The Gerund

The Gerund is a non-finite form of the verb that has both noun and verb characteristics. Its noun characteristics are the following:

1. The Gerund can be the subject of the sentence, an object, a predicative (e.g. Reading is his favourite pastime. (subject) I’ve finished reading. (object) My worst habit is smoking. (predicative)
2. It can be preceded by a preposition (e.g. He insisted on coming in time).
3. It can be modified by a noun in the possessive case or a possessive pronoun (e.g. Excuse my interrupting you. I hate John’s coming late every day).

Its verb characteristics are the following:

1. It can be followed by a direct or an indirect object (e.g. Closing the factory means putting people out of work. He hates speaking to strangers.)
2. It can be modified by an adverb (e.g. A teacher of English must avoid speaking too quickly.)
3. The Gerund has voice and tense distinctions:

Objective verbs have four forms of the Gerund:

Indefinite	Passive
writing	being written
Perfect	Perfect Passive
having written	having been written

Subjective verbs have only two forms of the Gerund:

Indefinite	Passive
standing	-
Perfect	Perfect Passive
having stood	-

The Gerund can be easily confused with the verbal noun. In some cases it is impossible to tell whether you are dealing with a gerund or with a verbal noun and consequently impossible to translate the sentence with any degree of exactness. In most cases we can distinguish between the gerund and the verbal noun in the following way:

The gerund:

1. Has tense and voice forms; so the forms being done, having done etc. can not be nouns;
2. Can take a direct object; so “-ing” form followed by a direct object (reading a letter) can not be a noun;
3. Can be modified by an adverb; so “-ing” form modified b an adverb(reading fast) can not be a noun;
4. Can be part of a verbal aspect predicate; so “-ing” form following the verbs to begin, to stop, to go on, to keep, etc. are mostly gerunds.

The verbal noun:

1. Can be used in the plural (bright sayings of her children);
2. Can have an article (the banging of the lift);
3. Can be followed by a prepositional phrase in an attributive function (a faint glimmering of light);
4. Can be modified by an adjective, a demonstrative pronoun or an indefinite pronoun (the bright sayings ).

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