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.
Practice
Identify the gerunds and their roles in the following sentences:
- Sam was really bad at gardening.
- Studying is one of Jazz’s favorite things to do.
- Danny just wanted to go skateboarding.
Show Answer
- Sam was really bad at gardening.
- Gardening is the object of the prepositional phrase “bad at gardening.”
- Studying is one of Jazz’s favorite things to do.
- Studying is the subject of the sentence.
- Danny just wanted to go skateboarding.
- Skateboarding is the direct object of the sentence.