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Barking dogs seldom bite.

Barking is a gerund or present participle?

His rising early in the morning, helped him score well.

His rising early in the morning -- is this a participle clause? Can someone explain how to identify an participle clause in any sentence

user159928
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  • In this case barking is a present participle; it's an adjective modifying dogs. – John Clifford Feb 11 '16 at 14:24
  • If it functions as a noun then it's a gerund. In the second example "rising" is clearly a noun so it's a gerund. – Al Maki Feb 11 '16 at 17:43
  • This question hinges on your simply not looking up what a gerund is. A gerund is a present participle acting as a noun. Try replacing barking with another noun. Can you do that? Now try replacing rising with another noun. Can you do that? – RegDwigнt Mar 12 '16 at 20:49
  • @John Clifford Many grammarians regard participial adjectives as true adjectives rather than participles. Certainly with 'bored student' say, the verbal connection is almost entirely bleached out. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 07 '16 at 11:22
  • @EdwinAshworth Having had 8 months to think about it, I'll go ahead and assume that you have a valid point there. :) – John Clifford Oct 07 '16 at 11:53

1 Answers1

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Barking dogs seldom bite - "Barking" is a participial adjective modifying "dogs."

His rising early in the morning (preferably without a comma) helped him score well - "Rising" is a gerund, and the surrounding verbiage is a gerund phrase, acting as the subject of the sentence.

Rob_Ster
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  • The correct answer (with your usage of the term 'gerund', which is almost certainly the most common), but it would have been better to do a quick check to see how many times it's been given before on ELU. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 07 '16 at 13:54