27 Gerunds

Gerunds all end in -ing: skiing, reading, dancing, singing, etc. Gerunds act like nouns and can serve as subjects or objects of sentences. Let’s take a look at a few examples:

The following sentences illustrate some uses of gerunds:

• Swimming is fun.
  • Here, the subject is swimming, the gerund.
  • The verb is the linking verb is.
• I like swimming.
  • This time, the subject of this sentence is the pronoun I.
  • The verb is like.
  • The gerund swimming becomes the direct object.
• I never gave swimming all that much effort.
  • break these down too
• Do you fancy going out?
  • break these down too
• After being elected president, he moved with his family to the capital.
  • break these down too

Gerunds can be created using helping verbs as well:

• Being deceived can make someone feel angry.
• Having read the book once before makes me more prepared.

Often the “doer” of the gerund is clearly signaled:

• We enjoyed singing yesterday (we ourselves sang)
• The cat responded by licking the cream (the cat licked the cream)
• His heart is set on being awarded the prize (he hopes that he himself will be awarded the prize)
• Tomás likes eating apricots (Tomás himself eats apricots)

However, sometimes the “doer” must be overtly specified, typically in a position immediately before the non-finite verb:

• We enjoyed their singing.
• We were delighted at Bianca being awarded the prize.