Guys, whose good with English language and can help an idiot out?
I want to mention a word that’s been used in an essay I have to critique.It’s dolphining, in the context of describing a swim.
What is this then? A noun turned into an verb? Is there a term for that? I can find one for a verb turned into a noun but not vice versa.
Also do you reckon it applies as a metaphor or not?
You are all way smarter than me and I struggle with grammatical/language stuff at the best of times.
harru
30 October 2018 16:43
2
It’s a gerund but not really a real one I think
That’s the other way round I think
I thought a gerund was verb as noun only
Wiki says it’s called verbification or verbing. Not sure about this.
In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation or null derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word (of a new word class) from an existing word (of a different word class) without any change in form, which is to say, derivation using only zero. For example, the noun green in golf (referring to a putting-green) is derived ultimately from the adjective green.
Conversions from adjectives to nouns and vice versa are both very common and unnotable in English; much...
TKC
30 October 2018 16:45
8
gerunds are slightly different (a verb form acting as a noun)
denominalization is the phrase you’re after I think
harru
30 October 2018 16:46
10
Because you’ve made a verb ‘to dolphin’, out of a noun, then turned that into a gerund.
Yeah it sounds a bit unofficial and I do t know if I can get away with it. Suppose I could say “what is referred to by some as verbing” and that might work to show I’m unsure of the word and unsure if this term is correct but it’s the best I can do.
Colleague has Dolphin as a surname
will see if he knows
6 Likes
STEEEEEEVE GERUND, GERUND
1 Like
japes
30 October 2018 17:03
18
it’s a kind of clever fish, they make a weird squeaky sound
HTH