Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Anton Shepelev:   
      
    ak>  As I understand it, a gerund (as a form of a verb) must   
    ak>  take the same direct object as a pure verb. Examples:   
      
    ak>  They loaded the ship. (a pure verb).   
    ak>  They started loading the ship. (a gerund)   
      
    AS>  I agree that your second sentence has a gerund,   
    AS>  but I also insist that   
    AS>  The loading of this ship took two days.   
      
      
              I see "loading" as a gerund in your example & in Anton's.    
   According to FOWLER'S MODERN ENGLISH USAGE, a verbal noun ending in -ing is   
   precisely the same thing as a gerund in English.  If you can use "the" &/or   
   any other type of adjective to modify a word it's a noun... regardless of its   
   origin.  Once again the dictionary is a good resource in situations like   
   this.  It will identify as nouns a lot of -ing words which are used to name   
   various activities.  With only eight parts of speech available, one may have   
   to shoehorn some concepts to make them fit.  But all the dictionaries I know   
   of identify parts of speech....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  "Being loaded the ship sunk".   
    ak>  "Having been loaded the ship sunk"   
      
      
              Now you're dealing with participles, i.e. another can of worms.    
   And BTW... "sink, sank, sunk".  After the fact one might say "a sunken ship".    
   -))   
      
      
      
    ak>  "The taking of means not to see another morning had all day   
    ak>  absorbed every energy." -- can you retell it in other words?   
    ak>  Maybe we have here a kind of bad scanning?   
      
    AS>  That the correct sentence from "The Widow Werther" by Maria   
    AS>  Gowen Brooks. She sought death before moring.   
      
    ak>  A strange choice for pupils studying English. ;=)   
      
      
              Sounds to me like an excerpt from a Victorian novel.  The authors   
   of grammar textbooks frequently include citations like this... [chuckle].   
      
              I understand where these people are coming from.  When I searched   
   my memory for examples the only ones which came up were in an Irish folk song   
   & in a Christmas carol from England which is +/- three hundred years old.  I   
   noticed a few more in a book our daughter is reading.  In academic circles the   
   words of unknown writers or of a mouse who claims to be a newspaper editor   
   wouldn't pass muster... but I think they can help to demystify grammar   
   sometimes.   
      
              I'll gladly share my thoughts when I can whittle them down to a   
   more manageable size.  But I don't need to tell you not to hold your   
   breath....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)