Gerunds in English: What are they and how are they used?

In English, a gerund is a noun for an action or an activity that ends in -ing. Gerunds are formed by adding -ing to a verb, as in swimming, cleaning, or eating. But because gerunds are nouns, we use them where you would use a noun, for example:

• As the subject:

  Swimming is healthy.
• As the object:

  He loves swimming.
• After a preposition:

  I am afraid of swimming.

In this post we’ll be looking at how to make a gerund, how to use them in sentences, some cases where you’ll need to use a gerund, and a couple of common problems English learners sometimes encounter with gerunds.

Learning about gerunds will help you in moving forward with your English, so let’s get started on that now!

To form a gerund in English, add -ing to the root of the verb: root + -ing.

• eat→ eating

• sleep→ sleeping

• clean→ cleaning

Almost all verbs follow exactly the rule above, but there are two special groups:

• Modal verbs (can, could, might, should, etc.) are the only verbs that do not have a gerund form. We’ll talk a little more about this below!

• To form the gerund of a phrasal verb like clean up or move over, add -ing only to the verb part:

  • clean up→ cleaning up

  • move over→ moving over

A gerund phrase is a gerund plus some associated words, like…

• Objects:

  making cookies
• Adjectives:

  beautiful singing
• Adverbs:

  swimming quickly
• Prepositional phrases:

  cleaning of the kitchen

• …and more!

You can use gerund phrases anywhere you can use a regular gerund. Advanced English speakers will learn how to form very long gerund phrases, like this:

But these long gerund phrases are mostly used in academic or formal writing.

Gerunds are nouns, so you can use them anywhere where you would use a noun in an English sentence, for example:

• as the subject of a sentence:

  • Reading helps you to relax.
  • Running a marathon made me tired.

• as an object of a verb (lots more on this below!):

  • I like reading.
  • My brother taught me gardening.

• after a preposition:

  • I can watch TV after doing my homework.
  • Kendra was afraid of missing the train.
  • We all have some interest in touring Italy.

Many English verbs that represent something you can do to an action or situation will take a gerund as their object. For example:

Here is a short list of English verbs that commonly take gerund objects:

But be careful! Not all verbs that are done to actions or situations can take gerunds as their objects! Some verbs will take an infinitive verb (to + root) instead.

Unfortunately, the only way to know if you need a gerund or an infinitive is to learn the verb.

Check out our post on English verbs that take infinitives to learn more, or have a look at this English verb complement reference sheet to see some examples.

A gerund can describe or modify a noun in English, in the same way that nouns can modify other nouns. For example:

When a gerund modifies a noun, it tells you what type of noun it is, just as other English nouns that describe nouns do!

Not all words that end with the suffix -ing are gerunds! There are two main groups of words that are easy to confuse with gerunds: present participles and other nouns that end in -ing.

Okay, the basic thing you need to remember is:

• A gerund is a noun for “the act of” doing a verb.

• Gerunds are formed like this: root + -ing.

• Certain verbs take gerunds as objects, but be careful because some verbs take infinitives instead.

• Present participles look exactly like gerunds, but they have a different meaning and use in English. If it isn’t a noun for an action, it’s not a gerund!

If you’d like to see how well you make and use gerunds, why not check out the gerund activities I’ve written up for you?