Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Candles]

Dear teachers,

Please help me to answer this sentence:

Why do they use "My job is bus driving"?

NOUN + GERUND = bus driving

But we do not say "My job is bank working"

Thank you
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[redset]

This structure works because we can express it as VERB + OBJECT:

"I drive a bus."

It doesn't work for your second example because that would need a preposition:

"I work in a bank." (VERB + PREP + OBJECT)

We only use the OBJECT + GERUND form when it's a verb directly acting on an object, we can't rearrange it this way when there's a participle.