Gerund
The gerund looks exactly the same as a present participle, but it is useful to understand the difference between the two. The gerund always has the same function as a noun (although it looks like a verb). Some uses of the gerund are covered on this page. A separate page deals with verbs that are followed by the gerund.
The gerund as the subject of the sentence
Examples
· Eating people is wrong.
· Hunting tigers is dangerous.
· Flying makes me nervous.
· Brushing your teeth is important.
· Smoking causes lung cancer.
The gerund as the complement of the verb 'to be'
Examples
· One of his duties is attending meetings.
· The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.
· One of life's pleasures is having breakfast in bed.
The gerund after prepositions
The gerund must be used when a verb comes after a preposition. This is also true of certain expressions ending in a preposition, for example the expressions in spite of & there's no point in.
Examples
· Can you sneeze without opening your mouth?
· She is good at painting.
· She avoided him by walking on the opposite side of the road.
· We arrived in Madrid after driving all night.
· My father decided against postponing his trip to Hungary.
· There's no point in waiting.
· In spite of missing the train, we arrived on time.
The gerund after phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs are composed of a verb + preposition or adverb.
Examples
· When will you give up smoking?
· She always puts off going to the dentist.
· He kept on asking for money.
· Jim ended up buying a new TV after his old one broke.
There are some phrasal verbs that include the word "to" as a preposition for example to look forward to, to take to, to be accustomed to, to get around to, & to be used to. It is important to recognize that the word "to" is a preposition in these cases because it must be followed by a gerund. It is not part of the infinitive form of the verb. You can check whether "to" is a preposition or part of the infinitive. If you can put the pronoun "it" after the word "to" and form a meaningful sentence, then the word "to" is a preposition and must be followed by a gerund.
Examples
· I look forward to hearing from you soon.
· I look forward to it.
· I am used to waiting for buses.
· I am used to it.
· She didn't really take to studying English.
· She didn't really take to it.
· When will you get around to mowing the grass?
· When will you get around to it?
The gerund in compound nouns
In compound nouns using the gerund, it is clear that the meaning is that of a noun, not of a continuous verb. For example, with the word "swimming pool" it is a pool for swimming in, it is not a pool that is swimming.
Examples
· I am giving Sally a driving lesson.
· They have a swimming pool in their back yard.
· I bought some new running shoes.
The gerund after some expressions
The gerund is necessary after the expressions can't help, can't stand, to be worth, & it's no use.
Examples
· She couldn't help falling in love with him.
· I can't stand being stuck in traffic jams.
· It's no use trying to escape.
· It might be worth phoning the station to check the time of the train.
Source : http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/gerund/ ( Accessed on 4 May 2015 )
0 comments:
Post a Comment