ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: pluralization of a gerund/verbal noun

CalifJim — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:53:47 GMT

Anonymous
Can we make a plural out of a gerund ... ?

No. It's not a productive process in English. Stick to those which already exist, such as those below.

awakenings, christenings, comings, coverings, findings, flavorings, furnishings, gatherings, goings, happenings, imaginings, offerings, openings, renderings, seasonings, sufferings, wanderings, writings

Learn others as you encounter them. Don't invent new ones indiscriminately.

Re: pluralization of a gerund/verbal noun

Mr Wordy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:08:08 GMT

With some verbs, yes. It depends on whether the "-ing" form of the verb is a recognised countable noun. For example, "there was a pounding" is fine, as is "poundings of the heart". On the other hand, "existings" (to pick an example at random) is unnatural because you never talk of "an existing".

I'm not sure there's any way to tell which verbs fall into which category except through experience of the language.

pluralization of a gerund/verbal noun

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:40:58 GMT

Hi,

I think I heard someone using the words like "poundings" as in "poundings of a heart."

Can we make a plural out of a gerund or what CB seemed to have called a verbal noun?