USES OF THE GERUND

A Gerund may be used as :-

1. Subject Of A Verb

e.g.

Giving is better than receiving

Hunting is a favourite sport in this country

Advising others is easy

2. Object Of A Transitive Verb

e.g.

I love writing letters

Stop talking

He enjoys watching T.V.

3. Object Of A Transitive Verb Object Of A Preposition

e.g.

He is found of eating

I am tried of waiting

Hendry has no intention of leaving the country now

4. Complement Of A Verb

e.g.

Seeing is believing

What I most detest is drinking

Some verbs must always be followed by the gerund

e.g.

admit	appreciate	avoid	consider
deny	enjoy	finish	mind
miss	postpone	practise	quit
recall	report	resent	resume

e.g.

He admitted having stolen the car

Why have they delayed opening the school?

The goalkeeper just missed stopping the ball

Journalists reported being tired

He suggested taking children to the zoo

They appreciated being invited

She denied knowing anything about it

Let’s postpone making a decision until we have more information

Does she resent my being cat

She enjoys playing tennis

He practised reversing the car into the garage

Peter couldn’t resist making jokes about his baldness

We can’t help thinking he’s still alive

He has quit smoking

The two sides have resumed fighting

He was considering buying a car until the prices went up

Do you mind my closing the window?

I recall her giving me the key

You should not talk marrying unless you are absolutely sure about it

Some Verbs + Prepositions are followed by the gerund

e.g.

approve of	insist on	think about	give up
succeed in	put off	rely on	count on
think of	postpone	practise	quit
recall	worry about	keep on

e.g.

I approve of your trying to earn more money

David has given up smoking

John relied on your supporting him

Sarah is not worried about passing the examination

The manager insisted on his coming to the office on time

He succeeded in passing the examination

You cann’t count on his helping you

Don’t keep on talking

She’s thinking about changing her job

He keeps putting off going to the dentist

They’re thinking of moving to America

Some Verb + Preposition expressions must also be followed by the gerund

e.g.

Object to

look forward to

confess to

e.g.

I strongly object to your talking like this

We’re really looking forward to seeing you again

She finally confessed to having stolen the money

Some adjectives + Preposition are also followed by the gerund

e.g.

accustomed to	capable of	interested in	intent to
successful in	afraid of	tired of	fond of

e.g.

We are accustomed to getting up early in the morning

He’s intent on getting promoted

I was afraid of hurting his feelings

The company is interested in selling its products overseas

I’m sure he is capable of running a mile in four minutes

He was successful in running the business

She is fond of cooking

You soon get tired of eating the same thing every day

Passive Gerund

Definition :

The gerund form can have both active voice and passive voice like infinitives.

e.g.

I like taching English (present active voice)

I like English being taught (Present passive voice)