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I'm trying to fully understand the plain conjunctive form without a suffix.
I've seen it mainly in the form of 話, where it means a talk or speech. So I
think it means something along the lines of _"the thing that is produced when
someone speaks for a bit"_. So applying that logic to a verb like 書く. Would 書き
be a thing that is produced when someone writes for a bit, i.e. a document? Is
it a synonym for 書き物 then, or does it mean something subtly different? Or is
it even a proper word?

Mainly I'm just trying to get a better understanding of the plain conjunctive
form, and how to apply it to a wider range of verbs. The resources I'm
studying from only cover it very briefly, and only give a few examples (話
usually being one of them).
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2016-02-19T18:21:41.560
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2017-02-09T06:03:16.953
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verbs conjugations renyōkei
Conjunctive form (e.g. 書き) vs Conj + mono (e.g. 書き物)
書き is used as a component of some words, most of which mean act of writing.
But it's not really a word itself, so it's not synonymous to 書き物.
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2016-02-20T00:16:37.427
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This is a gross generalization, but very roughly speaking, the conjunctive
form (technically the 連用形{れんようけい}) is vaguely analogous to the English _-ing_
form. And much like the English _-ing_ form, the 連用形 of a verb can often be
used as a noun. A few examples:

  * 行{ゆ}き来{き} can be glossed simply as _going and coming_
  * 馬{うま}乗{の}り can be glossed as _horse riding_
  * 巻{ま}き can mean _winding_ , as in the winding up of a watch, and it can also mean _something that is wound or rolled_ , as in a scroll
  * 帰{かえ}り can mean _returning (home)_ , or even just _a return_

... and so on. So 話{はなし}, as the 連用形{れんようけい} of verb 話{はな}す, could be
understood as _speaking_ , and by extension, _speech_ or _story_.

One key point in the 連用形 + 物{もの} construction is that the Japanese compound
generally means _thing that is`[VERB]`ed_, instead of the _thing that
does`[VERB]`ing_ sense that you'd get in English compounds like _writing
thing_ (vs. 書{か}き物{もの} _document_ ) or _eating thing_ (vs. 食{た}べ物{もの} _food_
).
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2016-02-20T00:45:13.440
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answer
**Verb stem (masu-stem) as a noun** can have various meanings depending on the
original verb, and you may not be able to determine its meaning without
referring to a dictionary. I generally recommend you memorize these, and avoid
"coining" a new word unless you're really comfortable with Japanese.

  * Person who does the action (≒ `-er/-or`) 
    * 酔っ払い drunkard
    * のぞき peeper
    * ヴァイオリン弾き violinist
  * The action itself (≒ `-ing`) 
    * 走り run
    * 支払い payment
    * 祈り prayer
  * Tool/device to do the action (≒ `-er/-or`) 
    * つまみ knob, tab
    * はかり (weight) scale
    * 引き出し drawer
  * Something resulting from the action, something associated with the action. 
    * のぼり uphill (slope)
    * のぼり (storefront) banner
    * [おのぼり](http://zokugo-dict.com/05o/onoborisan.htm)
    * たたき [_tataki_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tataki)
    * 握り _nigiri_ (sushi)
    * 吹き出し balloon (in manga)

Some nouns in this form can have more than one meaning depending on the
context. For example, "殺し" can mean "murderer", "killer (weapon)", "killing
(move)" or "murder case".

A few masu-stems are preceded by お and have fixed meanings.

  * お握り ( _onigiri_ ) vs 握り ( _nigiri_ (sushi))
  * お絞り (wet towel supplied at restaurants) vs 絞り (iris (camera))
  * お使い (errand) vs 使い (messenger, envoy)

`masu-stem + もの` generally means "thing to [verb]", but again, lots of nouns
in this form have derivative meanings which are difficult to guess, so you
need to memorize.

  * 出しもの event, attraction
  * 入れもの container, box
  * 買いもの shopping
  * 売りもの goods for sale
  * 着物 _kimono_
  * 吸いもの [_suimono_](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%B8%E3%81%84%E7%89%A9)
  * 見もの something worth seeing, spectacle
  * 引き出物 wedding favor
  * 吹き出物 pimple

Don't try to create a new one; for example 走りもの and 聞きもの would mean nothing.

A few words have both `masu-stem` and `masu-stem + もの` forms, and there is
usually a drastic difference between the two:

  * 書き (writing skill) vs 書きもの (writing job/task/material)
  * 巻き (curl, hurry) vs 巻きもの (scroll (of paper))
  * 飲み (drinking party) vs 飲みもの (beverage)
  * 笑い (laughter) vs 笑いもの (laughingstock)
  * 生き (liveliness) vs 生きもの (living things, animal)
  * 考え (idea, thoughts) vs 考えもの (thing worth rethinking, problem)
  * 乗り (vibe, groove) vs 乗りもの (vehicle)
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2016-02-20T03:04:32.773
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answer