Timeline for Difference between "commit suicide" and "suicide"

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Jun 27, 2015 at 10:32	comment	added	user21820		And you may ask why we say "commit a crime" instead of "commit crime" since "crime" can be used as an abstract noun... It is because "crime" is not an action whereas we say "commit X" when "X" is an abstract action. That is also why we say "commit an offence" and "commit an error" and "commit an act of murder".
Jun 27, 2015 at 10:28	comment	added	user21820		They are not gerunds. They are abstract nouns when used with "commit" and hence do not take any article. Some can be used as count nouns in other contexts but that is irrelevant. Others like "fraud" and "treason" and "insubordination" are not count nouns anyway.
Jun 28, 2011 at 7:30	comment	added	Matt E. Эллен		@GEdgar: Well, that seem counter intuitive to this particular situation where if murder or suicide were nouns they would be preceded by an article e.g. "commit a murder", but they aren't, so they must be gerunds. I don't believe there is any rule in English that can be prefixed with MUST. They all have exceptions.
Jun 27, 2011 at 15:30	comment	added	GEdgar		According to another question I just read, a gerund in English MUST end in -ing.
Jun 27, 2011 at 10:32	history	edited	Matt E. Эллен	CC BY-SA 3.0	added bit about gerund
Jun 27, 2011 at 10:22	history	answered	Matt E. Эллен	CC BY-SA 3.0