Gerunds and -ing words in English

Gerunds, verbal nouns, present participles all ending in -ing

►► See also: Consecutive verbs: gerund or infinitive?

1. The different types of word ending in -ing :

The English language does not use many grammatical “endings”, but  some of those it does use have several different functions. The  -ing ending is one of them. Words ending in -ing can be gerunds, verbal nouns, or present participles. Distinguishing (= gerund) between these, and using them correctly is not always easy – until you understand  these three simple rules.

2. 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 used as a noun, and can be the subject (examples 1 to 7), or the object of a sentence (8 & 9) , or follow prepositions (10 to 13)

As the examples above show, the gerund is a verb used as if it were a noun, but not  in the same way as a noun. In other words, it keeps its verbal qualities.  Since it is not used like a noun, it cannot be qualified by an adjective; on the contrary, it keeps some of the essential features that distinguish a verb, notably that it can take a direct object (examples 2, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 above) , and/or be qualified by an adverb (examples 4 ,5 , 12 & 13).
When gerunds are used as verbal complements (second verbs following a first verb), as in examples  8 and 9 above, they can often be rephrased using an infinitive instead of the gerund.
However a few verbs require a gerund, not an infinitive (Examples 14 – 16 above). The most common of these are admit, consider, dislike, deny, enjoy, finish, involve, miss, mind,  suggest,
► For more details on this, see consecutive verb structures

3. Verbal nouns: nouns that are derived from verbs

There are a large number of ways of creating a noun from a verb: among the most common of these are words that use the root form of the verb and a noun ending such as –ment (as in achievement), –ance (as in disappearance), –ion (as in confirmation) , or –ing (as in The changing of the guard.)  You can see that these -ing forms really are nouns, not verbs, as they can be qualified by adjectives.

4. Areas of possible confusion

Sometimes it is difficult to decide if a word is a gerund or a verbal noun; and in fact, the quality of the -ing word can change according to context.  Look at these examples:

In examples 1 and 2 above, practising is clearly a gerund; in example 2 it is followed by a complement, an instrument.
But in example 3 it is preceeded by an adjective regular; so this time it is being used differently, as a verbal noun. We can verify this if we try to add a complement, as in example 4. It is not possible.
We cannot say “For musicians, regular practising an instrument is essential.”.  An -ing word cannot simultaneously be preceeded by an adjective and followed by a direct complement. Other solutions are needed; the ing word must either be used as a gerund, or as a verbal noun, but not both at once.
So while example 4 does not work, there are two solutions.
Example 5 uses the word practising as a gerund, as in examples 1 and 2; and as it is a gerund, it is modified by an adverb, regularly.
Finally, example 6 rephrases example 5, but using practising as a verbal noun, not a gerund. We can see that it is a noun, as it is now part of a noun phrase introduced by an article and including an adjective.

5. Present participles

Participles are adjectives; they can either stand alone, before or after their noun, as the situation requires, or else they can be part of an adjectival phrase.
Participles are often used to make a shortened form of a subordinate clause, as in examples 1 and 3 below,

• Looking out of... is an ellipsis or contraction of As I was looking out of...,
• … I saw the tornado coming is a contraction of …I saw the tornado that was coming.

Elliptical phrases may come before the noun or pronoun (e.g. Looking out of the window, I saw ….) or after it (e.g. I saw the tornado coming).
However, when the participle phrase is a shortened form of a relative clause, it MUST come after the noun (examples 4 & 7 below).
Present particples are also used to form the progressive forms of present and past tenses (Examples 8 – 10)

Active and passive

Gerunds and participles are most commonly used in the active voice; they can however be easily used in the passive too. Examples 1 – 3 : gerunds, examples 4 & 5 participles.