Gerunds: The Basics

Gerunds are words that are formed with verbs but act as nouns. They’re very
easy to spot, since every gerund is a verb with ing tacked to its tail. There are no
exceptions to this rule.
Like all things grammar, gerunds do take a tiny bit of detective work to spot. The
problem here is that present participles also end with the letters ing. Besides being
able to spot gerunds, you should be able to tell the difference between a gerund
and a present participle.
Let’s go back to the definition of a gerund for a moment. Remember that gerunds
are words that are formed with verbs but act as nouns. Present participles do not
act as nouns. Instead, they act as modifiers or complete progressive verbs. To find
gerunds in sentences, just look for a verb + ing that is used as a noun. It’s that
simple.

Examples of Gerunds

As you read these examples of gerunds, notice the verbs they contain, and notice
that every single one of them ends in ing.
Exam: Swimming in the ocean has been Sharon’s passion since she was five
years old.

1. Let’s go dancing at the club tonight.

2. I delayed telling Jerry the bad news.
3. Holly decided that flying above the clouds was the most incredible experience
she’d ever had.
4. Bill avoided doing his math assignment because the World Series was on.

What Are Gerunds? (with Examples)

A gerund is a noun formed from a verb. All gerunds end -ing. For example:
 swimming
 running
 drinking

Even though a gerund is a noun, a gerund can still take a direct object (like a verb).
This is known as a gerund complement. For example:

 running a mile
 drinking a beer
More Examples of Gerunds
Below are some more examples of gerunds (shaded) with their roles as nouns
explained:
 Acting is fun.
(Gerund as the subject of a sentence)
 Playing football is fun.
(Here, football is the gerund complement of the gerund playing.)
 Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing.
(Sir Ralph Richardson, 1902-1983)
(Acting is a gerund as a subject. The gerunds keeping and coughing are
objects of prepositions.)
(In this example, a large group of people is the gerund complement of
keeping.)
 Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less
than you need. (Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931)
(Two gerunds, both subject complements)

Gerund Phrases
A gerund will often appear in a gerund phrase. A gerund phrase consists
of a gerund, its object, and all modifiers. For example (gerund phrase
shaded):
 Picking rotten apples from the floor is a great way to get stung by
a wasp.

All Gerunds End -ing but So Do Present Participles

Even though all gerunds end with the suffix -ing, not every word which
ends -ing is a gerund. The other common type of word which ends -ing is
the present participle. Like gerunds, present participles are also formed
from verbs (making them verbals), but they are not used as nouns. They
are used as adjectives or when forming verbs in a progressive tense. For
example:
 Running the tap will clear the air pocket.
(This is a gerund.)
 Can you fix the running tap?
(This is a present participle as an adjective.)
 The tap was running for an hour.
(This is a present participle)

*Grammar rules
When a verb follows to another verb we always need infinitive or
gerund.

We use the next verbs before a gerund: begin, continue, detest,

enjoy, finish, hate, imagine, keep, like, love, prefer, quit,
 recommend, regret, start, suggest, tolerate, try, understand and
wish.

1.- She can’t tolerate complaining.

2.- I tried learning English.
3.- My mother could retire, but she keeps working.
*Examples
-Gerund as Subject:

Going to parties is fun.

-Gerund as Object:

I enjoy reading.

*Gerund after the following verbs

-Admit : He admitted having driven too fast.

-Avoid:They avoid going on holiday on Saturdays.

carry on: If we carry on sleeping so badly, we may need help.

-feel like: We feel like having a cup of tea.

-how about: How about walking home instead of taking the car?

-it's (no) good: It's no good talking to this girl.

Three important rules about when to use the gerund

1.-When the sentences starts with a verb

2.-When the verb is directly after the words after and before

3.-Using verbs after prepositions

INFINITVE
We use the to-infinitive:
• to express purpose (to answer "Why...?"):
He bought some flowers to give to his wife.
He locked the door to keep everyone out.
We sometimes say in order to or in order not to:
We set off early in order to avoid the traffic.
They spoke quietly in order not to wake the children
… or we can say so as to or so as not to:
We set off early so as to avoid the traffic.
They spoke quietly so as not to wake the children.
• after certain verbs (see verbs followed by infinitive), particularly verbs of thinking and
feeling:
choose, decide, expect, forget, hate, hope, intend, learn, like,
love, mean, plan, prefer, remember, want, would like, would love
and verbs of saying:
agree, promise, refuse
They decided to start a business together.
Remember to turn the lights out.
Some verbs are followed by a direct object and the infinitive(see verbs followed by
infinitive):
advise, ask, encourage, invite, order, persuade, remind, tell, warn,
expect, intend, would prefer, want, would like
She reminded me to turn the lights out.
He encouraged his friends to vote for him.
• after certain adjectives.
Sometimes the to-infinitive gives a reason for the adjective:
Disappointed, glad, sad, happy, anxious, pleased, surprised, proud and unhappy
We were happy to come to the end of our journey
= We were happy because we had come to the end of our journey
John was surprised to see me
= He was surprised because he saw me
Other adjectives with the to-infinitive are:
 Able, unable, due, eager, keen, likely, unlikely, ready, prepared
Unfortunately I was unable to work for over a week.
I am really tired. I’m ready to go to bed.
We often use the to-infinitive with these adjectives after it to give opinions:

Difficult, easy, posible, imposible, hard, right, wrong, kind, nice, clever, silly
It’s easy to play the piano, but it’s very difficult to play well.
He spoke so quickly it was impossible to understand him.
We use the preposition for to show who these adjectives refer to:

Difficult, easy, posible, imposible and hard.

It was difficult for us to hear what she was saying.
It is easy for you to criticise other people.
We use the preposition of with other adjectives:
It’s kind of you to help.
It would be silly of him to spend all his money.
• As a postmodifier (see noun phrases) after abstract nouns like:

Ability, desire, need, wish, attempt, failure, opportunity, chance, intention

I have no desire to be rich.
They gave him an opportunity to escape.
She was annoyed by her failure to answer the question correctly.
• We often use a to-infinitive as a postmodifier after an indefinite pronoun (See indefinite
pronouns):
When I am travelling I always take something to read.
I was all alone. I had no one to talk to.
There is hardly anything to do in most of these small towns.

Linking two verbs together

 There are three ways that verbs can be linked together when the second verb is an
infinitive:
 with no linking word in between

¿Quieres venir? Do you want to come?

Necesito hablar I need to talk to you.

contigo.
 Verbs followed by the infinitive with no preposition
 Some Spanish verbs and groups of verbs can be followed by an infinitive with no
preposition:
 poder (meaning to be able to, can, may), saber (meaning to know how to, can), querer
(meaning to want) and deber (meaning to have to, must)
No puede venir. He can’t come.

¿Sabes esquiar? Can you ski?

Quiere estudiar He wants to study medicine.

medicina.

Debes hacerlo. You must do it.

Verbs followed by the preposition a and the infinitive

 The following verbs are the most common ones that can be followed by a and the
infinitive:
 verbs relating to movement such as ir (meaning to go) and venir (meaning to come)

Se va a comprar un He’s going to buy a horse.

caballo.

Viene a vernos. He’s coming to see us.

Infinitive Examples
Infinitives can be used as:

1. Tara has the ability to succeed.

Some verbs are directly followed by an infinitive:

1. Do you want to call your family now?

Some verbs are directly followed by a noun or pronoun and then by an infinitive:

1. I convinced Catherine to become vegetarian.

2. He advised me to sell all my shares of stock.
Some verbs can be followed by an infinitive or a gerund without causing a change in meaning:

1. Will you continue working after you give birth?

2. Will you continue to work after you give birth?
Some verbs can be followed by an infinitive or a gerund but with a change in meaning:
1. He stopped drinking coffee. (He never drank coffee again.)