Friday, September 13, 2019

adjectives - The role of 'sleeping' in 'sleeping baby'


A "sleeping baby" generally means a baby that is sleeping at the time of speaking, as shown in this sentence:




After finishing all the feeding, bathing and nappy-changing duties, a number of dads have been competing in a new game to see how many Cheerios they can stack on their sleeping baby. (Quoted from this article)



In this and most other contexts, the "sleeping" in "sleeping baby" has a progressive meaning to it. In fact, I can't really think of a context where a "sleeping baby" does not mean a "baby that is sleeping at the time of speaking" but a "baby that just sleeps".


On the other hand, it's hard to think of other noun phrases consisting of "V+ing + noun" where the "V+ing" has a progressive meaning to it. In none of the following examples does "V+ing" show a progressive meaning:



The guy was a walking encyclopedia of beer knowledge.


That's an interesting idea.


We are paying customers.


When I was diagnosed, it was a really trying time.


I own the controlling interest in the company.



Today's recycling day.



Is there something special about the phrase "sleeping baby" that makes the progressive meaning possible? Is so, what is it?


If this isn't anything special about this particular phrase, then please show me some examples of "V+ing + noun" where the "V+ing" shows a progressive meaning.




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