Gerunds are a very useful grammatical function, and it’s important not to confuse then with the present continuous.
First of all, what is a gerund? A gerund is the suffix ‘ing’. We form it by adding it to the end of a verb, sometimes, in the case of the verb ‘to come’, we get rid of a letter before putting the ‘ing’ at the end.
But they are not the “-ing” verb forms that you see in the present or past continuous tense. They look the same, but gerunds are actually verb forms used as nouns.
Gerunds can be used within a sentence as a subject or an object. For example, we can say ‘Playing computer games is fun’ and ‘I like playing computer games’. Notice that you need another verb or a preposition before using the gerund correctly.
And here are a few examples of verbs that need to be followed by a gerund:
- admit: They admitted changing the schedule.
- advise: I advise proceeding (moving forward) with caution.
- avoid: She avoided looking me in the eye.
- consider (think about): I considered staying silent, but I had to tell her.
- deny: I denied knowing about his secret.
- involve: The course involved writing three tests.
- mention (say something): She mentioned seeing my brother at a baseball game.
- recommend: I recommend practicing gerunds and infinitives.
- risk: Don’t risk losing your job!
- suggest: I suggest reading more English short stories.
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