Grammar 101: What You Need To Know About Gerunds

Firstly, what is a gerund? Well, a gerund is what is known as a verbal noun and it is formed using the suffix “ing” in verbs. It is also used in the continuous form of a verb tense (“walking, talking, reading” as opposed to the infinitive form “to walk, to talk, to read”). The gerund can also be used as a noun. Let’s see some examples using “walking”:
I am walking (verb – continuous form)
I like walking (noun)
Walking is the best exercise! (noun)
The last example shows how the gerund becomes the subject of the sentence. Like other nouns, gerunds can also act as direct or indirect objects of the preposition (prepositions are, for example, for, to, in, on, etc.):
I like walking (direct object).
I will give her sponsor money for walking up the steep hill (object of the preposition “for”).
It will greatly help your writing if you can recognize gerunds because if a noun or pronoun (my, her, his, its, and so on) is followed by a gerund, you need to use the possessive form of that noun or pronoun. Here are some examples:
My walking ahead annoyed him (this is correct).
Me walking ahead annoyed him (this is incorrect).
Their talking is really bothering me (this is correct).
Them talking is really bothering me (this is incorrect).
Let’s look at some other correct examples:
Jim’s swimming is fast and powerful.
Jane’s skating is so exciting to watch.
The boy’s running won him first prize in the race.
When dealing with gerunds, you need to ensure that you use the similar grammar form when you present several ideas in one sentence. For instance:
“Running, jumping and skipping are all great fun.”
In this sentence, they are all gerunds and therefore fit together properly. But what if you had a sentence like:
“Reading, writing and knowing arithmetic are essential skills for everyone”?
Well, if all the words were treated as verbs, the sentence would be fine. However, it is commonly known that the words “reading”, “writing” and “arithmetic” are all nouns and therefore it is better to write:
“Reading, writing and arithmetic are essential skills for everyone”.
You need to also be aware that the gerund form is used in present or future progressive verb forms – I am walking, I will be walking, and so on. The progressive form is sometimes also called the continuous form.
It is important to be aware that the gerund takes on several forms, but once you are familiar with the different contexts, you will see that learning gerunds is not so difficult after all.