Learn English – Difference between “measurement” and “measuring”

differencesnouns

What is the difference between the nouns measurement and measuring? Can I say the measurement has stopped the same way I can say the measuring has stopped?

Best Answer

Syntactically, you have different complements available. The verb measuring simply takes a direct object. The noun measurement and the gerundial noun measuring take PP complements headed by of. Thus you have:

Measuring the elephant was dangerous. (verb)

but:

The measuring of the elephant was fraught with danger. (gerundial noun)

The measurement of the elephant went surprisingly well. (noun)