Courts have had particular problems with situations involving the purchase of software.
What part of speech is "involving" a gerund or a participle?
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Sign up to join this communityI would say it's a participle as part of the larger adjectival phrase "involving the purchase of software", which modifies "situations". A gerund is usually only a verbal noun, like "I like eating cake".
It is the present participle in a reduced defining relative clause that is reduced to a present participle:
The complete sentence is:
To reduce a relative clause to a present participle:
Examples: