GrammarBlog

Mocking Poor Grammar
Since 2007

A noun that is formed from a verb and which describes an action. In English it ends in -ing, eg 'the baking of bread' and 'Smoking damages your health'.

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1. I recently was in a plane, waiting to disembark (not, please, “de-plane”!), when I overheard a young woman behind me talking on her mobile phone. She appeared to be trying to establish an ETA for her ride. She shouted into her phone, in exasperation, “I axed you where you at!”

   And that, I’ve always thought, is the reason we tell people not to use terminal prepositions.

   Comment by Barry Leiba — 13th August, 2007 @ 8:43 pm

2. Terminal prepositions! Nice pun, Barry. I think in the young lady’s dialect, “at” was used as a form of the verb “to be”. Incorrect I know but not, in this case, a terminal preposition.
   Although I think I prefer terminal prepositions to “verbed” words.

   Comment by Gez — 14th August, 2007 @ 11:24 am

3. De-plane for example.

   Comment by Gez — 14th August, 2007 @ 11:25 am

4. Hey, new time reader, and loving the blog. Anyway I’m to the point that I’d be happy if people can just understand each other. After all I feel that spelling/grammar Nazis are only insuring that grammar dies or stays dead. If I’m wrong I’ll accept that a lot better if your not trying to jump down my throat or deny my existence and indeed I might even learn something.

   Comment by Ben — 16th August, 2007 @ 11:31 pm

5. We’re glad that you’re a reader, Ben. No-one here will deny your existence. I understand your point regarding grammar Nazism and to some extent I concur. I do feel however, that the only way to ensure clarity among all speakers of a common language is to maintain standards of “good” grammar.

   You might like this post from The Red Pen on insure vs ensure. Historically, your use of the word “insure” is not incorrect but nowadays the word has a specific meaning, separate to “ensure”.

   Comment by Gez — 17th August, 2007 @ 9:58 am

6. Looking for help on something that should be easy.
   I was working with a child on
   grammar and this is what puzzled me.
   Sentence:
   Ben and Dad are going camping.
   What are the parts of the sentence
   here?

   We know “are”is a linking verb or
   helping verb working with going.
   What is “camping”? Is the verb
   construction a type of future
   tense hence
   “are going camping”
   I ran across a rule that says
   you can make a future tense
   by constructing to be plus to go plus an infinitive but that would be for example:
   He is going to swim.
   So is “Ben and Dad are going camping”….
   the same kind of construction even though we don’t have “to camp”
   but rather “camping? What else could it be other than part of the verb construction?
   Thanks for the help grammar bloggers.

   Comment by Scotty — 13th December, 2007 @ 4:28 am

7. I think it’s a gerund.

   Comment by laura — 14th December, 2007 @ 4:27 pm

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