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> You are splitting hairs

I think the point of this conversation thread was to split hairs. :)

> "Smoking" is the noun form of the verb "to smoke", also known as a gerund.

Yes.

> "No" is an adjective (quantity) modifying "smoking".

Yes.

> "no smoking" is an action

That does not fit with my understanding. "Uncle Bob is no smoking." is not valid English. "No" is a word used when talking about sets of things/actions. To make an action that is the opposite of smoking, you have to use "not".





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