Gerunds in English

In English, the gerund is identical in form to the present participle (ending in -ing) and can behave as
a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object), but the clause as a
whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) acts as a noun within the larger
sentence. For example: Eating  this cake is easy.

In "Eating this cake is easy," "eating this cake," although traditionally known as a phrase, is referred to as
a non-finite clause in modern linguistics. "Eating" is the verb in the clause, while "this cake" is the object
of the verb. "Eating this cake" acts as a noun phrase within the sentence as a whole, though; it is the
subject of the sentence is "cake."

Other examples of the gerund:

 I like swimming. (direct object)
 Swimming  is fun. (subject)

Some use "gerund" to refer to all nouns ending in -ing, but in more careful use, not all nouns ending in -
ing are gerunds.[1] The formal distinction is that a gerund is a verbal noun – a noun derived from a verb
that retains verb characteristics, that functions simultaneously as a noun and a verb, while other nouns
ending in -ing are deverbal nouns, which function as common nouns, not as verbs at all. Compare:

 I like fencing. (gerund, an activity, could be replaced with "to fence")

 The white fencing adds to the character of the neighborhood. (deverbal, could be replaced with
an object such as "bench")
[edit]Double nature of the gerund
As the result of its origin and development the gerund has nominal and verbal properties.
The nominal characteristics of the gerund are as follows:

1. The gerund can perform the function of subject, object and predicative:

 Smoking  endangers your health. (subject)
 I like making  people happy. (object)
2. The gerund can be preceded by a preposition:
 I'm tired of arguing.
3. Like a noun the gerund can be modified by a noun in the possessive case, a possessive
adjective, or an adjective:
 I wonder at John's keeping calm.
  Is there any objection to my seeing  her?
 Brisk walking relieves stress.

The verbal characteristics of the gerund include the following:

1. The gerund of transitive verbs can take a direct object:

 I've made good progress in speaking English.
2. The gerund can be modified by an adverb:
 Breathing deeply  helps you to calm down.
3. The gerund has the distinctions of aspect and voice.
 Having read the book once before  makes me more prepared.
 Being deceived can make someone feel angry.
[edit]Verb patterns with the gerund
Verbs that are often followed by a gerund include admit, adore, anticipate, appreciate, avoid, carry on,
consider, contemplate, delay, deny, describe, detest, dislike, enjoy, escape, fancy, feel, finish, give, hear,
imagine, include, justify, listen to, mention, mind, miss, notice, observe, perceive, postpone, practice, quit,
recall, report, resent, resume, risk, see, sense, sleep, stop, suggest, tolerate and watch.
Additionally, prepositions are often followed by a gerund.

For example:

 I will never quit smoking.

 We postponed making any decision.
 After two years of deciding, we finally made a decision.
 We heard whispering.
 They denied having avoided me.
 He talked me into coming to the party.
 They frightened her out of voicing her opinion.
[edit]Verbs followed by a gerund or a to-infinitive
[edit]With little change in meaning

advise, recommend and forbid:

These are followed by a to-infinitive when there is an object as well, but by a gerund otherwise.

 The police advised us not to enter the building, for a murder had occurred. (Us is the object
of advised.)
 The police advised against our entering the building. (Our is used for the gerund entering.)
consider, contemplate and recommend:

These verbs are followed by a to-infinitive only in the passive or with an object pronoun.

 People consider her to be the best. – She is considered to be the best.

 I am considering sleeping over, if you do not mind.

begin, continue, start; hate, like, love, prefer

With would, the verbs hate, like, love, and prefer are usually followed by the to-infinitive.

 I would like to work there. (more usual than working)

When talking about sports, there is usually a difference in meaning between the infinitive and gerund (see
the next section).

[edit]With a change in meaning

like, love, prefer

In some contexts, following these verbs with a to-infinitive when the subject of the first verb is the subject
of the second verb provides more clarity than a gerund.

 I like to box. (I enjoy doing it myself.)

 I like boxing. (Either I enjoy watching it, I enjoy doing it myself, or the idea of boxing is otherwise
appealing )
 I do not like gambling, but I do like to gamble."

dread, hate and cannot bear:

These verbs are followed by a to-infinitive when talking subjunctively (often when using to think), but by a
gerund when talking about general dislikes.

 I dread / hate to think what she will do.

 I dread / hate seeing him.
 I cannot bear to see you suffer like this. (You are suffering now.)
 I cannot bear being pushed around in crowds. (I never like that.)

forget and remember:

When these have meanings that are used to talk about the future from the given time, the to-infinitive is
used, but when looking back in time, the gerund.

 She forgot to tell me her plans. (She did not tell me, although she should have.)
 She forgot telling me her plans. (She told me, but then forgot having done so.)
 I remembered to go to work. (I remembered that I needed to go to work.)
 I remembered going to work. (I remembered that I went to work.)

go on:

 After winning the semi-finals, he went on to play in the finals. (He completed the semi-finals and
later played in the finals.)
 He went on giggling, not having noticed the teacher enter. (He continued doing so.)

mean:

 I did not mean to scare you off. (I did not intend to scare you off.)
 Taking a new job in the city meant leaving behind her familiar surroundings. (If she took the job,
she would have to leave behind her familiar surroundings.)

regret:

 We regret to inform you that you have failed your exam. (polite or formal form of apology)
 I very much regret saying what I said. (I wish that I had not said that.)

try:

When a to-infinitive is used, the subject is shown to make an effort at something, attempt or endeavor to
do something. If a gerund is used, the subject is shown to attempt to do something in testing to see what
might happen.

 Please try to remember to post my letter.

 I have tried being stern, but to no avail.
[edit]Gerunds preceded by a genitive

Because of its noun properties, the genitive (possessive case) is preferred for a noun or pronoun
preceding a gerund.

 We enjoyed their [genitive] singing.

This usage is preferred in formal writing or speaking. The objective case is often used in place of the
possessive, especially in casual situations:

 I do not see it making any difference.

Really, 'I do not see its making any difference' is the correct option.
This may sound awkward in general use, but is still the correct manner in which to converse or write. And
this form of gerund is applicable in all relative cases, for instance:

 He affected my going there.

 He affected your going there.
 He affected his/her/its going there.
 He affected our going there.
 He affected their going there.

This is because the action, of doing or being, belongs, in effect, to the subject/object (direct or indirect)
practising it, thus, the possessive is required to clearly demonstrate that.

In some cases, either the possessive or the objective case may be logical:

 The teacher's shouting startled the student. (Shouting is a gerund, and teacher's is a possessive

noun. The shouting is the subject of the sentence.)
 The teacher shouting startled the student. (Shouting is a participle describing the teacher. This
sentence means The teacher who was shouting startled the student. In this sentence, the subject is
the teacher herself.)

Either of these sentences could mean that the student was startled because the teacher was shouting.

Using the objective case can be awkward if the gerund is singular but the other noun is plural. It can look
like a problem with subject-verb agreement:

 The politicians' debating was interesting.

One might decide to make was plural so that debating can be a participle.

 The politicians debating were interesting.

[edit]Gerunds and present participles
Insofar as there is a distinction between gerunds and present participles, it is generally fairly clear which
is which; a gerund or participle that is the subject or object of a preposition is a gerund if it refers to
the performance of an action (but present participles may be used substantively to refer to
the performer of an action), while one that modifies a noun attributively orabsolutely is a participle. The
main source of potential ambiguity is when a gerund-participle follows a verb; in this case, it may be seen
either as a predicate adjective (in which case it is a participle), or as a direct object or predicate
nominative (in either of which cases it is a gerund). In this case, a few transformations can help
distinguish them. In the table that follows, ungrammatical sentences are marked with asterisks, per
common linguistic practice; it should be noted that the transformations all produce grammatical sentences
with similar meanings when applied to sentences with gerunds but either ungrammatical sentences, or
sentences with completely different meanings, when applied to sentences with participles.

Transformation Gerund use Participle use

(none) John suggested asking Bill. John kept asking Bill.

Passivization Asking Bill was suggested. *Asking Bill was kept.

Pronominal substitution John suggested it. *John kept it.

Use as a noun John suggested the asking of Bill. *John kept the asking of Bill.

Replacement with a finite clause John suggested that Bill be asked. *John kept that Bill be asked.

Use with an objective or possessive

John suggested our asking Bill. *John kept his asking Bill.
subject

Asking Bill is what John

Clefting *Asking Bill is what John kept.
suggested.

Left dislocation Asking Bill John suggested. *Asking Bill John kept.

None of these transformations is a perfect test, however.

[edit]English gerund-like words in other languages

English words ending in -ing are often transformed into pseudo-anglicisms in other languages, where
their use is somewhat different from in English itself. In many of these cases, the loanword has
functionally become a noun rather than a gerund. For instance, camping is a campsite in Bulgarian,
Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish; in Bulgarian, Dutch, French, Polish, and
Russian parking is a car park; lifting is a facelift in Bulgarian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian,
and Spanish. The French word for shampoo is (le) shampooing.

[edit]The gerund in popular culture

In the Molesworth books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, Searle included a series of cartoons on
the private life of the gerund, intended to parody the linguistic snobbery of Latin teachers' striving after
strict grammatical correctness and the difficulty experienced by students in comprehending the
construction.

Owen Johnson's "Lawrenceville Stories" feature a Latin teacher who constantly demands that his
students determine whether a given word is a gerund or a gerundive.