Canning fruit and canned fruit

You’re really into canning fruit.

Is it okay to use canned fruit in the sentence? Are there any differences?

Thank you!!!

It would change the meaning “You’re really into canned fruit” means the person really likes canned fruit. While, “You’re really into canning fruit” means that the person likes to make canned fruit.

A person that likes canned fruit likes it but they might not like the process of canning fruit themselves. A person that likes canning fruit probably also likes to eat canned fruit but not necessarily.

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Swedishfinnpolymath is correct. Here is a discussion of the grammatical details. You don’t need to know terms such as “participle” and “gerund”, but if you do understand them, it is easier to explain and discuss grammar and grammatical meanings.

Grammatically, “canned” here is a passive participle. A participle is a verb that is used as an adjective – it may describe a noun. Passive means that means that something (fruit) received the action of the verb. The fruit is in a can. The fruit was put into a can. The fruit was canned. The fruit is canned. It is “canned fruit”, where “canned”, acting as an adjective to describe the fruit, is a passive participle.

“Canning”, in this case, I think, is a gerund, which is a verb acting as a noun. It is the act of putting something into cans. You like something. What is the thing that you like? What is the noun that you like? You like canning.

I am certain that it must confuse learners that -ing is also used for present active participles. Again, participles are verbs acting as adjectives. This example is a bit forced but grammatically correct: “You are a canning person.” In this example, “canning” describes the pronoun “you”, so the verb acts as an adjective, which makes it a participle.

So “canning” may act as a noun (gerund) or as an adjective (active participle).
“Canned” may be the past tense of the verb, or it may be the verb acting as an adjective (passive participle).

I hope I did not confuse matters. As I said, understanding these grammatical terms and concepts makes it easier to discuss and to explain them, but it is possible to learn the language without knowing these terms.

In a similar way, you can learn to tie a dozen knots without knowing terms like “standing end”, “working end”, and “bight”. But if you do know these terms, it is much easier for me to teach you how to tie a new knot. :slight_smile:

PS: The term “canning” usually means putting food into glass jars for preservation, if not used in the context of a factory that actually makes cans of food.

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Thank you so much for the clarification, khardy. I’m trying to understand and digest it.