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The above meaning of shall is generally confined to direct questions with a first person subject. In the case of a reported question (even if not reported in the past tense), shall is likely to be replaced by should or another modal verb such as might : "She is asking if she should open a window"; "He asked if they might dance."
A gerund is a verb form that appears in positions that are usually reserved for nouns. In English, a gerund has the same form as a progressive active participle and so ends in -ing. Gerunds typically appear as subject or object noun phrases or even as the object of a preposition:
-ing is a suffix used to make one of the inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle , as a gerund , and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective . The suffix is also found in certain words like morning and ceiling , and in names such as Browning .
One can compare the construction and meaning of noun phrases formed using the -ing form as a gerund, and of those formed using the same -ing form as a deverbal noun. Some points are noted below: The gerund can behave like a verb in taking objects: crossing the river cost many lives.
The present continuous is formed by the present tense form of be and the present participle (-ing form) of the verb. [3] [4] For example, you would write the verb work in the present continuous form by adding the -ing suffix to the verb and placing a present tense form of be (am, are, is) in front of it: [3] I am working. You are working. She ...
Affixes are bound by definition. [5] English language affixes are almost exclusively prefixes or suffixes: pre-in "precaution" and -ment in "shipment". Affixes may be inflectional, indicating how a certain word relates to other words in a larger phrase, or derivational, changing either the part of speech or the actual meaning of a word.
Like the -ing suffix, the to-infinitive spread historically from a narrow original use, a prepositional phrase referring to future time. Like the -ing form it spread to all English verbs and to form non-finite clauses. Like the -ing form, it spread by analogy to use with words of similar meaning.
A definition states the meaning of a word using other words. This is sometimes challenging. Common dictionaries contain lexical descriptive definitions, but there are various types of definition – all with different purposes and focuses. A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols).