Gerunds

A gerund is a type of verb that functions as a noun. All English gerunds can be quickly identified when -ing is added to the base form of a verb. For example:

Running daily is a tough routine to maintain.

After 1990, smoking was prohibited on U.S. aircraft.

Formation of Gerunds

By adding -ing to the base form of the verb, gerunds are formed in the same way as the present participle form of the verb. The key difference here is that gerunds act as nouns, whereas present participles form continuous verb tenses or act as adjectives.

To better understand this distinction, consider the following examples:

Chopping wood will become a daily task.

He will be chopping wood by Sunday.

In both examples, the base form of the verb is chop, and both the gerund and the present participle forms are chopping. However, in the first example, chopping functions as a noun and is the sentence’s subject, whereas, in the second example, chopping forms the continuous verb tense and is therefore not a noun.

Types of Gerunds

Gerunds can function as the subject, direct object, subject complement, or object of a preposition in a sentence.

Subject Gerunds

Gerunds can be used as the subject of a sentence, where the gerund acts as the person or thing performing the action described by the verb. For example:

Drinking wine is a popular passtime in those parts.

Object Gerunds

Gerunds can also be used as the object of a verb, where it acts as the person or thing that receives the action described by the verb. Gerunds can be used as both direct objects and indirect objects.

For example:

He enjoyed reading philosophy from a young age.

In the example above, “he” is the subject and “reading” is the direct object.

The nurse made jogging her daily routine.

However, in the example above, “the nurse” is the subject, “jogging” is the indirect object, and “her daily routing” the direct object.

Complementing Gerunds

Gerunds can complement a sentence’s subject or object. The gerund complements the subject in the following sentence:

What that dog likes most is digging.

The following examples show gerunds complementing objects. In these cases, gerunds typically follow a preposition. Note that these phrases are frequently (although not always) commonly-used idioms or collocations, which are indicated below with the underline:

Henry declared: "I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!"

The waiter takes pleasure in serving our guests.