The Analysis of -ing Forms

The –ing form can be used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb. In this case, I try to find out and analyze the -ing forms in an article which is entitled History Community Celebrates 11 Years with Website Launch. The analysis contains whether the -ing forms in the article functioning as noun, adjective, or verb. The analysis of -ing forms will be discussed below:

 History Community Celebrates

11 Years with Website Launch

The Indonesian History Community (KHI), a group of young people who popularize history through a series of interesting programs, is celebrating its 11th anniversary by launching a new website, komunitashistoria.com. Consequently, KHI has begun to digitize its archives. KHI founder Asep Kambali said the group’s purpose was to educate society, particularly youths. By digitizing the historical data and uploading it, he hoped current and subsequent generations could learn more about Indonesian history.

“Right now, people rarely use paper to read or save data, they tend to use electronic devices such as computers and phones,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that for that reason, this year the KHI had started a campaign to digitize historical data such as analog movies and articles. He said the KHI had also invited around 23,500 members to move their activities and conversation in the KHI’s long-running mailing list to the new website.

KHI was also digitizing the data because it wanted to have a better way to approach youths who were more familiar with the digital age, he said. Asep had concerns that the youth in Indonesia did not know the country’s history very well. “This is an era of media convergence. The process of history learning must adapt with [this], otherwise people in Indonesia will forget their own history,” he said. The KHI is a nonprofit independent organization and was established on March 22, 2003, in Jakarta. It is a community for youths who want to learn about Indonesian history. 

Asep said to make the community sustainable, he had also established a legal business institution, PT Komunitas Historia Indonesia, where youths who had a degree in history could make a living. The move was part of the KHI’s effort to encourage the younger generation to believe it could earn a living by learning history, he added.

Nadya, a KHI member, said after joining the community, she learned many things and found that the process was fun. “Learning history in school should be done via KHI’s way,” she told the Post, adding that the KHI promoted interesting topics in history and delivered them in interesting ways. At the anniversary, Asep explained KHI’s programs in 2014, one of which was a cooperation with the Post, which will hold the second Museum Week from May 13 to 18 in conjunction with International Museum Day.

Riyadi Suparno, executive director of the Post, said at the KHI’s anniversary that Museum Week aimed to promote museums. “The exhibition aims to promote and increase people’s awareness of museums, in the hope it can trigger a movement that can make museums become better [and interesting] places to visit,” said Riyadi. Last year, the week took place over six days from Aug. 27 to Sept. 1 at Senayan City mall. In the event, 13 museums in Jakarta, including the Bank Indonesia Museum, the Maritime Museum, the National Museum, the Harry Darsono Museum, the Basoeki Abdullah Museum, the Asmat Museum in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) and the Textile Museum, showcased their collections. (ask)

Source : Jakarta Post newspaper, Page 10 ‖ Tuesday, March 25, 2014.

DISCUSSION

a)         In paragraph 1, first sentence:

The Indonesian History Community (KHI), a group of young people who popularize history through a series of interesting programs, is celebrating its 11th anniversary by launching a new website, komunitashistoria.com.

Analysis:

The -ing form of “interesting” functions as an adjective. Although the –ing form “interesting” is preceded by preposition “of”, it does not mean that “interesting” has a function as noun or a gerund. However in the sentence above, “interesting” is a present participle which is used as an adjective. “Interesting program” is a noun phrase. The head is “program” and  “interesting” is modifier. In this case, “interesting” functions as adjective that modifies noun “program”. 

The -ing form of “celebrating” functions as verb. If we read the whole of first sentence in the paragraph one, we can obviously determine that the main verb in the sentence is “is celebrating”. The sentence uses present progressive tense because it has sentence pattern: Subject (KHI ) + to be (is) + v-ing (celebrating)+Object. Hence, the -ing form of “celebrating” functions as verb, and it expresses an action. "a group of young people who popularize history through a series of interesting programs" is appositive which is used to give more information about the subject "KHI".

The -ing form of “launching” functions as noun. The –ing form in the word “launching” is a gerund. As we know that gerund has the same function as a noun although it looks like a verb. One of the rules in English grammar is if there is a preposition, we need to use a gerund or a noun after it.  Therefore, we can see that there is a gerund “launching” after the preposition “by”.

 b)        In paragraph 2, last sentence:

He said the KHI had also invited around 23,500 members to move their activities and conversation in the KHI’s long running mailing list to the new website.

Analysis:

The -ing form of  “running” functions as noun. “long running” is a noun phrase. “long” is an adjective that has a function to modify noun “running”. 

The -ing form of  “mailing” has a function as noun. “mailing” is a gerund in compound noun “mailing list”, and gerund has the same function as noun. Besides, there is a preposition “in” before “the KHI’s long-running mailing list”. It means that we have to use a noun or gerund after the preposition. 

c)         In paragraph 3, first sentence:

KHI was also digitizing the data because it wanted to have a better way to approach youths.

Analysis:

The –ing form “digitizing” has a function as a verb because it expresses an action. There is a to be (i.e. was) that precedes the v-ing “digitizing”. Hence, the independent clause above uses past continuous tense with the sentence pattern: Subject (KHI) + to be (was) + v-ing (digitizing)+object (the data).

 d)        In paragraph 4, first sentence:

Asep said to make the community sustainable, he had also established a legal business institution, PT Komunitas Historia Indonesia, where youths who had a degree in history could make a living.

 Analysis:

 The –ing form of “living” has a function as a noun. “a living” is a noun phrase. The article “a” is determiner that expresses the reference of a noun “living”.

  e)        In paragraph 5, first sentence:

Nadya, a KHI member, said after joining the community, she learned many things and found that the process was fun.

Analysis:

The -ing form of “joining” functions as a noun. After in the sentence above is a preposition, not a conjunction because there is no "subject + to be" before the v-ing “joining”.  Therefore, the v-ing "joining" is a gerund that located after the preposition “after”.

f)         In paragraph 5, second sentence:

“Learning history in school should be done via KHI’s way,” she told the Post, adding that the KHI promoted interesting topics in history and delivered them in interesting ways.

Analysis:

The -ing form of “learning” functions as noun. “Learning” is a gerund that functions as a subject in the sentence above.

The –ing form of “adding” has a function as an adjective. Adding in here is an participle which is used to modify the entire sentence after it. We can not say that “adding” is a verb because there is no to be before it. 

The –ing form of “interesting” functions as adjective. It is a present participle which is used as an adjective. In the “interesting topics”, the –ing form “interesting” modifies noun “topics” and in the “interesting ways”, “interesting” has a function to modify noun “ways”.

g)         In last paragraph, last sentence:

In the event, 13 museums in Jakarta, including the Bank Indonesia Museum, the Maritime Museum, the National Museum, the Harry Darsono Museum, the Basoeki Abdullah Museum, the Asmat Museum in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) and the Textile Museum, showcased their collections.

Analysis:

The -ing form “including” has a function as a preposition. The –ing form usually has a function as noun, adjective, or verb, but the -ing form “including” has a function as preposition. In the sentence above, “including” contains as part of the 13 museums that being considered.