The -ing form: gerund or participle

Gist. One -ing form has two roles. The gerund is a verb in a noun role: subject, object, after a preposition (Swimming is fun, I enjoyed working with you, for keeping money). The participle is a verb in a modifier or adverbial role, and also in progressive tenses (a sleeping child, He left, saying nothing, is sleeping). Modern grammars (CGEL) see a single "gerund-participial" form; UD approximately reproduces the traditional split.

Conditions and exceptions. An -ing word that has become a noun (the opening of the store, a building) is NOUN without verbal features. Poutsma showed that the boundary between the gerund and the verbal noun is blurred (§§53–55); the criterion is whether the word keeps verbal government (direct object, adverb).

Examples. I enjoyed working with you (Ger). — I will be driving home (Part). — The opening was delayed (NOUN).

In UD. VBG: VerbForm=Ger (without Tense) in nominal positions and without aux; VerbForm=Part|Tense=Pres — with aux and in modifier and adverbial roles. A gerund never has aux.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/VerbForm.md (Ger, Part; VBG rules since v2.14, EWT issue 305); Poutsma 1923, The Gerund, §1 (the gerund is between the infinitive and the noun of action; vol. 2, p. 111), §§49–55 (gerund vs participle and verbal noun; p. 152 ff.); Reed & Kellogg, Higher Lessons, Lesson 37 (participles: "verbs as adjectives and as nouns"); Jespersen, MEG V, ch. VIII–IX "The Gerund" (text-1, p. 120).

rule: en.verbal.gerund-no-aux
what: a gerund (VerbForm=Ger) has no auxiliaries (absence of Tense — en.morph.vbg-gerund-no-tense)
match: v[feats.VerbForm=Ger]
require: none a[rel=aux|aux:pass, head=v]
severity: error
source: UD docs/_en/feat/VerbForm.md, Ger

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/en/seeds/verbal/gerund-participle/