Martha,
These phrases occur with an article and so act like compound nouns: the dining room = the room for dining (gerund = noun) [for people to dine in]
I suppose if the room were able to devour us, we could have: a dining room = a room dining [on something] (participle = adjective)
The compounding of nouns together with the first 'modifying' the second is a common morphological process, so much so that the construction with the gerund seems to be the default interpretation when there are multiple possibilities. Chomsky has used the sentence, "Flying airplanes can be dangerous" to contrast the gerund-with-object (dangerous for the pilot) with the participle-with-subject (dangerous for birds or people on the ground). We could expand on his example with a common compound making three situations that beg three interpretations: "Eating apples can be dangerous." 1) compound: an apple of that kind may cause an allergic reaction, 2) gerund with object: during that activity a piece of apple may lodge in one's throat, 3) participle: an acidic apple may eat away at the vulnerable surface it may be sitting on.
Bruce
Aren't these gerunds acting as adjectives in the same way nouns act as adjectives?
Nancy,
Here are some others: dining room, reading room, drinking fountain,
fishing pole, diving board.
These are perhaps prepositional phrases that have lost their
prepositions: room for dining, fountain for drinking, process of
voting, etc.
Martha
>How does the word "voting" function in the clause "I participate in the
>voting process every four years"?
>
>My first thought was that it is a participle. "Voting" appears to be a
>verb acting like an adjective, modifying "process." But the subject of a
>participle is the word it modifies, and "process" is not the subject
>of "voting."
>
>Off-list responses are fine--this is probably not a question that will
>interest the list. Please reply to [log in to unmask]
>
>Thanks,
>Nancy
>
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>and select "Join or leave the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
Building a website is a piece of cake.
Yahoo! Small Business gives you
all the tools to get online. To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.