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Historically, grammarians have described a verbal noun or gerundial noun as a verb form that functions as a noun.^[1] An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The sacking of the city was an epochal event" (wherein sacking is a gerund form of the verb sack).

A verbal noun, as a type of nonfinite verb form, is a term that some grammarians still use when referring to gerunds, gerundives, supines, and nominal forms of infinitives. In English however, verbal noun has most frequently been treated as a synonym for gerund.

Aside from English, the term verbal noun may apply to:

the citation form of verbs such as the masdar in Arabic and the verbal noun (berfenw) in Welsh^[2]
declinable verb forms in Mongolian that can serve as predicates, comparable to participles but with a larger area of syntactic use ^[3]

Types

Verbal nouns, whether derived from verbs or constituting an infinitive, behave syntactically as grammatical objects or grammatical subject. ^[4] They may also be used as count nouns and pluralized but cannot be inflected vis-a-vis a given grammatical person.

In English, gerunds used as verbal nouns comprise the suffix -ing. Examples of such uses are given below:

Killing the president was an atrocious crime.

He was chastised for not leaving a tip for the server.

Creating a backup file might be a good idea.

Thanks for giving us a heads-up.

Infinitives used as verbal nouns generally occur as prefaced by the particle to:

To be or not to be is the question.

To become a U.S. president, one must be a natural born U.S. citizen.

Try to stay calm.

Finding time to exercise requires proper planning.

Infinitives used as verbal nouns may not be prefaced by the particle to, however, when elided via ellipsis:

Having proper contacts might help you (to) get the job.

They couldn't help but (to) notice and (to) snicker at the wardrobe malfunction.

Verbs also may be nominalized through derivational processes, such as suffixes (as in discovery from the verb discover) or by simple conversion (as with the noun love from the verb love). The formation of such deverbal nouns is not generally a productive process, that is, it cannot be indiscriminately applied to form nouns from any verb (for example, there is no noun *uncovery for the verb uncover). When they exist, such deverbal nouns often tend to replace the regularly formed verbal noun (as discovery is usually used rather than discovering, although the latter is still common as a gerund), or else a differentiation in meaning becomes established.

Notes

^ Huddleston, Rodney D.; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 81. ISBN 0-521-43146-8.
^ Willis, Penny (1988). "Is the Welsh verbal noun a verb or a noun?". Word. 39 (3): 201–224. doi:10.1080/00437956.1988.11435790.
^ Poppe, Nikolas (2006). Grammar of Written Mongolian. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 112. ISBN 978-3-447-00684-2.
^ Hoekstra, Teun (2004). Arguments and Structure: Studies on the Architecture of the Sentence. Walter de Gruyter. p. 268. ISBN 3-11-017953-9.

[1] Huddleston, Rodney D.; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 81. ISBN 0-521-43146-8.

[2] Willis, Penny (1988). "Is the Welsh verbal noun a verb or a noun?". Word. 39 (3): 201–224. doi:10.1080/00437956.1988.11435790.

[3] Poppe, Nikolas (2006). Grammar of Written Mongolian. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 112. ISBN 978-3-447-00684-2.

[4] Hoekstra, Teun (2004). Arguments and Structure: Studies on the Architecture of the Sentence. Walter de Gruyter. p. 268. ISBN 3-11-017953-9.

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+{{Short description|Noun formed from or otherwise corresponding to a verb}}
-{{one source|date=January 2017}}
+{{Multiple issues|
+{{More citations needed|date=February 2021}}
+{{Technical|date=April 2021}}
+}}
 {{Wiktionarypar|verbal noun}}
-A '''verbal noun''' is a [[noun]] formed from a [[verb]]. Unlike a [[gerund]], it has no verbal force. Different languages have different types of verbal nouns and different ways of forming and using them. An example of a verbal noun in [[English grammar|English]] is the word 'driving' in the sentence "I warned him against fast driving" (this is a noun formed from the verb ''drive'').
+Historically, grammarians have described a '''verbal noun''' or '''gerundial noun''' as a verb form that functions as a noun.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Rodney D.|last1=Huddleston|first2=Geoffrey K. |last2=Pullum|title=The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language |location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |page=81 |isbn=0-521-43146-8}}</ref> An example of a verbal noun in [[English grammar|English]] is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The ''sacking'' of the city was an epochal event" (wherein ''sacking'' is a gerund form of the verb ''sack'').
-Verbal nouns are morphologically related to verbs, but they are not non-finite verb forms.
+A verbal noun, as a type of [[nonfinite verb|nonfinite verb form]], is a term that some grammarians still use when referring to [[gerund]]s, [[gerundive]]s, [[supine]]s, and [[nominal (linguistics)|nominal]] forms of [[infinitive]]s. In English however, ''verbal noun'' has  most frequently been treated as a synonym for ''gerund''.
-The non-finite verb forms are
-forms such as [[gerund|gerunds]], [[infinitive|infinitives]] and [[participle]] in [[English grammar|English]].
-Some grammarians use the term "verbal noun" to mean verbal noun, gerund and noun infinitive.
+Aside from English, the term ''verbal noun'' may apply to:
+* the citation form of verbs such as the [[Arabic verbal noun|masdar]] in Arabic and the verbal noun (''berfenw'') in [[Welsh language|Welsh]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Willis |first1=Penny |date=1988 |title=Is the Welsh verbal noun a verb or a noun? |journal=Word |volume=39 |issue=3|pages=201–224| doi=10.1080/00437956.1988.11435790|doi-access= }}</ref>
-Some may use the term "gerund" to mean both verbal noun and gerund. "Verbal noun" has often been treated as a synonym for "gerund".
+* declinable verb forms in Mongolian that can serve as predicates, comparable to [[participle]]s but with a larger area of syntactic use <ref>{{cite book|first1=Nikolas |last1=Poppe |title=Grammar of Written Mongolian |location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |year=2006 |page=112 |isbn=978-3-447-00684-2}}</ref>
 ==Types==
 {{Multiple issues|section=yes|
-{{Refimprove-section|date=July 2020}}
+{{More citations needed section|date=July 2020}}
-{{Original Research|date=July 2020}}}}
+{{Original research|date=July 2020}}}}
-As suggested by some traditional grammarians,{{who?|date=July 2020}} but modern grammarians do not include them in verbal noun, verbal nouns may be [[non-finite verb]] forms which follow verb [[syntax]], for example by taking appropriate [[object (grammar)|object]]s (though usually not a [[subject (grammar)|subject]]) and being modified by [[adverb]]s, to produce a [[verb phrase]] which is then used within a larger sentence as a [[noun phrase]]. In English this can be done with the [[infinitive|''to''-infinitive]] and with the [[gerund]]. In the following examples with infinitives, the verb phrase serving as a noun phrase is underlined, and the ''to''-infinitive itself is bolded:
+Verbal nouns, whether derived from verbs or constituting an infinitive, behave [[syntax|syntactically]] as [[object (grammar)|grammatical objects]] or [[subject (grammar)|grammatical subject]]. <ref>{{cite book |first=Teun |last=Hoekstra |title=Arguments and Structure: Studies on the Architecture of the Sentence |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2004 |page=268 |isbn=3-11-017953-9 }}</ref> They may also be used as [[count noun]]s and pluralized but cannot be [[inflection|inflected]] vis-a-vis a given [[person (grammar)| grammatical person]].
-:: <u>'''To err'''</u> is human, <u>'''to forgive'''</u> divine.
-:: Jan likes <u>'''to go''' fishing on Sundays</u>.
-:: His greatest desire was <u>'''to serve''' his country</u>.
-In the first sentence the verbal noun phrases play the role of subjects, and in the remaining examples they are verb objects or [[complement (grammar)|complement]]s. There are restrictions on the grammatical contexts in which this type of noun phrase can be used, and infinitives also have other uses in which they would not be regarded as nouns. For details see [[infinitive]].
-The following examples use gerunds (the gerund itself is bolded, the verb phrase serving as a noun phrase is underlined):
+In English, gerunds used as verbal nouns comprise the suffix ''-ing''. Examples of such uses are given below:
-:: <u>'''Speaking'''</u> is not always wise.
+:: '''Killing''' the president was an atrocious crime.
+:: He was chastised for not '''leaving''' a tip for the server.
-:: We enjoy <u>'''playing''' football</u>.
+:: '''Creating''' a backup file might be a good idea.
-Again there are grammatical restrictions on the occurrence of such phrases. In English the ''[[-ing]]'' form that serves as the gerund also serves as a present participle, which is used adjectivally or adverbally rather than as a noun. For details see [[gerund]] and [[participle]].
+:: Thanks for '''giving''' us a heads-up.
+Infinitives used as verbal nouns generally occur as prefaced by the [[particle (grammar)|particle]] ''to'':
-Other types of verbal nouns, however, while being derived from verbs, behave grammatically entirely as nouns, not as verbs. For example, they do not take direct objects as verbs can, and they are modified by adjectives rather than adverbs.<ref>{{cite book |first=Teun |last=Hoekstra |title=Arguments and Structure: Studies on the Architecture of the Sentence |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2004 |page=268 |isbn=3-11-017953-9 }}</ref> They may also be used as [[count noun]]s and pluralized. The terms "[[deverbal noun]]" and "pure verbal noun" refer only to this type, and not to infinitives nor gerunds. In English such nouns can be formed from verbs with the suffix ''-ing'', that is, they take the same form as the gerund. Examples of such uses are given below:
-:: The '''killing''' of the president was an atrocious crime.
+:: '''To be''' or not '''to be''' is the question.
+:: '''To become''' a U.S. president, one must be a natural born U.S. citizen.
-:: Most verses of the psalm have multiple '''readings'''.
-:: A '''building''' is a structure that is habitable.
+:: Try '''to stay''' calm.
+:: Finding time '''to exercise''' requires proper planning.
-Note how the undergoer of ''killing'' is specified in the form of a [[prepositional phrase]]: ''of the president''. This is because ''killing'' functions as a noun in this sentence. As a noun, it cannot take an object directly and instead the word ''president'' must be made object of the preposition ''of''.
+Infinitives used as verbal nouns may not be prefaced by the particle ''to'', however, when elided via [[ellipsis (linguistics)|ellipsis]]:
-Nouns may also be formed from verbs in other ways, such as by adding different suffixes, as in ''discovery'' from the verb ''discover'', or by simple [[Conversion (word formation)|conversion]], as with the noun ''love'' from the verb ''love''. These are not generally [[Productivity (linguistics)|productive]] processes, that is, they cannot be applied to form nouns from any arbitrary verb (for example, there is no noun *''uncovery'' for the verb ''uncover''). A similar phenomenon is found in many other languages. Such nouns may or may not be referred to as verbal nouns. When they exist, they often tend to replace the regularly formed verbal noun (as ''discovery'' is usually used rather than ''discovering'', although the latter is still common as a gerund), or else a differentiation in meaning becomes established.
+:: Having proper contacts might help you (to) '''get''' the job.
+:: They couldn't help but (to) '''notice''' and (to) '''snicker''' at the wardrobe malfunction.
+Verbs also may be [[nominalization|nominalized]] through [[Derivation (linguistics)|derivational processes]], such as suffixes (as in ''discovery'' from the verb ''discover'') or by simple [[Conversion (word formation)|conversion]] (as with the noun ''love'' from the verb ''love''). The formation of such [[deverbal noun]]s is not generally a [[Productivity (linguistics)|productive]] process, that is, it cannot be indiscriminately applied to form nouns from any verb (for example, there is no noun *''uncovery'' for the verb ''uncover''). When they exist, such deverbal nouns often tend to replace the regularly formed verbal noun (as ''discovery'' is usually used rather than ''discovering'', although the latter is still common as a gerund), or else a differentiation in meaning becomes established.
-Other languages may have other specific types of verbal noun. One such type found in [[Latin]] is the [[Latin conjugation#Supine|supine]], which corresponds to certain uses of the English ''to''-infinitive. The term ''[[supine]]'' is also used in various ways in descriptions of other languages; the English ''to''-infinitive is sometimes referred to as the supine.{{fact|date=March 2018}}
 ==Notes==
-{{reflist}}
+{{Reflist}}
 {{lexical categories|state=collapsed}}
+{{Authority control}}
 [[Category:Nouns by type]]