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In this post we’re going to look at the difference between two types of English nouns derived from verbs: gerunds (translating, departing, preparing) and verbal nouns (translation, departure, preparation).
Gerunds and Verbal Nouns
English has two noun forms derived from verbs:
- gerunds (translating, departing, arriving, using…)
- verbal nouns (translation, departure, arrival, use…)
Both are nouns, and both are derived from verbs. However, there are important differences between the two in form, meaning, and grammar.
Differences in Form
The most obvious difference between gerunds and verbal nouns is in their form. Gerunds always end in -ing, and are completely regular. If you know a basic verb, you know their gerund forms, because you just add –ing.
Verbal nouns on the other hand are formed in many different ways. Some are exactly like the basic verb, some end in –ation or –al or –ture or some other noun ending, and some even end in –ing, making them look exactly like the gerund.
Take a look at these examples. The gerunds are all perfectly regular and predictable, while the verbal nouns have irregular endings and have to be memorized in each case. Notice that some gerunds and verbal nouns are identical in form (cooking, building), and other verbal nouns are identical to the verbs (sleep, run.) The difference between the verb use and the noun use is in pronunciation; the verb rhymes with lose or clues, and the verbal noun rhymes with loose or moose.
| VERB | GERUND | VERBAL NOUN |
| translate | translating | translation |
| arrive | arriving | arrival |
| depart | departing | departure |
| prepare | preparing | preparation |
| guide | guiding | guidance |
| cook | cooking | cooking |
| build | building | building |
| sleep | sleeping | sleep |
| run | running | run |
| use | using | use |
Differences in Meaning
Verbal nouns and gerunds also differ in meaning. A gerund simply means the act or action or process of doing something. So the gerund translating means “the activity or act that people perform when they translate something.” The gerund arriving means “the activity that people perform when they arrive somewhere, or the process that people undertake when they arrive somewhere.” Gerunds are simply verbs (activities, actions, processes) expressed grammatically as nouns.
Verbal nouns refer not to an activity, but rather to the result or product of an activity. For example, the verbal noun translation refers not to the act of translating, but rather to the product, for instance a written manuscript. Verbal nouns also refer to the fact that something has happened. The verbal noun arrival refers to the result of the activity of arriving somewhere, or to the fact that (for example a plane) has arrived.
Let’s clarify those differences with lots of examples.
- Translating poetry is difficult.
Gerund: the act or process of translating poetry - This translation of Rimbaud is excellent.
Verbal noun: the product, the specific work that a particular translator has created - Arriving by plane during a storm is a nerve wracking experience.
Gerund: the act of being in a plane when it lands during a storm - They just announced the plane’s arrival.
Verbal noun: the result or fact that a particular plane has arrived - I want to thank my teachers for guiding me.
Gerund: the act of guiding, taking the time to sit and speak with a student and offer advice - My teacher’s guidance was very helpful.
Verbal noun: the result or product of guiding, the specific advice given - Preparing dinner won’t take long, it’s just spaghetti.
Gerund: the act or activity of boiling water and cooking spaghetti - Spätzle is a pasta preparation from Germany.
Verbal noun: the result or product of preparing pasta in a particular way - Describing colors with words is often difficult.
Gerund: the act of finding words to describe colors - John’s description of events was very different from Mark’s.
Verbal noun: the particular words that John chose to describe events - Seeing is believing!
Gerund: the act of seeing something is enough to make you believe it - The sight of a dog always makes me happy.
Verbal noun: the fact that I see a dog, the product of making eye contact with a dog - Using people’s fears as a political motivation is a dangerous game.
Gerund: the act of using or choice to use fear in politics is dangerous - The director’s use of black and white film is a little bit pretentious.
Verbal noun: the fact that the director used black and white film is pretentious - Collecting stamps used to be a very popular hobby.
Gerund: the act of gathering and keeping a variety of stamps - I used to have a collection of stamps from around the world.
Verbal noun: the result or product of collecting stamps, a book or box of stamps - I thanked them for working on the project.
Gerund: the action of working, the process or activity itself. - I thanked them for their work on the project.
Verbal noun: emphasizes the fact that they worked, or the result/product of that work
Differences in Grammar
There are a couple of important grammatical differences between gerunds and verbal nouns. Gerunds are nouns, but they have a lot of verbal properties. Think of gerunds as half-verbs, half-nouns:
- Like transitive verbs, transitive gerunds can take a direct object:
painting pictures, smoking cigarettes, drinking wine, hearing music - Like verbs, you can only modify gerunds with adverbs:
beautifully painting pictures, constantly smoking cigarettes, excessively drinkly wine, happily hearing music - Like verbs, there are no plural gerunds:
paintings pictures, smokings, drinkings, hearings music
Verbal nouns are fully nouns, with no verbal properties. So verbal nouns behave much more like regular nouns than gerunds.
- Verbal nouns can’t take direct objects:
translation poetry, use weapons, knowledge languages
If you need to specify an object, it must be the object of of:
the painting of pictures, the translation of poetry, the use of weapons, the knowledge of languages - Like other nouns, you can modify verbal nouns with adjectives:
a beautiful painting, the recent translation, the thorough knowledge of languages - Like other nouns, verbal nouns can be plural, as long as the verbal noun is a count noun:
several translations, many departures, recent arrivals
Note that mass verbal nouns, like all mass nouns, have no plural:knowledges.
Let’s see some more pairs of examples to demonstrate these grammatical differences.
- Accurately translating poetry is difficult.
Gerund: modified by the adverb accurately, direct object poetry - These are accurate translations of the text messages.
Verbal noun: modified by the adjective accurate, object with of, plural - Unexpectedly losing a loved one is always terribly difficult.
Gerund: modified by the adverb unexpectedly, direct object a loved one - The unexpected loss of a loved one is always terribly difficult.
Verbal noun: modified by the adjective unexpected, object with of - The government says that it is committed to safely developing new energy sources.
Gerund: modified by the adverb safely, direct object new energy sources - Recent developments in clean energy have given us hope.
Verbal noun: modified by the adjective recent, plural - Discovering planets outside our solar system has become commonplace.
Gerund: direct object planets - Marie Curie is best known for her discoveries of radium and polonium.
Verbal noun: plural, object with of
Remember that in some cases, the gerund and the verbal noun are identical in form, because the verbal noun takes an –ing ending, just like the gerund. However, even in these cases, the other differences in meaning and grammar remain.
- Professionally recording audiobooks requires a lot of talent and experience.
Gerund: modified by the adverb professionally, direct object audiobooks, meaning emphasizes the act of being in a studio and reading a book - Professional recordings of audiobooks are available for purchase.
Verbal noun: modified by the adjective professional, plural, object with of, meaning is the result or product of the act of recording - His loudly reading all of his texts out loud annoyed everyone on the train.
Gerund: modified by the adverb loudly, direct object all of his texts, meaning is the act of reading - His interesting reading of the novel surprised everyone in the book club.
Verbal noun: modified by the adjective interesting, object with of, meaning is the product of his having read and interpreted the novel - Safely building safe buildings is important to the city.
The first building is a gerund: it’s modified by the adverb safely, and it takes a direct object. It refers to the activity or process of the verb to build.
The second building is a verbal noun: it’s modified by the adjective new, and it’s in the plural. It refers to the product of the verb to build, the thing that is actually built.
In some cases, the difference in meaning between gerunds and verbal nouns is very slight.
- Endlessly smoking cigarettes is terrible for your health.
Gerund: modified by the adverb endlessly, direct object cigarettes. - The endless smoking of cigarettes is terrible for your health.
Verbal noun: modified by the adjective endless, object with of
| GERUNDS | VERBAL NOUNS | |
| Form | -always end in –ing, completely regular translating, departing, arriving, using | -sometimes end in -ing, but may also have different endings, or the same form of the verb itself. translation, departure, arrival, use |
| Meaning | -stresses the action itself, the activity or process of the verb. translating: the act of translating departing: the act of departing | -stresses a result or product of the activity, or the fact of that activity translation: the product of translating, the text itself, or the fact that something has been translated departure: the time/schedule/product of something having departed, the fact that something has departed |
| Grammar | Gerunds are half noun, half verb. | Verbal nouns are nouns. |
| –direct objects | directly: translating French poetry, boiling water, smoking cigars, reading magazines | — (*although okay with of: the translation of French poetry.) |
| –plural | — | yes: departures, translations, arrivals |
| –modified by | adverbs constantly departing sloppily translating poetry carelessly using energy | adjectives constant departures sloppy translation careless use of energy |
Practice
Choose the gerund or the verbal noun. Use intended meaning and grammar as clues.
- _____ (Translating/Translation) poetry is difficult.
- This _____ (translating/translation) of Pushkin is excellent.
- I don’t like _____ (preparing/preparation) for trips.
- I went for a _____ (running/run) in the park.
- _____ (Running/Run) in the park always makes me happy
- There’s so much new _____ (constructing/construction) around the city.
- I can’t stand _____ (talking/talk) during a film.
- The hurricane caused a lot of terrible _____ (destroying/destruction).
- Professor Lawson gave a _____ (talking/talk) about her new book.
- _____ (Supervising/Supervision) children is an important responsibility.
- _____ (Losing/Loss) games is never fun, but it happens to everyone.
- John is responsible for the _____ (supervising/supervision) of the children.
- I sent my tax _____ (paying/payment) last week.
- _____ (Constructing/Construction) a new home takes time.
- Nobody likes _____ (paying/payment) taxes.
- Bill’s _____ (describing/description) of the events was very clear.
- I was so sorry to hear about the _____ (losing/loss) of your grandfather.
- Bill’s clear _____ (describing/description) of the events was very helpful.
- Sam really likes _____ (sleeping/sleep) in on Sundays.
- Clearly _____ (describing/description) events to the police is important.
- I can’t stand _____ (waiting/wait) on line.
- _____ (Vandalizing/Vandalism) of private property is a crime.
- I really love _____ (growing/growth) my own vegetables.
- How long is the _____ (waiting/wait) for a table?
- _____ (Decorating/Decoration) a house for Christmas is a lot of fun.
- Did you have a good _____ (sleeping/sleep) last night?
- Where do you keep your Christmas _____ (decoratings/decorations)?
- _____ (Notifying/Notification) passengers about flight delays is necessary.
- This _____ (preparing/preparation) of herbal remedies will help you sleep.
- All of the rain has caused very fast _____ (growing/growth) in the garden.
- Have you received the last _____ (notifiying/notification) about the flight delay?
- _____ (Fearing/Fear) the unknown is natural, but we should try to overcome it.
- The _____ (fearing/fear) of the unknown is natural, but we should try to overcome it.
- The kids were accused of _____ (vandalizing/vandalism) the school bus.
- _____ (Destroying/Destruction) natural habitats has caused endangered many species.
Answer Key
- Translating poetry is difficult.
- This translation of Pushkin is excellent.
- I don’t like preparing for trips.
- I went for a run in the park.
- Running in the park always makes me happy
- There’s so much new construction around the city.
- I can’t stand talking during a film.
- The hurricane caused a lot of terrible destruction.
- Professor Lawson gave a talk about her new book.
- Supervising children is an important responsibility.
- Losing games is never fun, but it happens to everyone.
- John is responsible for the supervision of the children.
- I sent my tax payment last week.
- Constructing a new home takes time.
- Nobody likes paying taxes.
- Bill’s description of the events was very clear.
- I was so sorry to hear about the loss of your grandfather.
- Bill’s clear description of the events was very helpful.
- Sam really likes sleeping in on Sundays.
- Clearly describing events to the police is important.
- I can’t stand waiting on line.
- Vandalism of private property is a crime.
- I really love growing my own vegetables.
- How long is the wait for a table?
- Decorating a house for Christmas is a lot of fun.
- Did you have a good sleep last night?
- Where do you keep your Christmas decorations?
- Notifying passengers about flight delays is necessary.
- This preparation of herbal remedies will help you sleep.
- All of the rain has caused very fast growth in the garden.
- Have you received the last notification about the flight delay?
- Fearing the unknown is natural, but we should try to overcome it.
- The fear of the unknown is natural, but we should try to overcome it.
- The kids were accused of vandalizing the school bus.
- Destroying natural habitats has caused endangered many species.
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