verbal noun

Grammar

The present participle form of the verb used as a noun. It is also called a ‘gerund’. For example:Smoking is not permitted. I don’t like eating a lot late at night. Although the verbal noun is used as a noun, it also behaves like a verb. The second example can be analysed like this:

subject	verb phrase	object
I	don't like	eating	a lot	late at night.
		verb	object	adverbial

Because a verbal noun is partly a noun and partly a verb, it can raise questions when preceded by a noun or pronoun. For example, which of the following sentences is correct?  She hates my doing that.  She hates me doing that.Traditionalists say that (1) is correct and (2) is wrong. In fact 90 per cent of the time people follow the pattern of (2), and the use of a possessive before a verbal noun as in (1) is largely confined to fiction and very formal writing.