Grammar Spod

Dear friends of English grammar,

I am delighted to share with you the undeniable secrets of the lovely English language once again this month.

This month we will be looking at gerunds, also called -ing forms.

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

1) as the subject of the sentence:
Spending time with my friends is very important to me.

2) as the object of the sentence:
I find ironing really boring.

3) after prepositions:
She’s crazy about cooking.

Many phrases expressing likes and dislikes are followed by a gerund:
He’s crazy about playing the piano.
I really enjoy reading short stories.
She loves baking cup cakes.
She’s keen on dancing.

He doesn’t like buying shoes.
The lads can’t stand losing.
She hates getting up late.

Let’s see what you’ve learned today:

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 clothes.
• I’m very keen on keeping fit.    
• Reading is one of my favourite hobbies.

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

• Annie really likes (be) _____ with young children.
• Chris hates (dance) _____.
• _____ (travel) is one of my favourite hobbies.
• I find (cook) _____ very boring.
• I’m very interested in (read) _____.
• Peter doesn’t like (buy) _____ new clothes.
• Tom isn’t very keen on (keep) _____ fit.

You can check your answers below.

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 concept 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