Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[puzzle]

Dear teachers,
Sometimes it's difficult to decide when to use the gerund form of a verb or its noun form. for example , "way of ____(communicate) among people", here we should use communication. And when can we use communicating? If it's " way of _____ with people",can we use"communicating"?
Also what's the difference between "orgnization'' and "organizing"?
Thank you!

[Eric Thompson]

Dear puzzle: I think the use of gerund (-ing) and noun (-ion) forms of these words is on a case-by-case basis. In the case of 'communicate', both 'communicating' and 'communication' are very similar in use. In your example, 'way of _____ among/with people', you can use both of those words. (And 'among' and 'with' are also interchangeable in this case.) Regarding the case of 'organize', 'organizing' and 'organization' are used quite differently, especially as adjectives: organizing committee/organization chart. You cannot interchange the two in this case. So, I think it's a case-by-case situation. You just have to learn the various meanings of the '-ing' and '-ion' nouns. Sorry. Ok? --Eric