LEVEL INTERMEDIATE 1

UNIT LESSON
1

1 - MAD ABOUT SPORT

Gerunds

Use Form

Gerunds are the -ing form of verbs. They are used when you want Gerundsareformedbyadding-ing tothebaseform of averb.
to make a verb the subject of a sentence and also when you want
to use a verb after a preposition. study + -ing = studying
(base verb) (gerund)
• Gerunds as subjects
Exceptions:
Studying is the most important part of school life.
Getting a good job isn’t easy at the moment. • For verbs which end in consonant + e, drop the e and add
-ing.
• Gerunds after prepositions
hope – hoping
He’s really good at speaking English. make – making
You can improve your English by watching films without write – writing
subtitles.
• For verbs which end in ie, drop the ie and add -ying.
NB somecommonprepositions–at, on, in, to, by, after, before, of,
about, for die – dying
tie – tying
lie – lying

• For one-syllableverbs whichend inconsonant + vowel +

consonant, double the last consonant.

jog – jogging
swim – swimming
stop – stopping

• For two-syllable verbs which are stressed on the second

syllable, double the last consonant.

admit – admitting
prefer – preferring
begin – beginning

Examples

Playing video games is my favourite hobby.

I did my homework before arriving at school.

Helping people is very important to me.

I’m bored of listening to the same music! Change the radio

station!

Swimming is the most complete exercise you can do.