Gerunds and -ing forms of verbs can be confusing. But if we notice the context in which they are used, it will be simple to identify them. In this article, we will study ‘Gerund Phrases’. Don’t worry, we will go through ‘Gerunds’ as well.
So, What is a ‘gerund’ & a ‘Gerund Phrase’?
A gerund is a continuous (-ing) form of a verb that works as a noun in the sentence. A gerund phrase is a gerund used with other modifiers and objects. So, together they constitute a phrase. In a sentence, a Gerund phrase works as nouns, subjects, subject complements, or objects.
These were the official jargonized definitions of gerunds & Gerund Phrases. But, honestly, both concepts are much simpler than their definitions sound. In this article, I’ve tried to explain both Gerund & the Gerund phrases are explained in a simplified way. Let’s first start our discussion with ‘Gerunds’.
| CONTENTS: What is a ‘Gerund’? How do you identify a ‘Gerund’ in a sentence? What is a ‘Gerund Phrase’? How do you identify a ‘Gerund Phrase’ in a sentence? – Gerund Phrases NOT working as Noun (Working as Participle Phases) – Gerund Phrases vs Participle Phrases Gerund Phrases as Objects – Gerund phrases as a Direct Object – Gerund phrases as an Indirect Object Gerund phrases as a Predicate Nominative Dangling Gerund Phrases Takeaway |
What is a ‘Gerund’? How do you identify a ‘Gerund’ in a sentence?
As we saw earlier, gerund is a verb in continuous form (-ing) that works as a noun. Let’s dissect this definition with an example:
‘Sing’ is a verb. It’s present continuous form is – ‘Singing’.
SENTENCE 1: Bob was singing when the guests arrived.
SENTENCE 2: Singing was Bob’s favorite hobby.
We have spotted the -ing verb ‘singing’ in the sentences. Now, we want to know whether singing is working as
(1) verb OR
(2) noun
The trick is simple – If it is working as a noun, replacing it with any other noun should definitely work. Let’s replace ‘swimming’ with other noun say, ‘Photography’
NEW SENTENCE 1: Bob was photography when the guests arrived.
NEW SENTENCE 2: Photography was Bob’s favorite hobby.
It worked in Sentence 2. But, Sentence 1 is not making any sense.
INFERENCE: The verb ‘swimming’ is behaving as a verb in Sentence 1 and behaving as a noun (gerund) in sentence 2.
Now, a gerund makes a gerund phrase that functions as a noun and can act as a subject, an object, or a predicate nominative.
What is a ‘Gerund Phrase’? How do you identify a ‘Gerund Phrase’ in a sentence?
As we saw earlier, A gerund phrase is a gerund used with other modifiers and objects. So, together they constitute a phrase. In a sentence, a Gerund phrase works as nouns, subjects, subject complements, or objects. Let’s dissect this definition a little.
SENTENCE 4: Playing cricket in the garden with his friends was Bob’s favorite hobby.
Now, look at the -ing verb ‘Playing’. We conduct the Gerund test by replacing it with another noun.
NEW SENTENCE 4: Photography cricket in the garden with his friends was Bob’s favorite hobby.
It makes no sense. So, that ‘playing’ is working as a verb? NOPE.
Look at this part of the sentence – “Photography cricket in the garden with his friends”. This entire thing was his hobby. So, that who bunch of words is working as a noun here because ultimately it’s just one action they are together pointing to.
NEWER SENTENCE 4: Photography was Bob’s favorite hobby.
Yeah, that worked! That means, here:
- playing: Gerund
- cricket: Object (What he is playing)
- in the garden with his friends: Modifier (It’s always optional. It modifies the meaning of some other element in that sentence)
- Since the whole ‘Playing cricket in the garden with his friends’ is behaving like a singular noun, the sentence has used ‘was’ – 3rd person singular form of ‘to be’ verb.
Gerund Phrases NOT working as Noun (Working as Participle Phases)
We have to be cautious when we are spotting Gerund phrases. Sometimes, they might appear as Gerund Phrases but, actually, they’re participle phrases.
SENTENCE 5: Playing cricket in the garden with his friends, Bob fell down.
Here, the noun replacement logic obviously won’t work.
Instead, here we are easily able to replace that ‘gerund-phrase-like’ part with [to-do-_ing + Something]
NEW SENTENCE 5: Doing something, Bob fell down.
Bob fell down when he was doing something. This ‘doing something’ indicate the presence of an action. So – NOT NOUN!
Gerund Phrases vs Participle Phrases
Gerund phrases can be confused with participle phrases, as both have -ing forms. Identifying the difference between the two is tricky but easy too.
Remember, substituting a gerund with a non-gerund should keep the sentence meaningful.
Any phrase followed by a comma will more likely be a participle phrase.
A participle phrase will always describe who, how, or when.
Example:
| Sr. | Sentence | Gerund Phrase / Participle Phrase [Singing –> Chess] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singing with friends makes Alice happy. | Gerund Phrase (Chess makes Alice happy. – WORKS) |
| 2 | Alice is fond of singing with her friends. | Gerund (Alice is fond of chess. – WORKS) |
| 3 | While singing with her friends in an auditorium, she closed her eyes for a minute. | Participle (While chess, she closed her eyes for a minute. – DOESN’T WORK) |
| 4 | While they were singing the song, the band suddenly stopped playing the violin. | Participle (While they were chess, the band suddenly stopped playing. – DOESN’T WORK) [You try for ‘playing the violin!] |
| 5 | While singing soothing songs made her happy, she also loved dancing to pop music. | Gerund (While chess made her happy, she also loved dancing. – WORKS) [You try for ‘dancing to pop music’!] |
Did you notice a gerund phrase always has a singular agreement with a verb? It’s one of the gerund phrases rules. Another interesting point is, that the phrase will always start with a gerund and will have either a modifier, an object, or both.
Gerund Phrases as Objects
Gerund Phrase works as a noun. That means, just like a noun does, a gerund phrase can also function as a direct object, indirect object, and predicate nominative.
Before looking at the examples, let’s quickly brush up on our knowledge of Direct & Indirect Objects:
A Direct Object is a noun or pronoun that directly receives the action of the verb.
An Indirect Object is a noun or pronoun that refers to something that directly receives the action of the verb.
For example, Uncle told me that story.
Direct Object: story (receive the direct action of the verb ‘to tell’)
Indirect Object: me (to whom was ‘the story‘ being told?)
Gerund phrases as a Direct Object:
- Alice hates sleeping through the night.
- Does his son enjoy fixing broken games?
Gerund phrases as an Indirect Object:
- Why don’t you make exercising regularly your main goal?
- They make completing a marathon a requirement to pass the course.
Gerund phrases as a Predicate Nominative
Have doubts about Predicative Nominative? Read: What’s Predicate Nominative?
- My mother’s biggest difficulty is feeding the baby through the night.
- The guard’s top priority was escaping everyone from the building.
Dangling Gerund Phrases
Dangling Gerunds are similar to Dangling Participles. Read What’s Dangling Participles?
Example:
By cleaning the room, Liza’s mother felt happy.
Here, the sentence emphasizes the mother who felt happy after cleaning the room instead of Liza. So, rewriting the sentence will give a proper subject.
Liza made her mother happy by cleaning the room.
Takeaway
Remember the rules of gerund phrases to identify one in a sentence. The phrase will always start with a gerund and will either have a modifier, an object, or both. The entire phrase will function as a noun and will have a singular agreement with a verb. The behaviors of Gerunds & Gerund Phrases are more or less the same.
