mR ITY i Bias Part XiIl Gerunds and Infinitives Remember! : ; Agerund : the -ing form of a verb (e.g., talking, playing) An infinitive : to + the simple form of a verb (e.g., to talk, to play) Gerunds: A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun, A gerund is used in the same ways as a noun, ie, (a) Playing tennis is fun. as a subject or an object. In (a): playing is a gerund. It is used as the ‘subject of the sentence. Playing tennis is a gerund) phrase, In (b): playing is used as the object of the verb (b) We enjoy playing tennis. (c) He's excited about playing tennis. enjoy. In (c): playing is used as the object of the preposition about. Compare the uses of the -ing form of verbs: (1) Walking is a good exercise’! walking = a gerund, used as a ‘subject of the sentence. (2) Bob and Ann are Playing tennis. "| Playing = a verb used in the present progressive tense, (3) Amir heard some Surprising news, '! ‘Surprising = a present participle, used as an adjective, Using Gerunds as the Objects of Prepositions (a) We talked about going to Canada for our vacation. gerund is frequently used as the (b) Sue is in charge of organizing the meeting, Rineueae (c) 'm interested in learning more about your work, (2) m used to sleeping with the window open. In (A) through (@): fo sa (e) I'm accustomed to sleeping with the window reposition, not part of an open. infinitive form, (f) Hook forward to going home next month, fol eet ) They object to changing their plans at this late date.