of objects building fencing piping etc For more information on the uses of non finite verbs and verbal nouns see Uses of non finite verbs in English ing words in other languagesSign showing a French ending ing in one word dressing Note this is non English Sign of a singular form of French ending ing Sign of a plural form of French ending ing English words constructed from verbs with the ending ing are sometimes borrowed into other languages In some cases they become pseudo anglicisms taking on new meanings or uses which are not found in English For instance brushing means blow dry in many languages including Dutch French Portuguese and Spanish camping means campsite in many languages including Bulgarian Dutch French Greek Hungarian Italian Portuguese Romanian Russian and Spanish footing has been used to mean jogging in some languages including French and Italian parking means car park or parking lot in many languages including Bulgarian Dutch French Italian Persian Polish Russian and Spanish lifting means facelift in many languages including Bulgarian French German Italian Polish Romanian Hebrew and Spanish shampooing means shampoo in French pronounced ʃɑ pwɛ shopping means shopping mall in Portuguese and Spanish Other Germanic languages including Dutch Danish Swedish Norwegian and Icelandic have a native ing suffix used mainly to form verbal action nouns though generally not as productively as in English For details see the Wiktionary entry for ing In Balochi the suffix ag is used in a similar manner as ing by adding the suffix to the first form of a verb in order to construct a continuous verb or to convert a verb into a noun For example war eat becomes warag eating or Ost stand becomes Ostag standing Other meanings of the suffixThe suffix ing also has other uses in English although these are less common It may be used to form derivative nouns originally masculine with the sense son of or belonging to used as patronymics or diminutives Examples of this use include surnames like Browning Channing and Ewing and common nouns like bunting shilling and farthing The suffix can also mean having a specified quality as used in sweeting whiting and gelding For further details see the Wiktionary entry for ing See alsoNg digraph References ing 1 Online Etymology Dictionary it Latino prōvincia il suffisso indeuropeo enqu e le formazioni germaniche in inga unga ingō ungō Milan Ulrico Hoepli 1941 Metcalf Allan 2000 The Far West and beyond How We Talk American Regional English Today Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 143 ISBN 0618043624 Another pronunciation even more widely heard among older teens and adults in California and throughout the West is een for ing as in I m think een of go een camp een Walker James A 2019 Sociophonetics at the intersection of variable processes Variable in English ING PDF In Sasha Calhoun Paola Escudero Marija Tabain Paul Warren eds Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences Melbourne Australia 2019 Canberra Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc pp 34 37 Phil White August 7 2006 Re Post Hey man I gots sic ta know Gerund versus gerundive Mon 1 35 pm
