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  1. I am considering to set up a cyber cafe.
  2. I am considering setting up a cyber cafe.

I think it should be version #2 where the verb considering is followed by the gerund setting. But it sounds unnatural to me.

Can we use a gerund after "Verb+ing"?

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    You may be interested in the topic doubl-ing constraint. Though, it doesn't seem to apply to your example with its use of "considering". Consider the acceptable example in CGEL page 1243 [57.iii.b]: "We are considering buying one."
    – F.E.
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 17:20
  • The doubl-ing constraint applies clearest to aspectual verbs (begin, cease, continue, start, stop, etc.) and concealed passives. (CGEL page 1243-4, [57])
    – F.E.
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 17:54
  • Thank you but i don't have CGEL. Do you mean we can't apply double-ing rule with each gerund verb? @F.E.
    – starun008
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 18:52
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    That doubl-ing constraint applies to only a small set of verbs. That's a grammatical constraint. But there is also a matter of "sound", when often a double -ing sequence can sound awkward or not so pleasant (even though it might be grammatically acceptable), and the given answer posts in your thread have addressed that issue. :)
    – F.E.
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 18:57
  • Regarding whether the first -ing word is a gerund, I just did some googling and was pleased to discover that it’s now more popular to call it a present participle than a gerund, contrary to the way I was taught. Calling it a gerund never made sense to me except by analogy with (some) Romance languages, e.g. in Italian where you say sto considerando, not sto considerante —though I think it would make even more sense to not have two separate terms. So now I'm wondering if there's a better way to title this question and how or whether I should revise my answer.…
    – Ben Kovitz
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 3:25

5 Answers 5

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Yes.

To native ears, the two consecutive gerunds don’t sound especially remarkable even though they both end with -ing. The construction is fairly common:

The contractor is delaying building the front porch.

We’re risking missing our plane.

I'm imagining writing a silly ending to this answer.

Three gerunds in a row is unusual but tolerable:

Some doctors are considering stopping recommending high-carbohydrate diets.

Four gerunds in a row sounds silly, though it’s still grammatically correct:

I’m enjoying imagining finishing writing this answer.

A Google search turns up 55,000 books that contain considering setting up.

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Considering setting up is perfectly grammatical, but (as you correctly sense) pairing the participle with the identically-formed gerund runs up against the horror aequi principle: hearers and readers don't like immediately consecutive uses of the same construction in different roles.

(But it is entirely acceptable to repeat a construction in a parallel or deliberately contrasting roles.)

Unhappily, you can't substitute an infinitive for the gerund, because consider does not license infinitive complements. Your only recourse here is rewriting to eliminate the jangling terms, or at least separate them:

I'm thinking about setting up a cyber cafe.
I've been thinking I might set up a cyber cafe.
A notion I'm considering is setting up a cyber cafe.

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  • Do you mean original sentence "I am considering to set up a cyber cafe" is incorrect? I am confused because I found a Newspaper headline saying "Asus considering to set up manufacturing facility in India".
    – starun008
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 16:40
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    @starun008 It is quite impossible; I guarantee that you did not read that in a headline written by a native speaker of English!
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 16:50
  • I don't know if Headline was written by a native speaker. I think if one sentence is grammatically incorrect than it's incorrect for all(native and non native).But i can give the link where you can read it. business-standard.com/article/companies/…
    – starun008
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 18:44
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    @starun008 In that link you will see that the construction "considering to" is used in the headline but the proper "considering setting up" is used in the body of the piece. I suspect that the subeditor who wrote the headline is not a native speaker, even if the author is.
    – Francis Davey
    Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 21:18
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    @starun008 Please don't try to learn English by reading headlines in Indian newspapers. You should NOT use an infinitive after "considering". I believe that the sentence *"I am considering to set up a cyber cafe" would be considered incorrect by all native English speakers.
    – Dawood ibn Kareem
    Commented Dec 28, 2014 at 1:46
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You actually do not have two gerunds in a row in that case. "I am considering" is actually a present progressive tense of the verb "to consider." "Setting up a cyber cafe" is the direct object of that sentence, started off with the gerund form of "to set."

The present progressive is visible if you look at how the sentence would appear in other tenses, in particular the past tense:

"I considered setting up a cyber cafe."

I don't entirely understand why English requires the direct object clause to start with a gerund, but I think it might become more clear when the direct object is a one-word verb, rather than a full clause

"I am considering sitting."

"I considered sitting."

In these cases, it is clear that a gerund is needed so that "to sit" can function as a noun. This also shows why English speakers will not use an infinitive -- because it is not a noun so cannot function as a direct object:

"XX I am considering to sit. XX (improper)"

I think that all -ing words except "am enjoying" in Ben's "I’m enjoying imagining finishing writing this answer" are gerunds, each one acting as the direct object of the previous one. However, it may be as simple as "it sounds better to our ears, so we say it that way."

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  • Regarding what to call the first -ing word, please see my comments on the question. I'd love to hear your opinion.
    – Ben Kovitz
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 3:29
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Anything with auxilliary be and then the 'ing' form is a present participle. So technically if you say I am considering running for presented its :PN+ aux Be+ present part+ gerund + etc....and not 2 gerunds in a row....

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Yes, in fact "Keep continuing studying" is also acceptable. (Can anyone please confirm this?)

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