Verbal Noun

The present participle form of the verb used as a noun is called as a Verbal Noun. It is also called a ‘gerund’.

Example:

·         Smoking is not permitted here.

In this sentence though smoking is a verb, it acts like a noun.

·         I don’t like eating a lot at night.

Although the verbal noun is used as a noun, it also behaves like a verb. Let us analyse the second sentence.

                          

SUBJECT	VERB PHRASE	OBJECT
I	don’t like	eating	a lot	late at night
		VERB	OBJECT	ADVERBIAL

Because a verbal noun is partly a noun and partly a verb, it can raise questions when preceded by a noun or pronoun. For example, which of the following sentences is correct?

1.       She hates my doing that.

2.       She hates me doing that.

Traditionalists say that (1) is correct and (2) is wrong. In fact 90 percent of the time people follow the pattern of (2), and use of a possessive before a verbal noun as in (1) is largely confined to fiction and very formal writing.

This post is courtesy of Oxford A-Z of grammar and punctuation by John Seely.

 This post is a part of the APRIL A-Z Challenge