Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Correctness of a definite article before a gerund phrase
Hi. Is this correct? I think, if I am not mistaken, a gerund is considered a noun. For instance I think we an adjective and article. Do you think this part (sentence?) I got from the lyrics of "Rock around the clock."
Start a rockin' round the clock again.
I think we can write, "He began dancing around the clock again," but can we put the indefinite article "a" in front of "dancing" -- "a dancing around the clock again"?
Start a rockin' round the clock again.
I think we can write, "He began dancing around the clock again," but can we put the indefinite article "a" in front of "dancing" -- "a dancing around the clock again"?
Top answer
It doesn't make any sense to me. True gerunds act like nouns and can take an article: A singing was heard in the treetops. The singing was beautifu l.
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It doesn't make any sense to me.
True gerunds act like nouns and can take an article: A singing was heard in the treetops. The singing was beautiful. However, 'he began dancing' has as much of the verb in it as it does of the noun.
True gerunds act like nouns and can take an article: A singing was heard in the treetops. The singing was beautiful. However, 'he began dancing' has as much of the verb in it as it does of the noun.
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