English

Practical English Grammar


the gerund and gerund phrase


➲ A gerund, the second type of verbal, ends in -ing and functions as a
noun. A gerund’s uses are many—subject, direct object, subject comple-
ment (predicate nominative), appositive, and object of the preposition.
If a gerund or the entire gerund phrase is removed from the sentence,
the remaining words will not form a complete, logical sentence.
The underlined word in each sentence is a gerund. Its use is within the
parentheses that follow the sentence.
Learning is fun for Kate and Moe. (subject)
Marcia loves sewing. (direct object)
A fun time for Rachel is reading. (predicate nominative)
His passion, traveling, inspired him in many ways. (appositive)
Geraldine has a love for traveling. (object of
the preposition)

➲ A gerund phrase includes the gerund, its modifiers, and the words
that complete the idea begun by the gerund.
In each sentence, the gerund is italicized, and the gerund phrase is
underlined.

Shopping for new dresses excites Terry Anne. (subject)
The orchestra members enjoy rehearsing for long periods of time.
(direct object)
Tommy’s passion is running long distances. (predicate nominative)
Joanna’s love, running, kept her very fit. (appositive)
Can you pass the test by studying very hard this month? (object of the
preposition)
Note: Remember that the same phrase can have several uses.
The man signaling to you is my grandfather. (participial phrase)
Signaling to you was not difficult. (gerund phrase)
The player passing the soccer ball is James. (participial phrase)
Passing the soccer ball was hard for that man. (gerund phrase)

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Notes


Practical English Grammar - Notes
1. compound subjects part two
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2. Quotation Marks Part Three
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3. Italics Hyphens and Brackets
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4. complete and simple subjects
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5. Sound a like words Part Four
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6. the adjective clause
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7. Commas Part Two
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8. Commas Part Four
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9. compound subjects part one
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10. the indirect object
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11. irregular verbs part two
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12. what good writers do
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13. Periods Question Marks and Exclamation Marks
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14. the object of the preposition
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15. the noun adjective pronoun question
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16. the adverb
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17. Commas Part Three
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18. The Apostrophe
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19. The Colon
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20. Quotation Marks Part Two
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21. First Capitalization List
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22. subject verb agreement situations
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23. the correlative conjunction
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24. the subordinating conjunction
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25. the interjection
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26. types of nouns
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27. reflexive demonstrative and interrogative pronouns
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28. The nominative case
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29. Quotation Marks Part One
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30. Second Capitalization List
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31. indefinite pronouns
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32. subject and verb agreement
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33. introducing phrases
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34. the verb phrase
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35. the prepositional phrase
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36. the adjective phrase
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37. the appositive
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38. the participle and participial phrase
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39. the infinitive and infinitive phrase
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40. the noun clause
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41. Confusing usage words part one
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42. Confusing usage words part two
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43. Confusing usage words part three
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44. Confusing usage words part five
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45. Confusing usage words part six
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46. Confusing usage words part seven
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47. Active and passive voices
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48. Commas Part One
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49. The Semicolon
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50. agreement between indefinite pronouns and their antecedents
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