Grammar Spod

We love finding gerunds

I am delighted to share with you the undeniable secrets of the lovely English language once again this month. Having had a closer look at question words last month, this month we will be looking at gerunds, also called -ing forms.

Gerunds are verbs which act like nouns or pronouns. We use them:

As the subject of the sentence:

Spending time with my family is very important to me.

as the object of the sentence:

I find ironing really relaxing.

After prepositions:

She’s crazy about gardening.

Many phrases expressing likes and dislikes are followed by a gerund:

He’s crazy about playing football.
I really enjoy reading autobiographies.
She loves baking cakes.
She’s keen on travelling.
He doesn’t like buying clothes.
The team can’t stand losing.
She hates getting up early.

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to gerunds after verbs of liking and disliking. Please let me know if there is a tense or a grammatical item you would like to read about in particular in one of the following editions of StopPress. I would be delighted to hear from you at stoppress@laltorbay.co.uk.

Until next month – yours sincerely,

Countess Grammar AM

Exercise

Now, let’s see how much you have learned today…

Exercise
Underline the gerunds (-ing forms) in the sentences below. Which one

a) is the subject of the sentence?
b) is the object of the sentence?
c) comes after a preposition?

I hate buying presents.
I’m very keen on keeping fit.
Reading autobiographies is one of my favourite hobbies.

Complete the following sentences with the gerund and, if you are feeling up to it, also write down which ones are the subject or object of the sentence and which come after a preposition: