Gerunds in English and words ending in -ing

Gerunds in English and words ending in -ing
INDEX OF CONTENTS
- Definitions
- The gerund in English: the verb used as a noun
- The gerund retains its verbal qualities
- Verb nouns: nouns that are derived from verbs
The English language does not use many grammatical “endings”, but some of the ones it does use have several different functions. The ending -ing is one of them. Words ending in -ing can be gerunds, verb nouns, or present participles. Distinguishing (= gerund) between these and using them correctly isn’t always easy, until you understand these three simple rules.
Definitions
- The gerund is a verb that is used as if it were a noun . Being a verb, it cannot be qualified by an adjective, nor preceded by an article, but, like other forms of the verb, it can be modified by an adverb and take a complement.
- A verbal noun is a noun formed from a verb ; some verb nouns end in -ing. Verbal nouns, like other nouns, can take a determiner and be qualified by adjectives.
- A participle is an adjective or part of a participle phrase that qualifies a noun or pronoun. The present participle is also used in the progressive aspect of verb tenses.
See the usage differences illustrated by these examples:
- Seeing is believing./ Ver es creer.
- Living cheaply in New York is quite possible. / Vivir por poco dinero en Nueva York es bastante posible.
- The book was easy reading! / ¡El libro fue de fácil lectura!
- He managed to make a good living. / Se las arregló para ganarse la vida.
- Smiling, the lady told them they’d won the big prize. / Sonriendo, la señora les dijo que habían ganado el gran premio.
- I heard them arguing last night./ Los escuché discutir anoche.
- I’m taking my brother to the station tonight. / Esta noche llevo a mi hermano a la estación
- The man was phoning his friend, when the lights went out. / El hombre estaba llamando a su amigo cuando se apagaron las luces.
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 that is used as a noun and can be the subject, the object of a sentence, or follow prepositions.
Examples:
- Reading that book was very interesting. / Leer ese libro fue muy interesante.
- Drinking is essential / Beber es fundamental
- Drinking too much pop can make you fat. / Beber demasiada gaseosa puede engordar.
- Taking the bus was rather a good idea. / Tomar el autobús fue una buena idea.
- Swimming regularly is very good exercise./ Nadar con regularidad es un ejercicio muy bueno.
- Taking too many aspirins is dangerous. /Tomar demasiadas aspirinas es peligroso.
The gerund retains its verbal qualities
As the examples above show, the gerund is a verb that is used as if it were a noun, but not in the same way as a noun . In other words, it retains its verbal qualities. Since it is not used as a noun, it cannot be qualified with an adjective; on the contrary, it maintains some of the essential characteristics that distinguish a verb, in particular, that it can take a direct object, and / or be qualified by an adverb.
When gerunds are used as verb complements (second verbs after a first verb), they can often be rephrased using an infinitive instead of the gerund.
However, some verbs require a gerund, not an infinitive. The most common are : consider, dislike, deny, enjoy, end, involve, lose, think, suggest (considerar, desagradar, negar, disfrutar, terminar, involucrar, perder, pensar, sugerir)
Verb nouns: nouns that are derived from verbs.
There are a number of ways to create a noun from a verb: among the most common are words that use the root form of the verb and a noun ending such as -ment, -ance, -ion, or -ing . You can see that these -ing forms are really nouns, not verbs, since they can be qualified by adjectives and preceded by a determiner (article, quantifier, etc).
Great! This would be all about words ending in -ing. In addition, here we leave you the closest calls in case you want to obtain your official title .

Link exchange is nothing else however it is simply placing the other person’s website link on your page at suitable
place and other person will also do similar in favor of
you.
This post will help the internet people for building up new weblog or even a weblog from start to end.