Grammar Rules! — Gerunds

The -ing Words That Act Like Nouns

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Gerunds are words ending in -ing that play different roles in a sentence. They are verbs that act like nouns.

In the sentence “Running is fun,” running is a gerund. It’s the subject of the sentence, even though it’s a verb form.

They can be subjects, objects, or even part of a phrase.

“Swimming is great exercise.” (subject)

“I love cooking.” (object)

“Her hobby is painting landscapes.” (subject complement)

Gerunds can replace noun phrases and make your sentences smooth. Instead of “The act of eating healthy foods is important,” you can simply say “Eating healthy is important.”

Gerunds can take objects and modifiers, just like regular verbs. This lets you pack information into a single noun-like package.

“Quickly finishing my homework is my top priority.”

“Carefully reading the instructions prevents mistakes.”

A tricky thing is telling gerunds apart from present participles. Both end in -ing, but present participles act as adjectives or parts of verb phrases. Here’s the difference.

“Running water is essential for survival.” (present participle modifying “water”)

“Running a marathon requires training.” (gerund as the subject)

Look at how the word functions in the sentence. If it’s acting like a noun, it’s a gerund.

Gerunds are handy when you want to talk about activities. Turn actions into things you can discuss.

“Meditating can reduce stress.”

“I’m interested in learning new languages.”

“Procrastinating often leads to rushed work.”

In each of these sentences, the gerund lets us treat an action as a subject.

You can also use gerunds after prepositions. This common structure in English trips up learners.

“She’s excited about traveling to Europe.”

“We’re thinking of moving to a new city.”

“They’re worried about losing their jobs.”

The gerund follows the preposition and acts as its object.

Gerunds even form compound nouns when paired with other words. “Swimming pool,” “walking stick,” and “jumping rope” are all examples.

Gerunds let you turn actions into subjects and objects, opening up new ways to structure your sentences. They sound more natural in many cases than their noun equivalents.

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