3. Gerunds in English correspond in form to
participles (going, swimming, studying, playing,
etc).
Gerunds, however, are always used as nouns,
as subjects, direct objects of verbs, etc.
Example:
Swimming is a good exercise.
He enjoys playing the piano.
4. Gerunds are ing verbs that are used as nouns. In
these examples, the gerund is the subject of the
sentence:
Crying can make your eyes red.
Dancing is a good exercise.
A gerund phrase can also be used as a noun.
Example:
Eating chocolate is good for you.
Smoking cigarettes is bad for you.
5. Certain verbs in English are always followed by
gerunds and never by infinitives. These verbs are:
enjoy, mind, stop, avoid, consider, finish, deny,
admit, and risk. Example:
We are considering taking a trip to Chicago.
He has stopped studying English.
A number of verbs in English may be followed
by either a gerung or an infinitive. The
following verbs are of this group: begin,
continue, like, intend, prefer, hate, etc.
6. Example:
He likes to study with us.
He likes studying with us.
Since gerunds are always used as nouns, they
frequendly used in English as objects of
prepositions. Example:
Helen is fond of dancing.
He instisted on going.
It is a question of finding the right book.
