Gerunds are widely
used in English
grammar. They may serve
as the subject of a sentence, the object of a verb or a verb phrase, or the object
of a preposition.
Form:
-ing is attached
to the base form of the verb. If the verb ends in -e, that -e is dropped
in most cases.
Meaning: This is a verb form that has become a noun in function.
Uses:
Since a gerund
functions as a noun, it appears in most noun positions:
1. AS THE SUBJECT
OF A SENTENCE:
Unlike infinitives, gerunds are commonly
used as the subject of a sentence.
Subject
|
Verb
|
Complement
|
Shopping with you
|
was
|
fun.
|
Studying English
|
takes up
|
a lot of my time.
|
Jogging
|
is
|
an excellent way to stay in shape.
|
2. AS THE OBJECT OF A VERB:
a.
PROCESS:
avoid, consider, complete, continue, delay,
finish, keep, postpone, practice, recall,
recollect, remember, resist, risk,
start, stop, tolerate, try, understand, comprehend, ponder
I avoided goingto class for weeks. He
is considering moving to Chicago.
They tolerated his practicing the violin for years. We practice speaking English every day.
She risked losing her business because of her lies. Did you finally recollect
telling me that story?
People usually resist bullying.
Now I can understand his leaving the party early.
b.
ATTITUDE:
appreciate, can’t bear, can’t stand, can’t help, dislike,
miss, enjoy, hate, like, anticipate, love, mind, prefer, regret, resent
I
really appreciate knowing you.
She can’t
bear smoking.
He can’t
help loving her.
They miss seeing their grandchildren.
We prefer walking to driving.
Do you resent my talking to your boyfriend?
a.
COMMUNICATING:
admit, advise, deny, discuss, mention, recommend, suggest
The counselor advises taking all math courses in freshman year.
The couple is discussing having more children.
She recommended shopping at the plaza.
We suggest planting bulbs in the spring.
3. AS THE OBJECT
OF A PREPOSITION:
a. Often a gerund
follows a phrasal
verb, which is a verb followed by one or two prepositions:
think about,
talk about, put off, get over, get into, look into, call off, find out about,
point out, bring
back, give up, go on, fool around with, sign up for, go back to, go over, keep away from
We put
off getting the
bank’s approval for the loan.
They called off searching
for the lost dog.
He got over loving her too much.
Too many teens fool around with taking drugs.
b. A gerund also follows the preposition :
We are interested in learning about Egyptian art.
The boys apologized for dunking the girls in the
water.
Do you ever dream about becoming a
millionaire?
She is exhausted from walking up the mountain.
A SPECIAL
USE: GO + GERUND
A common
sporting expression (especially for individual sports)
uses GO + gerund, such as:
go fishing
|
go jogging
|
go swimming
|
go snowboarding
|
go climbing
|
go sailing
|
go skiing
|
go dancing
|
*included in this group are go shopping
and go drinking, which must prove that these are also sports!
Note that the verb go can
be in any tense. If a progressive (continuous) tense is used, you will see two -ing
forms side by side, but this is perfectly
acceptable.
I am going fishing today.
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