Question

In this sentence “Laughing is good for health”, Is "laughing" a noun?

Answer 1

Hint: Noun is a naming word. It is a word that refers to any name, place, thing, feeling, animal or an abstract idea. There are 7 main types of nouns which are Common nouns, Proper nouns, Concrete nouns, Abstract nouns, Collective nouns, Count and mass nouns. In the above question we have to find out whether ‘laughing’ functions as a noun in the given sentence or not.

Complete answer:
In the above question “laughing” is not a noun. It could have been a noun only if it was written as laughter because laughter is an expression and expressions are included in abstract nouns.

It is an -ing form of the verb ‘laugh’. But, it acts as a gerund in this sentence.
Gerunds are words that are formed from verbs but act as a noun. Such words can appear in the beginning of the sentences as well as at the end of the sentences. They can function both as subject and object in a sentence. Also, they can be a subject complement or an object of preposition. Basically they discharge the functions of a noun.
For examples,
Gerund as a subject - Walking is good for health.
Gerund as an object- They do not like my painting.
Gerund as a subject complement - My favourite hobby(subject) is singing(subject complement).
Gerund as an object preposition- He was scolded for lying.

In the sentence “ Laughing is good for health.”, laughing is the subject of the sentence because the rest of the sentence tells more about laughing.

Note: Other than gerunds, we also have other forms such as 1) participle forms which are formed from verbs but act as adjectives 2) infinitives that act as adjectives, adverbs or verbal nouns etc. it has the properties of both noun and verb.