meaning of ing?

Question

Does ing afterpart of the verb have meaning of starting any act?

Answer 1

-ING has to to with the tenses.
A verb like let's say "drink" is in the present simple. This means that the action described, happens every day, sometimes, usually, never etc.
Ex. "I drink milk every day"

If now the verb "drink" takes the -ing ending, it goes in the present continuous, and it means that the action described is happening NOW.
Ex. "I am drinking milk now"
=)

Answer 2

-Ing means a word that adds into a verb to make it better. I'll give you example:
Read - Reading
If you use Reading, it sounds better. Ex: Are you reading a book? If you cancel -ing, look at the example: Are you read a book? It shows different meaning. So we use -ING, okay? But there is also a way to use a verb without -ing. Ex: Did you read a book? Did you reading a book? This time, without -ing is much better in this example:

Confused? I do! XD

Use -Ing or without -Ing depending on the sentence if it sounds great and when it produces great meanings. Take a look at the example again.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

-ing means that the act is not immediate, that it is taking some time, that it lasts a while. You can only use it with verbs that have some duration.

If it is in present ("to be ... -ing"), then it focuses on the fact that it is happening at that moment, and is more or less the same as the French "etre en train de ...".

An easy test is: "-ing" is well used if you can add "for five minutes" (or similar) to the sentence. (I suppose you could test it with "pendent" in French.)

"I jumped" usually means I jumped once; "I ate a tomato" usually focuses on the fact that it happened. "I was jumping" means I didn't jump just once ("I was jumping for five minutes"), and "I was eating a tomato" means there was some time (five minutes?) when I was busy with food.

(By your IM handle, I guessed you spoke French. Sorry if I was wrong...)

Or, an analogy with Japanese might be more useful, perhaps? Hope it's correct... I noticed your son was in Japan...

I eat ~ taberu
I ate ~ tabeta
I am eating ~ tabete iru
I was eating ~ tabete ita

Answer 4

No! "ing" is "doing the act". To start an act would be, "to jump", "to run", "to search" etc. Doing the act is "jumping", "running", searching" etc. If somebody calls out, "start running", they are giving a command for you to start doing the act.