Gerunds and -ing words in English

Gerunds, verbal nouns, present participles all ending in -ing

►► See also: Consecutive verbs: gerund or infinitive?

1. The different types of word ending in -ing: 

 The English language does not use many grammatical "endings", but  some of those it does use have several different functions. The  -ing ending is one of them. Words ending in -ing can be gerunds, verbal nouns, or present participles. Distinguishing (= gerund) between these, and using them correctly is not always easy – until you understand  these three simple rules.

2. The gerund in English: the verb used as a noun

The gerund in English has the form of the present participle in -ing.
It is the most common form of the verb used as a noun, and can be the subject (examples 1 to 7), or the object of a sentence (8 & 9) , or follow prepositions (10 to 13).
As the examples above show, the gerund is a verb used >as if it were a noun, but not  in the same way as a noun. In other words, it keeps its verbal qualities.  Since it is not used like a noun, it cannot be qualified by an adjective; on the contrary, it keeps some of the essential features that distinguish a verb, notably that it can take a direct object (examples 2, 4, 7, 11 - 16 above) , and/or be qualified by an adverb (examples 9 & 13).

Gerund or infinitive?

Gerunds are commonly used in consecutive verb structures, when two verbs directly follow each other as in  I love dancing or in  examples 8 and 9 above. However it's important to distinguish between verbs that take a follow-on verb as a gerund, and those that require a follow-on verb to be in the infinitive.
    Among common  verbs that require the following verb to be expressed as a gerund  are admit, consider, dislike, deny, enjoy, finish, involve, miss, mind,  suggest,
For full details on which verbs need a gerund and which ones are followed by an infinitive, see ► Consecutive verbs.

3. Verbal nouns: nouns that are derived from verbs

There are a large number of ways of creating a noun from a verb: among the most common of these are words that use the root form of the verb and a noun ending such as -ment (as in achievement), -ance (as in disappearance), -ion (as in confirmation) , or -ing (as in The changing of the guard.)  You can see that these -ing forms really are nouns, not verbs, as they can be qualified by adjectives and preceded by a determiner (article, quantifier etc) .
     

4. Areas of possible confusion

Sometimes it is difficult to decide if a word is a gerund or a verbal noun; and in fact, the quality of the -ing word can change according to context.  Look at these examples:
In examples 1 and 2 above, practising is clearly a gerund; in example 2 it is followed by a complement, an instrument.  
But in example 3 it is preceded by an adjective regular; so this time it is being used differently, as a verbal noun. We can verify this if we try to add a complement, as in example 4. It is not possible.
We cannot say "For musicians, regular practising an instrument is essential.".  An -ing word cannot simultaneously be preceded by an adjective and followed by a direct complement. Other solutions are needed; the ing word must either be used as a gerund, or as a verbal noun, but not both at once.
So while example 4 does not work, there are two solutions.
  Example 5 uses the word practising as a gerund, as in examples 1 and 2; and as it is a gerund, it is modified by an adverb, regularly.
   Finally, example 6 rephrases example 5, but using practising as a verbal noun, not a gerund. We can see that it is a noun, as it is now part of a noun phrase introduced by an article and including an adjective.

5. Present participles

Participles are adjectives; they can either stand alone, before or after their noun, as the situation requires, or else they can be part of an adjectival phrase.
Participles are often used to make a shortened form of a subordinate clause, as in examples 1 and 3 below, 

• Looking out of... is an ellipsis or contraction of As I was looking out of...,
• ... I saw the tornado coming is a contraction of ...I saw the tornado that was coming.

Elliptical phrases may come before the noun or pronoun (e.g. Looking out of the window, I saw ....) or after it (e.g. I saw the tornado coming).  
    However, when the participle phrase is a shortened form of a relative clause, it MUST come after the noun (examples 4 & 7 below).
     Present particples are also used to form the progressive forms of present and past tenses (Examples 8 - 10).
     

Active and passive

Gerunds and participles are most commonly used in the active voice; they can however be easily used in the passive too. Examples 1 - 3 : gerunds, examples 4 & 5 participles.


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