grammar - Cooking apples and cleaning ladies


Consider the following sentences:



  1. Cooking is my favourite activity.

  2. Cooking apples are essential for this recipe.


Cooking functions in the first sentence as a gerund. How does it function in the second?


A similar question could be asked of the term cleaning lady. However, while a cooking apple represents an apple which is (itself) cooked, a cleaning lady represents a lady who cleans (something else). Is there a difference?


Other examples:



  • Talking point vs. Watering can

  • Reading material vs. Cutting board



Answer



Consider the following sentences (stressed words are boldfaced):



  1. Cooking apples is essential for this recipe.

  2. Cooking apples are essential for this recipe.


In (1), cooking apples is an example of a gerund subject complement with a (deleted) indefinite subject. As usual in a transitive subjectless clause, the direct object gets stressed. And, of course, noun clauses are always singular, whence the predicate is essential.


In (2), however, cooking apples is an example of a noun phrase with an attributive adjective formed from a participle, modifying apples, and signifying apples intended to be cooked (as opposed -- in my idiolect, anyway -- to eating apples, which are intended to be eaten uncooked). As usual in a contrastive noun phrase, the contrasting adjective is stressed. And of course the plural noun apples takes a plural predicate are essential.




  • One main point is that not every -ing word is a gerund.




  • Another is that gerunds are really clauses, with subjects (often deleted,
    but still understood), and possibly objects, if the gerund is transitive.




  • Still another is that, when pronounced, there is no ambiguity, because they're not the same.




Edit: (added from the comments)


Cooking apples are for cooking, cleaning ladies are for cleaning. The fact that apples is object and ladies is subject gets lost when the compound is made. There are many many different kinds of noun compound; my favorite pair is pony ride vs snake bite.


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