- •Передмова
- •The noun
- •Guide to Forming Plurals
- •Irregular plurals
- •Inanimate nouns in personification
- •Exercises
- •London Favourite Stores
- •The article
- •Special difficulties in the use of articles
- •Exercises
- •Esop and his Fables
- •The farmer and his Sons
- •In Search of …Good Job
- •Exercise 23
- •The adjective
- •The Category of Degrees of Comparison
- •Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms
- •Comparative Constructions with the Adjectives
- •Some difficulties in the use of the Adjective: Degrees of Comparison
- •Adjectives referring to Countries, Nationalities and Languages
- •Nationalities
- •Compound Adjectives
- •Word Order of Adjectives before a Noun
- •Noun modifiers
- •Adverbs Or Adjectives: confusing cases.
- •Adjectives ending in –ed: pronunciation
- •Exercises
- •Never Again!
- •Exercise 25
- •A Bigger Heart
- •Modal verbs
- •Can / could
- •Exercises
- •May / might
- •Exercises
- •Must, have to, be to
- •Exercises
- •____________ Have to
- •Dare and need
- •Exercises
- •Shall / should, ought to
- •Exercises
- •How would you cope around the world?
- •Will / would
- •Exercises
- •General review of all modals
- •Instructions:
- •(The Verbals)
- •The Infinitive
- •The Predicative
- •The Object
- •The Attribute
- •The Adverbial Modifier of Purpose
- •The Adverbial Modifier of Result.
- •The Secondary Predicative
- •Infinitive without Particle to (Bare Infinitive)
- •Omitted “to”
- •Reduced Infinitive
- •Infinitive constructions
- •The Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction
- •The Subjective Infinitive Construction
- •The Subject
- •The Object
- •Beach Safety
- •Exercise 35
- •It is important / useful / necessary /
- •The gerund
- •The Subject
- •The Predicative
- •The Direct Object
- •The Prepositional Object
- •The Attribute
- •The Adverbial Modifier
- •The Subject
- •The Predicative
- •The Direct Object
- •The Prepositional Object
- •The Attribute
- •The Adverbial Modifier
- •Exercises
- •The participle
- •The Objective Participial Construction
- •The Subjective Participial Construction
- •The Nominative Absolute Participial Construction
- •Exercises
- •Survival for hikers
- •Exercise 34
- •General review of all verbals
- •Forms Expressing Unreality in Different Types of Subordinate Clauses
- •The Use of the Subjunctive Mood in Conditional Sentences
- •The First Conditional
- •The Second Conditional
- •The Third Conditional
- •Exercises
- •Exercise 10
- •In the President’s Chair
- •Would you stay silent if …
- •Would you feel afraid of if …
- •Would you cry if …
- •List of Sources
- •Internet Sources
- •Contents
The gerund
The Gerund is a non-finite form of the verb that has both noun and verb characteristics. Its noun characteristics are the following:
The Gerund can be the subject of the sentence, an object, a predicative (e.g. Reading is his favourite pastime. (subject) I’ve finished reading. (object) My worst habit is smoking. (predicative)
It can be preceded by a preposition (e.g. He insisted on coming in time).
It can be modified by a noun in the possessive case or a possessive pronoun (e.g. Excuse my interrupting you. I hate John’s coming late every day).
Its verb characteristics are the following:
It can be followed by a direct or an indirect object (e.g. Closing the factory means putting people out of work. He hates speaking to strangers.)
It can be modified by an adverb (e.g. A teacher of English must avoid speaking too quickly.)
The Gerund has voice and tense distinctions:
Objective verbs have four forms of the Gerund:
Indefinite |
Passive |
writing |
being written |
Perfect |
Perfect Passive |
having written |
having been written |
Subjective verbs have only two forms of the Gerund:
Indefinite |
Passive |
standing |
- |
Perfect |
Perfect Passive |
having stood |
- |
The Gerund can be easily confused with the verbal noun. In some cases it is impossible to tell whether you are dealing with a gerund or with a verbal noun and consequently impossible to translate the sentence with any degree of exactness. In most cases we can distinguish between the gerund and the verbal noun in the following way:
The gerund:
Has tense and voice forms; so the forms being done, having done etc. can not be nouns;
Can take a direct object; so “-ing” form followed by a direct object (reading a letter) can not be a noun;
Can be modified by an adverb; so “-ing” form modified b an adverb(reading fast) can not be a noun;
Can be part of a verbal aspect predicate; so “-ing” form following the verbs to begin, to stop, to go on, to keep, etc. are mostly gerunds.
The verbal noun:
Can be used in the plural (bright sayings of her children);
Can have an article (the banging of the lift);
Can be followed by a prepositional phrase in an attributive function (a faint glimmering of light);
Can be modified by an adjective, a demonstrative pronoun or an indefinite pronoun (the bright sayings).
The Functions of the Gerund in the Sentence
The Gerund can be:
The Subject
It |
is was |
no use useless no good |
doing smth |
||
There |
is was |
no doing smth |
|||
Doing smth |
does smth did smth will do smth would do smth |
e.g. It’s no use arguing.
It was no good objecting.
Talking mends no holes.
There is no hiding these facts.
There was no going back.