2. The Form of Gerund
The gerund is the – ing form of the verb used as a noun. Notice that the
gerund has the same form as the present participle. However, it functions differently in the sentence. Gerund is always a noun and can function in many
noun position.
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According to Betty Schramper Azar gerund is the-ing form of a verb used as a noun. A gerund is used in the same ways as a noun, i.e., as a subject or an
object.
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Gerund as subjek : Learning foreign languages is hard work
Swimming is hobby Gerund as objek :
Some people don‟t like flying He enjoys reading novel
I finish writing letter Word Learning and swimming is the gerund as it is the subject of the sentence
and word flying, reading and writing is its object. A Gerund is a base verb + -ing that works like a noun. For example, a gerund
can be subject or an object in a sentence.
Gerund as subject Gerund Subject
Verb
Painting is
my favorite hobby. Scuba diving
takes a lot of money
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George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks, Let‟s write English, Revised Edition, London:
Longman Group UK Limited, 1992 p. 268
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Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar New Jersey:Prentice Hall, Inc, 1992, p. 150
Gerund as object Subject
Verb Gerund Object
I enjoy
Painting He
stoped Cycling
A gerund is always singuler. When one gerund is the subject of a sntence, it takes a singular verb.
Painting makes me happy.
But if two gerunds from a subject, the verb is plural.
Cycling and diving are my favorite sport.
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So, a gerund replaces the noun in a sentence so that the verbal is the subject. Michel Swan defined that gerund is the
– ing form of a verb, used like a noun for instance, as the subject of sentences, or after a preposition.
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A gerund is derived from a verb by adding the suffix -ing. The result is still
a verb, and it exhibits ordinary verbal properties, such as taking objects and adverbs. Example: In football, deliberately tripping an opponent is a foul. Here
the verb trip occurs in its gerund form tripping, but this tripping is still a verb: it takes the adverb deliberately and the object an opponent. However, the entire
phrase deliberately tripping an opponent, because of the gerund within it, now functions as a noun phrase, in this case as the subject of the sentence. So, a gerund
is still a verb, but the phrase built around it is nominal, not verbal.
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. Gerunds as Subject, Object or Complement.
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Like nouns, gerunds can be the subject, object or complement of a sentence:
Smoking costs a lot of money. I dont like writing.
My favourite occupation is reading.
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Milada Broukal, Grammar form and function 3B New York: 2005.
33
Michel Swan, Practical English Usage New York: Oxford University Press, 1983 p. xvi
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http:grammar.about.comodfhggerundterm.htm
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http:www.englishclub.comgrammarverbs-gerunds 1.htm
But, like a verb, a gerund can also have an object itself. In this case, the whole expression [gerund + object] can be the subject, object or complement of
the sentence.
Smoking cigarettes costs a lot of money. I dont like writing letters.
My favourite occupation is reading detective stories.
Like nouns, gerunds can be used with adjectives including articles and other determiners:
pointless questioning a settling of debts
the making of Titanic his drinking of alcohol
But when a gerund is used with an article, it does not usually take a direct object:
A settling of debts not a settling debts Making Titanic was expensive.
The making of Titanic was expensive.
Gerund is the term used to refer to a certain Latin verb form that could function as a noun.
Nowadays, the term generally is used to refer to the present participle in English and the verbal present participle of Spanish. These are
the verb forms that end in -ing in English and -ando or -iendo in Spanish. In both languages, the gerund is used to form the progressive or
continuous tenses. Noted that while the English gerund can be and frequently is used as a noun, the Spanish gerund does not function as a
noun.
3. Kinds of Difficulties in Learning Gerund
In the chapter one mentioned the students usually find the difficulties when they learn gerund. Most of them fine the difficulties because of their
own language, they also confused in the differences between using infinitive and gerund in the sentence. Betty Schrampfer Azar said that some verbs can
be followed by either infinitive or gerund, sometimes with no difference in meaning and sometimes with a difference meaning.
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Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar , ……, p. 157
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