THE GERUND

The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.

Each of the following sentences contains a gerund, shown in bold:

Smoking is bad for your health!

Would you mind opening the window?

I apologize for having been rude.

**Gerunds are the -ing forms of verbs used as nouns, and the English language is full of them! The word itself, *gerund***, is an interesting one. I would be prepared to bet that no more than half of all native speakers of English have ever heard of it. And of those who have heard the word before, probably less than 1% would be able to give an accurate definition of its meaning and explanation of its usage. Yet all of these people can speak perfect English! Compare this with the situation of the learner of English as a foreign language. Most of them will have heard their teacher say the dreaded word or seen it in their grammar or coursebooks. Some unlucky ones will have struggled through mindless grammar exercises, in which they have to determine whether the -ing form is in fact a gerund or a participle, if it is being used as a predicative complement to the subject or to the object, and so on.

It goes without saying (gerund) / There is no denying (gerund) that this is a difficult area of English grammar, but in my opinion such exercises do little to help learners in improving (gerund) their writing and speaking competence in the language. There may be some value in learning (yet another gerund!) a list of words that take **the gerund as a direct object - e.g. I miss living in London; or I couldn't help smiling.** However, such verbs account for only a relatively small area in the complex field of gerunds. I would advise learners to look out for -ing constructions in their own reading, and learn them as vocabulary chunks.

Vocabulary chunks

A common way of learning new words is to write them down in a small book, with the English word on the left and the translation in the student's native language on the right. This approach, however, is too limited. At best it allows the learner to recognize/understand the English words when she hears or reads them; it doesn't give her any help in producing them correctly in her own written or spoken language. Much better is to try and learn word chunks which illustrate the particular "grammar" of the word. For example: to apologize (for being late); to insist (on seeing the manager); instead (of doing my homework) ...

And instead of doing (!) grammar exercises, the learner could adapt the sentences containing the gerund that she finds in her own reading so that they have a personal meaning. For example, adapting the uses of some of the gerunds identified above: There is no denying that London is an exciting city. I need help in fixing my bike. You seem to be putting on weight, if you don't mind me/my saying!

Of course, this method requires more effort, but it is this very effort that makes it more likely that the learner will actually commit the items to memory!

GRAMMAR

A gerund can be:

the subject of the sentence Swimming is my favorite sport.

the object of the sentence They enjoy watching movies.

the object of the preposition He’s concerned about passing Grammar 5.

Note: A gerund subject takes a singular verb. Eating raw oysters is disgusting.

Getting to the final depends on winning the semi-final!

To make a gerund negative, put "not" before it.

* I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn.

* Not arriving on time makes me uncomfortable.

*** A verbal noun should not be confused with a gerund, although many grammarians make this error.

Gerunds and verbal nouns are two noun forms that are derived from verbs. Many people tend to confuse gerunds and verbal nouns, especially if they end in the –ing form. It is important to note that all gerunds end in -ing form whereas verbal nouns can have different endings. However, the main difference between gerund and verbal noun is that a gerund can take an object whereas a verbal noun cannot. This is mainly because verbal nouns do not possess properties of verbs.

What are verbal nouns?

A verbal noun is a noun derived from a verb. It exhibits all of the properties of ordinary nouns and none of the properties of verbs.
A verbal noun can have plural forms just like a noun. It can also occur with determiners and adjectives. In English, verbal nouns are formed with a variety of suffixes. Examples are given below:
arrive (verb) / arrival (noun)
decide (verb) / decision (noun)
destroy (verb) / destruction (noun)
fly (verb) / flight (noun)

He sudden arrival surprised me.
He has not yet announced his decision.
He boarded a flight to Chicago.

A verbal noun can be identical to its source verb. Examples are: return (verb) / return (noun), attack (verb) / attack (noun).

Gerunds. A verbal noun can be formed with the suffix -ing. Examples are: run (verb) / running (noun), speak (verb) / speaking (noun). Note that a verbal noun should not be confused with a gerund, although many grammarians make this error.
A gerund, though it looks exactly like a verbal noun, has many properties of a verb and can take objects. It can also be modified by an adverb.

Smoking cigarettes is injurious to health. (Here the -ing form smoking is a gerund and takes the object cigarettes.)
I like watching movies. (Gerund – watching, object – movies)

A verbal noun, on the other hand, has no verbal properties.
The deliberate bowling of bouncers should be banned. (Here the -ing form bowling is a verbal noun because it exhibits nominal properties: taking determiners, adjectives and prepositional phrases.)

What Are Verbal Nouns? (with Examples)

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/verbal_nouns.htm

Verbal nouns vs Gerunds

A verbal noun is a noun that has no verb-like properties despite being derived from a verb. This means that a verbal noun can be modified by adjectives, be pluralized (if the sense allows), and be followed by a prepositional phrase.

A verbal noun is different from a gerund. A gerund is a noun that, having derived from a verb, retains a few verb-like properties. For example, a gerund can be modified by an adverb and can take a direct object.

Examples of Verbal Nouns

Here is another example of a verbal noun (shaded):

This bad drawing of a dog is not acceptable for your project.

This

bad

prepositional phrase

of a dog

Compare the example above to this example of a gerund:

Badly drawing a dog is not acceptable for your project.

badly

direct object

a dog

In English, verbal nouns are formed in a number of ways (usually by adding a suffix to the base form of the verb). For example:

Verb	Verbal Noun	Example in a Sentence
To build	building	It was a lovely building . The money will fund the building of a bridge.
To arrive	arrival	Their arrival has been delayed.
To repeat	repetition	I do not want another repetition of yesterday.
To decide	decision	That was an awful decision by the referee.
To attack	attack	He mounted a surprise attack with the Romans. (Note: With some verbs, the verbal noun is identical to the base form of the verb.)

*************** GERUND SENTENCES **********************

Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise

Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.

Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.

**************************************

My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive.
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THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE

People are pretty forgiving when it comes to other people's families. The only family that ever horrifies you is your own.
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*** The present participle to explain a reason: The present participle can be used instead of a phrase starting with as, since, or because. In this usage the participial phrase explains the cause or reason for an action: * Being poor, he didn't spend much on clothes.

a) I like eating cakes (Here eating is a gerund; the verb phrase eating cakes serves as a noun, being the object of the main verb like)
b) I saw him eating a cake. (Here eating is a present participle; the verb phrase eating a cake serves as an adjective, modifying him)

C) Trying to succeed makes success more likely (here trying is a gerund; the verb phrase 'trying to succeed' serves as a noun, the subject of the main verb makes.

d) Trying to get over the fence, he hurt his knee (Here trying is a present participle; the verb phrase 'trying to get over the fence' has the function of an adverb in the main clause.

e.1) Never bet against my being stupid. (Here, being is treated as a noun (gerund), and the command is to not bet against being. (whose being? mine. being what? stupid.)

e.2) Never bet against me being stupid. Here, being is treated as an adjective (present participle), and the command is to not bet against me (while I am being stupid). Like in b) eating a cake.

So that’s the topic we’re going to talk about today.

To make a gerund negative, put "not" before it.
* Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.

GERUNDS VS PRESENT PARTICIPLES

Why Do We Have Different Names for Them?

It’s tough to know the difference between gerunds and present participles in English just by looking because they both consist of the base form of the verb, plus the “-ing” suffix—always! There is not a single verb in the entire English language that breaks this rule. Even the most irregular verbs of all, “be” and “go,” fall in line. Their gerunds and present participles are “being” and “going.”
Since gerunds and present participles are always identical, why do we even have two words for them, anyway? The main reason is that in Latin, gerunds and participles had different forms to justify those different names, and the distinction got carried into 18^th-century English grammars, along with those Latin names. If you think that’s a silly and outdated reason, you’re not alone. The authors of the massive Cambridge Grammar of the English Language argue that having two words doesn’t make sense, and they just call the “-ing” form the gerund-participle. We’re not going to go that far, though. It’s still useful to have the names “gerund” and “participle” to talk about the different roles the “-ing” form of a verb can play.

Gerunds

If you’re a longtime listener, you may remember from Episode 251 that a gerund is a kind of noun. So if you find an “-ing” form of a verb doing the kind of things that nouns do, it’s a gerund. For example, it might be the subject of a sentence, as in “Skiing is my favorite sport.” It might be the object of a verb, as in “I love skiing!” Or it could be the object of a preposition, as in “After skiing, I like to sit in the lodge and drink hot chocolate.” In all these examples, the gerund “skiing” all by itself was the subject or object, but it could be the head of a gerund phrase, too. For example, I could say , “Skiing with my husband on a weekday while everyone else is working is awesome.” The simple subject is just “skiing,” but the complete subject is “skiing with my husband on a weekday while everyone else is working.”

Present Participles

Now let’s move on to present participles. Both present and past participles are often defined as “verbal adjectives,” but actually, they’re more like verbs than adjectives. The “-ing” verb in progressive tenses is a participle. Take a sentence such as “Aardvark was skiing when you called.” You might be wondering, “What’s the problem? ‘Skiing’ looks like an adjective in the verb phrase ‘was skiing’.” It’s true that you could replace “skiing” with a bona fide adjective, such as “happy,” and still have a grammatical sentence. “Aardvark was happy when you called.” But look closer. “Happy” can do things as an adjective that “skiing” can’t. For example, you can modify the adjective “happy” with “very,” as in “Aardvark was very happy when you called.” You can’t do that with “skiing.” You can’t say, “Aardvark was very skiing when you called.”
What about a word like “forgiving”? Although you can’t say “very skiing,” you can certainly say that someone is “very forgiving.” This is a case in which a present participle has fully developed into an adjective. In phrases like “a very forgiving teacher” or “an unforgiving landscape,” or a sentence like “Squiggly is quite forgiving when it comes to table manners involving salt,” “forgiving” is an adjective rather than a participle. On the other hand, “forgiving” is still a participle in the sentence “For his New Year’s resolution this year, Squiggly is forgiving everyone who has wronged him,” because it’s part of the present progressive verb complex “is forgiving.” You can’t say “Squiggly is very forgiving everyone who has wronged him.”

Two Confusing Situations

Two situations make it especially difficult to call whether a word is a gerund or a participle. One is when you have a gerund or participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence. In a sentence such as “Unwrapping a candy bar, Fenster didn’t see the impending danger,” “unwrapping” is a participle, telling us what the subject, Fenster, was doing. With just one small change, though, “unwrapping” becomes a gerund. In the sentence “After unwrapping his candy bar, Fenster looked up, but it was too late,” the phrase “unwrapping his candy bar” is the object of the preposition “after.” As the object of a preposition, this is a gerund phrase.

Unwrapping a candy bar, Fenster didn’t see the impending danger. (participle)
After unwrapping his candy bar, Fenster looked up. (gerund)

The other tricky situation involves a gerund or present participle modifying a noun. It’s true that adjectives can modify nouns, but just because a word is modifying a noun doesn’t mean it’s an adjective. For example, “credit” is a noun, even in the compound noun “credit card.” So let’s take an example like “skiing vacation.” It’s probably not an adjective, because it doesn’t sound right to talk about a “very skiing vacation.” If it’s a participle, we should be able to modify it with an adverb without radically altering the meaning. So let’s try it: “a fantastically skiing vacation.” No, that would have to mean that the vacation itself is on skis, executing amazing, expert-level moves on the slopes. That’s not right. Therefore, “skiing” in this case is not a participle, but a gerund. Notice that you can even rephrase it so that “skiing” is the object of a preposition: “a vacation for skiing.” This clinches the case that “skiing” is a gerund here.

We took a skiing vacation. (a vacation for skiing—gerund)
We saw a skiing monkey. (the monkey who is skiing—participle)

To work through another example, take the phrase “falling snow.” You can’t say “very falling snow,” so it’s probably not an adjective. However, you can modify “falling” with an adverb: “gently falling snow.” So we can conclude that “falling” is a participle. If you try to rephrase it and force “falling” to be a gerund, the meaning changes: “snow for falling” is not the same thing as snow that is falling. In fact, I don’t even know what snow for falling would be.
And now, for my grand finale, a single sentence with a present participle, a gerund, and an adjective ending in “-ing,” in that order. Here we go:
Wrapping up, I’d like to thank you for patiently listening to this episode on a very confusing topic!

*************** GERUND SENTENCES **********************

A dream doesn't become reality through magic / / dreaming / being a dreamer; it takes sweat, determination and hard work
* All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking * Being on the red carpet was quite terrifying. The success of Chocolat meant I could retire from teaching * Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without asking a clear question * Finding some quiet time in your life, I think, is hugely important * Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car * Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors * Helping the poor has always been his main goal * I can't stand having to tell someone something over and over again * I hate being called a pop star. I hate that, I really hate that * I get angry at myself for staying in relationships way too long * I had short hair for a while, but I ended up loving it * I hate being told what to do, especially by myself * I hate being told I can't do something because I'm a girl * I met my wife through playing golf. She is French and couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak French, so there was little chance of us getting involved in any boring conversations, that's why we got married really quickly * I know if I had the chance of going aboard the Titanic in those days, I would have gone - I know I would have * I just liked / do love the idea of being engaged * I like the idea of helping people help people * I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter * I've always had a will to succeed, to win, however you phrase it * If you're going through hell, keep going * If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of payments * It may be something to do with my having been to a girls' school, but I'm far more comfortable making male friendships than female ones. My friends tend to be men and their significant others * It's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen * It's almost understandable and touching that we should expect our partners to understand us without us having explained / having to explain what's up * It's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen * Life sometimes gets in the way of writing * Learning about other cultures makes people more tolerant; (un)complaining / (un)protesting * My chances of (me/my) being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive * Music, oftentimes (many times), around the world, serves to help us understand other people without having to talk * Nothing good ever happens by itself - it is achieved through striving, though this oftentimes / sometimes bears a high price * Not being able to read and write music is not the same as being illiterate in speech and writing * Not arriving on time makes me uncomfortable * Not knowing anything is the sweetest life * One of life's pleasures is having breakfast in bed * Painting is just another way of keeping a diary * Raising children can be a very tiring profession * Remembering is to live again * Smoking harms (damages) your health * Success only happens by / through hard work. I learned that by / through a lot of practice * The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund * The important thing is not to stop questioning * The Internet enables us to share the ideas we have without having to create another hierarchy * (The) truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for * (The truth is) Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is / It's about creating yourself * The Pilgrim Fathers saw little chance of England becoming a country in which they wished to live * The value of the currency of praise depends on it not being spent too freely * Thinking is the hardest work there is * Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering * When the going gets tough, the tough get going * Thinking is the hardest work there is * We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving * Working (sometimes) gets in the way of living * Working overtime is quite common in the States * You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. That's how you learn to walk and then run

Jessica really enjoys bothering the neighbors with loud music
* I've missed 4 birth control pills and had unprotective sex. What is the chance of my being pregnant? * *

POSSIBLE
* * * * * * . * * * * My heart grows every day through struggling and love of my kids * * myself * I *

Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.
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I met my wife through playing golf. She is French and couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak French, so there was little chance of us getting involved in any boring conversations - that's why we got married really quickly.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/seanconner395846.html

PRINTING

*** TEACHING BOOK 1. The gerund