help me find an English grammar rule?

[ratcreature]

In English with some verbs you can use their ing-form after go, i.e. sentences like "I go running often", "we are going shopping" etc., but with other verbs this is not allowed, i.e. you don't say "we are going eating"(*) but "we are going (out) to eat".

I think the rule is that the construction is only allowed with movement verbs, like go walking, swimming, dancing, etc. all work, but not with reading, knitting or painting. I'm actually unsure about playing, but I think not? OTOH working and hunting seem okay in the construction?

I tried finding the rule for this in grammar explanations but I'm not even sure whether the -ing is considered a gerund or a present participle here. So I was hoping that maybe the English language geeks on my f-list could point me.

Comments

[laurajv]

Yeah, I mean -- we verb a lot, in this language. We go mushrooming! And birding! And I have a friend who is into bearding!

So I think you may be right -- it's something that LOOKS like a normal verb form but it's actually a reverb'd noun.

[ratcreature]

WTF is bearding? Growing a beard? Styling one? Just having one?

[saraht]

"Bearding" is actually from Middle English: it means to face down or oppose!

[ratcreature]

And that is a hobby like birding?

[laurajv]

That is a different bearding. This bearding comes from having a beard on one's face. (In this context, interestingly, you need not grow your own beard. You may use a fake beard. I have a woman friend who competes with fake beards.)

[laurajv]

Bearding is the entire wide wide world of competitive beard stuff. Grooming, competitions, etc. I have a friend who is an international-level competitor. IIRC he came in 4th in the world for freestyle natural beard last year.

[sholio]

Okay, I am now really curious to find out what bearding is exactly, because I've never heard of it, but going off the general pattern of the other ones, I would expect it would involve not just growing a beard but participating in, I guess you'd say, beard subculture -- styling a beard, sharing beard pictures with other beard enthusiasts, keeping track of the growth of your beard, something like that. So now I'm curious if I'm right.

It seems like another thing all of the different uses of this grammatical construction have in common is that they imply doing the thing in a particular culture-specific way that is NOT implied by using the verb by itself -- like, if someone says they're "going dancing", you don't assume they are a member of the ballet and are performing tonight, or that they are going over to a friend's house and dancing to the radio. They probably mean going out to a nightclub or something like that. They're not just doing the activity, but participating in the culture of it. I'm not sure if that's true of every single use of it, but it seems to hold for all the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

bearding

[laurajv]

Yes! You are correct. With the addition of competition. See, for example:
http://thecanam.com

My friend is 2nd place in "Partial Beard". I also know the "Full Beard Natural – 6 inches or More" winner.