Commencing

Commencing is the present participle and gerund form of the verb commence. It denotes the act of beginning or starting something. The verb commence is formal and often used in legal, Official, or ceremonial language; in everyday speech, speakers more commonly say begin or start. It can be used intransitively as in The ceremony commenced at noon, or transitively as in They commenced construction on the new library.

Etymology and usage context: commence derives from Old French comencer (later commencer in Middle French), which in turn comes from Latin incipere, meaning “to begin” or “to take on.” The noun form commencement refers to the act or time of beginning. In North American English, commence is frequently encountered in formal writing, while commencement is also the standard term for a graduation ceremony at many educational institutions.

Usage notes: Although widely understood, commence remains formal and is less common in casual conversation. Some style guides advise reserving commence for official or legal prose and using begin or start in informal contexts. In legal writing, commence is common in phrases such as commence proceedings, commence construction, or commence litigation.

Examples of collocations: commence work, commence construction, commence proceedings, commence a new project, commence operations. The verb’s passive construction is common: The project was commenced last year.

See also: begin, start, initiation, inception, commencement (as a noun).