I have always run into word twins like tube vs. tubing.
More pairs: fence vs. fencing, pipe vs. piping, cable vs. cabling, rail vs. railing, etc.
This is an interesting phemonenon. Most of these nouns cannot function as verbs, but adding the ing-form generates a new word with a similar meaning.
Can you please explain the morphology behind this? Does the ing-form bring with it a different connotation? Any nuances between these twins?
Best Answer
From the Wiktionary article on "-ing":
See the suffix -ing has three actions, according to Wiktionary: