Gerunds,distinguishing,uses - Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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GERUNDS.


272. The gerund is like the participle in form, and like a noun in
use.

The participle has been called an adjectival verbal; the gerund may
be called a _noun verbal_. While the gerund expresses action, it has
several attributes of a noun,--it may be governed as a noun; it may be the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or a preposition; it is
often preceded by the definite article; it is frequently modified by a
possessive noun or pronoun.


[Sidenote: _Distinguished from participle and verbal noun._]

273. It differs from the participle in being always used as a noun:
it never belongs to or limits a noun.

It differs from the verbal noun in having the property of governing a
noun (which the verbal noun has not) and of expressing action (the
verbal noun merely names an action, Sec. II).

The following are examples of the uses of the gerund:--

(1) _Subject_: "The _taking_ of means not to see another morning had all day absorbed every energy;" "Certainly _dueling_ is bad, and has been put down."

(2) _Object_: (_a_) "Our culture therefore must not omit the _arming_ of the man." (_b_) "Nobody cares for _planting_ the poor fungus;" "I announce the good of _being interpenetrated_ by the mind that made nature;" "The guilt of _having been cured_ of the palsy by a Jewish maiden."

(3) _Governing and Governed_: "We are far from _having exhausted_ the significance of the few symbols we use," also (2, _b_), above; "He could embellish the characters with new traits without _violating_ probability;" "He could not help _holding_ out his hand in return."

Exercise.--Find sentences containing five participles, five
infinitives, and five gerunds.



SUMMARY OF WORDS IN _-ING_.


274. Words in -ing are of six kinds, according to use as well as
meaning. They are as follows:--

(1) _Part of the verb_, making the definite tenses.

(2) _Pure participles_, which express action, but do not assert.

(3) _Participial adjectives_, which express action and also modify.

(4) _Pure adjectives_, which have lost all verbal force.

(5) _Gerunds_, which express action, may govern and be governed.

(6) _Verbal nouns,_ which name an action or state, but cannot govern.


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