19. Speak on one of the following topics.

The Gerund is a non-finite form of the verb which has a verbal and a nominal character.

1. The Gerund is formed by adding the suffix -ing to the stem of the verb, and coincides in form with Participle I.

• Playing tennis is fun.

• We talked about going to Canada for our vacations.

2. Gerunds are also called –ing forms. They are often used after No in signs.

• No Smoking.

• No Parking.

3. We can use gerunds (verb + -ing) and negative gerunds (not + verb +-ing) after:

○ verbs: admit, avoid,

consider, dislike, enjoy,

finish, keep, mind, miss,

practice, risk, stop,

suggest, etc.

• He admitted taking the money.

• Would you consider selling the shares?

• Paul enjoys not having a job.

• I don’t mind waiting.

○ prepositions and

prepositional phrases:

against, after, before,

by, because of, due to,

for, in, like, of, owing to,

on (upon), thanks to,

on account of, to, with,

without, etc.

• After swimming I felt cold.

• Jane stayed awake by drinking black coffee.

• He disapproves of jogging.

• I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.

• You won’t pass the exam without doing any work.

○ conjunctions: although,

instead of, in spite of,

for the purpose of, with

the object of, with a view

to, in the event of

• Although feeling tired, David didn’t want to stop.

• She watches TV instead of working.

• In spite of starting late he came in time.

○ phrasalverbs

(verb+ preposition):

be for / against, care for,

depend on, give up,

hear of, insist on, keep

on, put off, object to,

result in, prevent from,

etc.

• They don’t care for standing in queues.

• He gave up smoking.

• He put off making a decision till he had more information.

• They kept on chatting.

○ adjective + preposition:

be aware of, be sure of,

be afraid of, be proud

of, be displeased with,

be famous for, be fond

of, be surprised at, etc.

• Sarah is fond of doing crosswords.

• You are good at drawing.

• The postman is used to walking.

○ the expressions:

can’t stand (=endure),

can’t help

(prevent / avoid),

I cannot afford

It is (of) no use,

It is useless,

It is no good,

It is not worth while,

What’s the good of ...?

• I cannot help thinking about it.

• It is worth while reading this book.

• It’s no use waiting for him.

• What’s the good of complaining?

4. We can use gerunds in clauses with objects, prepositional phrases and adverbs.

○ clauses with direct objects

• He denied taking the money.

• I don’t like interrupting people.

○ clauses with adverbs

and prepositional

phrases

• They recommended washing silk shirts gently in cold water.

• He didn’t succeed in taking things easily.

• I don’t like the idea of Mary going home alone.

5. Before gerunds we can use nouns (Tom, the woman, they, etc.) or object pronouns (him, her, them, etc.), but possessive nouns and determiners (Tom’s / his, her, their, etc.) can also be used, typically in formal situations.

Such combination of a nominal element expressed by a noun or pronoun with a verbal element expressed by the gerund in predicate relation to the nominal element is called a predicative construction with the gerund.

• I can’t recall Tom / Tom’s visiting us.

• We listened to them / their arguing all night.