Verbs: gerund

The gerund is nothing more than the continous form we’ve been using all this time. (Walking, talking, eating, etcetera.)

So what’s the difference? A gerund means this form is used as a noun.

Every action can both be done (as a verb) or be described (as the general concept of doing that thing).

Use the gerund when describing an activity or event (which consists of a certain action), instead of somebody doing the action itself.

Example

Hunting can be bad for the environment. (⚔️🐻 can be ❌🌳)

We don’t say who hunts. Nobody is doing a hunt in this sentence. It’s about the general activity of someone hunting animals.

When used this way, it is the subject of the sentence. When applied any other way, it needs some help …

A preposition. (We arrived after driving for two hours)
Or a verb. (He tried to give up smoking.)

Remark

There are also some unique expressions that need a gerund after it. These are: can’t help, can’t stand, to be worth and it’s no use. For example, “It’s no use trying to escape.”

A last common use is as a complement of the verb to be:

Example

His life goal is to find all Pokémon => His life goal is finding all Pokémon

As you can see, the gerund and the infinitive are closely linked. Whenever you can use the infinitive (to + verb), you can replace it with a gerund. Why? Both describe the general concept of an action, more like a noun.

You’ll learn a bit more detail about infinitives soon.

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