“What Is Gerund? Special Verbs That Are Also Nouns” # Difference between Gerund and participle
Quick Grammar Rules
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Gerunds are excellently flexible. They allow you to talk about an action in an intangible way. It helps to give a good standard to your language.
A gerund is a noun made from a verb through adding ‘–ing’. But there is difference between gerund and participle.. As all know the verb is a word that refers to the action or state of being. And you all noun means a word that indicates the name of animal, place, person or thing. Gerund is like union of noun and verb. So it is also known as verbal noun.
For example -
I like reading.
In the above sentence the word reading is made by a verb ‘read’.
We can also monitor that reading is used as an object of the verb like and thus it does the work of a noun.
To obtain gerund from a verb , all you need to do is add ‘ing’ to the base form of a verb. When we are making a gerund we should note the following points.
1. If the verb ends with –e then drop the final e in the verb before adding ‘ing’ as in take – taking, make- making, joke- joking etc.
2. If the verb ends with –ee; add –ing like normal as in agree- agreeing; see- seeing; flee- fleeing etc.
3. If the verb ends in –ie, restore it with –y before adding- ing as in lie- lying; tie – tying; die- dying etc.
Thus we can say, ‘A gerund is a case while a verb is being used in a very particular way – as a noun.’
Let’s have a look on some more examples;
1. I enjoy singing.
2. I like swimming.
3. She gets quite anxious about dancing.
You may notice that gerunds seem to be a present participle of a verb. However it has a dissimilar meaning. A present participle functions as a verb while; gerund works as a noun in a sentence.
Gerund as a subject of the sentence;
1. Eating fast food is not good for health.
2. Hunting dears is wrong.
3. Swimming is my hobby.
4. Reading is a superior habit.
5. Thinking can be uncomfortable.
Using with ‘to be’ is very simple—{as complement of verb ‘to be’}
One of the most common verbs that you will use with gerund is the verb ‘to be’
For example;
1. Her big dream is driving on the highway.
2. My aim for the year was achieving the gold medal.
3. Her goal is finding a good job.
4. Her target is speaking English.
5. His big fear is flying.
Using gerund with prepositions
Preposition such as ‘on’, ‘at’, ‘in’ can be used to link nouns
For example;
1. He is planning on arriving at evening.
2. He has fear of speaking in public.
3. After having a shower, I came here.
4. She cried on hearing the new.
5. He told the whole story without laughing.
Object of transitive verb
1. Stop playing.
2. Avoid catching cold
3. Stop chatting.
Gerund Phrase
A gerund phrase is a phrase consisting of a gerund and any modifiers or objects linked with it.
# Gerund phrase always start with gerund.
# Entire phrase functions as a noun.
# The phrase will have singular agreement with verb.
# A gerund phrase has an object, modifier, or both.
Let us have a look on the following examples of gerund phrase.
1. Reading books in the garden is my favorite pastime.
2. Drinking cold drink daily is bad for your health.
I trust this information helps you to understand the concept of GERUND and how they are different from participle.