§ 2 The Forms of the Gerund

Form	Active	Passive
Indefinite	watching	being watched
Perfect	having watched	having been watched

T he Indefinite forms of the Gerund denote simultaneous action and Perfect forms prior action to that of the main verb:

He likes watching television.

She dislikes being criticized.

He admitted having told lies.

He denied having been informed about the time of the meeting.

NOTE: After the verbs excuse, forgive, remember, thank etc. and after the prepositions on (upon), after, without the Gerund Indefinite may be used to denote a prior action:

Excuse my interrupting you.

After confessing to her he was very much relieved.

§ 3 The Functions of the Gerund

The Gerund is used as:

1) a Subject: Advertising is very helpful.

2) Part of a Compound Predicate:

All he wanted was leaving the place at once.

The baby started crying.

3) an Object: Would you mind my opening the window?

4) an Attribute: He has no plans of expanding the company.

5) Adverbial modifiers of:

a) manner: He began the lecture by explaining the general look at the problem.

b) time: After merging with another company they became the monopolists.

c) purpose: These devices are used for cleaning.

§ 4 The Use of the Gerund

1. There are verbs after which the Gerund is used (not the Infinitive). They are: enjoy, mind, suggest, fancy, imagine, admit, deny, miss, risk, involve, avoid, keep, etc.:

I don’t fancy going out this evening.

I enjoy dancing.

Ian suggested going to the cinema.

2 . The Gerund is used after phrasal verbs:

talk about

apologise for, thank for, forgive for

think of, dream of, approve of, accuse of, suspect of

Insist on, congratulate on

decide against, warn against

prevent from, stop from

feel like

succeed in

look forward to

E.g. The man was suspected of being a spy.

She apologised to me for not telling the truth.

3. The Gerund is used after following expressions: It’s no use/It’s no good; There is no point in; It’s (not) worth; Have difficulty; Go (go fishing, go swimming); Be/get used to; How about (playing tennis)?

I had difficulty finding a place to live.

There was no point in waiting any longer.

She is English. She is used to driving on the left.

4. The Gerund is used after adjectives/participles with prepositions: be interested in, be good at, be bored with, be fed up with, be tired of, etc.:

E.g. She is not very good at learning languages.

She must be fed up with studying.

5. The Gerund is used after nouns with prepositions:

for: cause, excuse, genius, gift, motive, passion, reason, reputation, talent;

in: advantage, belief, difficulty, experience, harm, hesitation, meaning, object, participation, pleasure, point, purpose, sense, skill, use;

at: amazement, astonishment, attempt, delight, irritation, pleasure, practice, satisfaction, shyness, surprise;

about: fantasy, obsession;

to: objection, preparation.

E.g. I can't make out the reason for rejecting the offer.

Is there any advantage in learning?

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