Gerunds - find out how verbs can behave like nouns.

This is the lecture that concerns gerunds.

Gerunds look at the same as the present participle.

They use the ing verb form

although they look like verbs are actually treated as nouns.

they can be the subject in a sentence, to be a direct object, they can be an object of a preposition, it can be a complement of the verb to be and they can be used to form compound nouns.

so gerunds look like the present participles of verbs.

using the ing verb form.

Here are some examples: eating, swimming, Painting

however they’re treated as nouns.

because a gerund is a noun you can replace it with a pronoun.

You can try replacing it with for example something or it and gerunds also require a possessive form

so here’s some examples.

Swimming is good for you, because it’s a noun we can say something is good for you or it is good for you

so that’s good, Yep it’s a gerund.

These are confusing instructions.

These are something Instructions are these are instructions.

No that makes no sense.

This is because confusing here is not a gerund, it’s describing the instructions.

So in this case confusing is an adjective

an adjectives cannot be replaced for the pronoun.

And that’s why the second sentence just looks and sounds odd.

And because the gerunds require a possessive form, means a Peters playing has improved a lot lately.

Not Peter playing, Peter’s playing.

gerunds As we said can be the subject in the sentence of clause.

Here are some examples.

Swimming is good for your health.

Smoking is bad for your health

reading is one of my hobbies.

Eating too much will make you fat.

gerunds can be the object of verbs preposition and phrasal verbs.

Here are some examples.

I really enjoy swimming.

swimming is the direct object of the verb, Enjoy.

Susie is very good at drawing and here drawing is the object of the preposition at.

I look forward to hearing from you, as the object of the phrasal verb, I look forward to.

gerunds and to be.

they can be the complement of the verb to be.

Here are some examples:

one of my duties is attending meetings.

one of my guilty pleasures is sleeping in late at the weekend.

My favorite thing about Germany is drinking beer.

My favorite thing about Japan is eating sushi

and then all of these examples, There is to be conjugated to be in this case is and the gerund are shown in Bold Italic to make them clear.

and because gerunds are nouns they can be used to form compound nouns.

so here are some examples: I’m having a driving lesson tomorrow.

The working conditions here are terrible.

Can I give you a helping hand.