I believe the confusion lies in the fact that both me and Polycarp thought you were saying “save” is a gerund in “save the ER for real emergencies.” At least that’s what I thought you were saying.
Okay, guizot, but you misattributed this quote to me –
Musicat said that.
I see. I apologize. The way I view gerunds is that it’s a way to make a verb function as a noun. You put the -ing on a verb and it can function as a subject or an object, so every gerund orginates from a verb. I pointed it out to demonstrate that if you want to use a verb in a headline without a subject for the verb, the typical way to do it is to make that verb into noun (as a gerund). The headline “Saving E.R. Rooms” etc. focuses on the action, rather than the agent of the action, as opposed to the marked, idiosycratic VERB + PEDICATE way of the New York Daily News.
Very sorry, again. Sloppy posting on my part.