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Questions tagged [gerunds]

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A ɢᴇʀᴜɴᴅ is a type of verb, in particular an -ɪɴɢ verb that heads a non-finite verb clause when that entire clause is being used as a noun phrase, typically as the subject or object of a finite clause. Not to be confused with -ɪɴɢ words that are no longer verbs, like deverbal nouns or participial adjectives, a gerund accepts only verb modifiers and arguments, not those of nouns or adjectives.

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a. He was inquiring about studying mathematics at our university. b. What was the field he was inquiring about studying at our university. Does he necessarily consider studying mathematics at our ...
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What is the difference between the structures “It is + adjective + to + verb” and “It is + adjective + verb-ing”? When should each one be used? It is + adjective + to + verb I feel that these are more ...
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By participating in this agreement, he showed his life long commitment to uphold justice. By participating in this agreement, he showed his life long commitment to upholding justice. Which one of the ...
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A: What do you think younger generations should do to become successful as fast as possible? B: Well, I think just a few things. They should stop wasting their time scrolling pictures and short videos ...
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The sentences are mine. Do you have any goals studying French? Do you have any goals in/for studying French? Are both sentences grammatical? Is "studying" in the first sentence a ...
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a. He likes questioning. b. He enjoys questioning. Can we tell whether: He likes/enjoys to carry out questioning. (for instance questioning suspects) He likes/enjoys to be questioned. (a criminal ...
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Milk should always be used after boiling. Milk should always be used after being boiled. What's the difference between these two sentences and which one is grammatically correct?
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Painting can be relaxing. Here the word 'painting' is a gerund as it is the subject of the sentence. What the function the word 'relaxing' is performing here? Is it an object or a complement? As it ...
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I am considering to move to a new city. This was marked as incorrect (for an ESL learner). It was noted that it should be I am considering moving to a new city. I think that using considering and ...
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conclusions I inferred from wordreference.com: (1a) By doing this exercise every day, you can achieve great results. — correct (1b) Doing this exercise every day, you can achieve great results. — ...
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a. Making a silly mistake is funny. b. What can be funny is making a silly mistake. Could those sentences be used if the intended meaning is that observing someone make a silly mistake if funny? To me ...
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Is the sentence "Having done the homework enables him to play freely." grammatical? I'm quite confused.My teacher said that "having done" can not be used as a gerund.But I search ...
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Can the verb require be followed directly by an infinitive or a gerund? Ex) We require to know it. We require knowing it. Are they correct? Thank you.
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Our newsletter contains the following sentence: These dinners will take place in March, with the hosts providing the main dishes and the guests bringing the side dishes. Do you need an apostrophe ...
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I am studying gerunds and infinitives and I bumped into the next sentence:They promised being quiet in the car Which is supposed to be wrong, nevertheless I think my example is correct and grammatical,...
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It's not very nice to call teachers by the first name. It's not very nice to be calling teachers by the first name. What's the difference between them? The second one is grammatical? (The versions ...
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According to Swan's Practical, In active clauses after these verbs, we use an -ing form if there is no object, but with an object infinitives are used instead. Is it grammatical to use a possessive ...
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Are both forms deny doing and deny having done correct? I read that we can use both, but the latter puts the emphasis on the completed action with reference to the past. However, when the whole ...
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This is excerpt from a sentence in "Word power made easy by Norman lewis book" of session 1 page no.28. "You are unable to realize that other people do not spend as much time and energy ...
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She knocked my glasses flying and they fell on the floor. What is the function of the word 'flying' here? Does it describe the subject 'she' or the object 'my glasses'? Is it functioning as a gerund ...
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Can not every verb (that can be followed followed by a gerund) be followed by the possesive case with a gerund? As I understand, not every verb that can precedes a gerund can be followed by the ...
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I'd like to describe myself in a cover letter as someone who's committed to deliver results, but: Should I use "deliver" or "delivering"? How do I choose between the two?
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I know that the following sentence is grammatically correct: Repetition is key to strengthening your memory. I'm confused about something. I am an intermediate English learner. I had assumed that ...
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"Amanda can be seen talking." What are the verbs in the quoted sentence? Is "talking" a verb or a gerund?
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This is a quote by Hemingway. Don't get discouraged because there’s a lot of mechanical work to writing. Should not the sentence be the following one? Don't get discouraged because there’s a lot of ...
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Being late, he couldn’t watch the show. Being a friend of the Minister, I am often invited to official parties. Being quite slim, I managed to squeeze through the small opening in the wall. Is "...
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I have been reading this paper and the following sentence is quite confusing to me: Hiking interest rates to get inflation under control when unemployment is rising could push unemployment even ...
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I do not like his working late. I do not like him working late. Here, working is considered a gerund and it is suggested to use a possesive case instead of an objective case. My question is that both ...
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We know that "in addition to" is followed by a noun. But the noun part should be have the same part of the speech as the part of the main clause that it corresponds to. They have to be the ...
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"Sometimes, I like a few things about being a social media influencer. / me being a social media influencer. I have seen people use the first structure, but also the second structure with ...
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Since 'traveling' can be spelled this way, why is the spelling of 'begining' wrong? They are both gerunds which come from a 2-syllable word ending with a consonant.
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Initiatives for labor-saving This title doesn't sound strange to me. But "labor-saving" is an adjective, so why does the title sound strange if we substitute it for other adjectives? For ...
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Would it be correct to say 'We can say that sports provide individuals to channelize their energy into a beneficial activity.'
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Hi, I can't see why we put a "the" here. It is not talking about a specific citizenship, it's just giving general information.
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This is because music has a special way of keeping us engaged. This is because music has a special way of keeping engaging us. I'm tutoring a kid in English, and I don't know how to explain to her why ...
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My friend and I were having a casual conversation in the middle of the night. Eventually, we came up with the question - why is building still called building, even though it's already built? There's ...
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These are two quotes from The Hound of the Baskervilles: Being a heavy stick the dog has held it tightly by the middle and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible. (Ch. 1, Holmes studies Dr. ...
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I am going through 'Infinitives' and 'Gerunds' on my own with the help of a grammar book written for Hindi speakers. The book focuses on common errors commited by Indian English-Speakers. There was an ...
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He gets to feel ashamed. He gets to feeling ashamed. Generally, we use base form of the verb after 'to' but I have read the second sentence in which the writer has used 'feeling' instead of 'feel' ...
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While reading a book, I met a sentence with a curious grammar construction which got me utterly confused. Here it is : There is a curious corollary to the principle of trying to win the big pots ...
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Can I use in comparison with and compared to with gerunds? I tried to find the answer in WordReference Dictionary, but it only says that they can be used with objects, and nothing about gerunds. ...
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I saw a question on an exercise book that read When someone is criticizing you, you can try to handle the criticism in a positive and productive way to improve yourself rather than ____ it lower your ...
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I came across the following sentence and I am not sure about the grammatical function of "winning the prize". Is this a participle clause? There is little likelihood of Boris winning the ...
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Why is first one wrong . The spreading of misinformation on social media is becoming a serious issue. OR The spread of misinformation on social media is becoming a serious issue.
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He had problems reading without glasses. In the above sentence is 'reading' a present participle or a gerund in this sentence.can anyone explain, please 🙏
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"Doctors say that one of the things people can do for good heart health is avoiding red meat." "Doctors say that one of the things people can do for good heart health is avoid red meat....
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Say you want to make up some new words, like the following. How do you decide whether to hyphenate them or not? Stop your silly-talking/silly talking. Stop your hand-dancing/hand dancing. Stop your ...
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After watching TV, he went out. Is the word watching a gerund or a present participle? Gerunds follow prepositions as objects of the preposition, but in the above sentence seems like a present ...
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I saw many sentences with the following pattern: A set S consisting of x, y, z is called..., which uses the gerund form of the verb "consist". Considering another sentence that I created ...
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Read the following sentence He played the game , knowing that they'd lose. Here the subject of the highlighted phrase is the subject of the main sentence (ie 'he' is the subject) . Generally, for the ...
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