Gerund
The gerund is a verb form that works like a noun. It looks like a normal verb + -ing:
to cook (infinitive) 
cooking (gerund).
cooking (gerund).Form
To form a gerund, you add the ending "-ing" to the infinitive form of any main verb:
gerund = infinitive (without to) + "-ing"
Here are a few examples:
Gerund | |
to go | going |
to walk | walking |
to swim | swimming |
to sing | singing |
to write | writing |
Use
Gerunds can be used either as subjects or objects (like nouns) or after a preposition.
Used as a subject, it looks like this:
Cooking can take a lot of time.
If it is in the position of an object, it looks like this:
I enjoy cooking.
And if it comes after a preposition, it looks like this:
I have learned a lot about health through cooking.
In the following, you will find a list with several examples of each type.
Function: Subject
- Running is a hard sport.
- Sunbathing is not very good for your skin.
- Riding a bike is better for the environment than driving a car.
- Watching too much TV is not good for children.
Function: Object
- Tina enjoys working at her new job.
- Have you ever considered moving to the United States?
- Lara has finished reading her book.
- Andrew misses going out with his friends in England.
After a Preposition
- I am interested in learning more foreign languages.
- Janice is proud of being a good sportswoman.
- Mark is really good at cooking.
- Albert Einstein is famous for being very clever.
Now it's time you do some work! Read through the text below. Mark the gerunds yellow and normal progressive forms orange!
In the next exercise you have to fill in the gaps by putting the words in brackets into their gerund form!