Page 126 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

112 CHAPTER5
to swim), decide + to go (but not going), or like to dance/dancing). A lthough these lists are essential, in reality the uses of gerunds are a bit more complicated than this. For example, the sentence
*Developing is expensive
is incorrect because develop is a transitive verb, which requires a direct ob-
ject. Thus, the sentence
Developing software is expensive
is correct. Because all gerunds are derived from verbs, the point of fact is that if gerunds are derived from transitive verbs, which require a direct ob-
ject, the process nominals retain their transitivity feature.
A good explanation to give students can be a metaphor: When a verb goes to a new job and becomes a noun, it takes its possessions with it; when a verb is converted to a nominal by means of adding -ing to its basic form (suggest+ing), it drags the object with it (e.g., Sug- gesting a new plan requires preparation).
For a list of common transitive verbs, see chapter 3.
In addition, another level of complexity is added with gerund singular and plural distinctionswhen some gerunds can be used in plural and some cannot (e.g.,
reading—readings, swimming—*swimmings).
As a general rule, gerunds that refer to concrete objects and events can take plural, and other gerund forms that refer to processes cannot. Therefore, gerunds that can be used in a plural form are far less common than those that are noncount (e.g., beginnings, endings [of books/movies/stones], markings, paintings [but not *clothings]).
COMPOUND NOUN PHRASES
Noun phrases consist of several nouns, among which the first noun or two function as adjectives to describe the main (head) noun:
composition class
university composition class university-level composition class
In these phrases, the noun class is the head noun, and all other nouns describe the class.
Compound noun phrases are extraordinarily popular in academic texts, and some linguists call them "notorious" (Bhatia, 1993, p. 148). These structures can come in various forms: Some consist of two simple nouns (book cover, vocabulary list), gerund/nominalization and another noun
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