_action_ from _act_, _service_ from _serve_.

[Sidenote: _Caution._]

(3) Derived from verbs by adding _-ing_ to the simple verb. It must be
remembered that these words are _free from any verbal function_. They
cannot govern a word, and they cannot _express_ action, but are merely
_names_ of actions. They are only the husks of verbs, and are to be
rigidly distinguished from _gerunds_ (Secs. 272, 273).

To avoid difficulty, study carefully these examples:

The best thoughts and _sayings_ of the Greeks; the moon caused fearful
_forebodings_; in the _beginning_ of his life; he spread his
_blessings_ over the land; the great Puritan _awakening_; our birth is
but a sleep and a _forgetting_; a _wedding_ or a festival; the rude
_drawings_ of the book; masterpieces of the Socratic _reasoning_; the
_teachings_ of the High Spirit; those opinions and _feelings_; there
is time for such _reasonings_; the _well-being_ of her subjects; her
_longing_ for their favor; _feelings_ which their original _meaning_
will by no means justify; the main _bearings_ of this matter.


[Sidenote: _Underived abstract nouns._]

12. Some abstract nouns were not derived from any other part of
speech, but were framed directly for the expression of certain ideas
or phenomena. Such are _beauty_, _joy_, _hope_, _ease_, _energy_;
_day_, _night_, _summer_, _winter_; _shadow_, _lightning_, _thunder_,
etc.