When a present participle is not one

0 Hi,02br
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00Something seems amiss in the category structure. My understanding used to be that the dictionary entry for a verb begins with the (bare) infinitive, and is typically followed by the present and past participles, and then the present 3rd person singular, or something like that. I always thought of these as building blocks in the formation of different tenses and other forms. 02br
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00I have no problem calling the present participle a gerund when it serves as a noun, although I formerly thought "gerund" had a much broader definition. But why does it have to stop being the present participle? The infinitive is still the infinitive, regardless of which of several uses it's put to.02br
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00If they insist on doing this, why don't they come up with a correspondingly neat name for the present participle when it serves as an adjective?02br
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00It seems very strange indeed to say that the present participle cannot serve as the subject of a sentence, when I can see it doing so with my own eyes.02br
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00Can anyone justify this unbalanced treatment?? I've been hoping for an epiphany for several months now, and I'm about to give up. To me, it's like saying that an uncountable noun is not singular because "singular" has to do with countables. (This position recently held in a thread)02br
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00present participle as noun = (gerund)02br
00present participle as adjective = (??????)02br
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00Best wishes, - A. 0-