Write well. Write often. Edit wisely.
When the topic of gerunds comes up, it’s usually in the context of writing advice about using or not using them to begin sentences (more on that below). But gerunds came up in a couple of FB groups this week, and I realized I’ve never covered them here at the blog.
So let’s talk gerunds.
Nominals
A gerund is a nominal. A nominal is a word (or phrase) that functions as a noun but isn’t actually a noun. Gerunds act like nouns, but they look like verbs. A gerund is the -ing form of a verb—the present participle—operating as a noun.
Those -ing words have a lot of functions and can show up all over a sentence.
She was running down the road.
Running in this sentence is a present participle used, with was, as the continuous or progressive form of the verb run.
—-
Running down the road, she was happy.
Running in this sentence is a present participle, part of a participial phrase. The participial phrase is used as an adjective.
—-
The running water had turned cold.
Running in this sentence is an adjective.
—-
Running is her favorite form of exercise.
Running in this sentence is a gerund—it’s operating as a noun. Here it serves as the subject of the sentence.
When a present participle operates as a gerund, it, like nouns, names something. But being in the form of a verb, a gerund names or identifies actions, states of being, and states of mind rather than people, places, things, and ideas.
A gerund isn’t a verb showing what someone or something is doing; it is the thing itself that’s doing something or being something or having something done to it.
Gerunds—plus the words attached to them—can operate as subjects, subject complements (they follow linking verbs and rename the subject), objects—direct object, indirect object, and object of a preposition—and as appositives.
Thinking in French slows me down. (subject)
Skating gracefully is her goal. (subject)
Not being happy has made him ill. (subject)
Today’s goal is jumping the fence. (subject complement)
Note the difference between this and something such as He is jumping the fence, where is jumping is the verb.
Sal’s one desire was eliminating her rival. (subject complement)
Waldo practiced marching. (direct object)
Winifred studied acting at college. (direct object)
Lee made running for the bus a daily practice. (indirect object)
She gave sitting for the bar one more try. (indirect object)
Without writing, life would be dull. (object of a preposition)
His disdain for telecommuting was widely known. (object of a preposition)
Despite delivering results, he was fired. (object of a preposition)
He did his job, tuning the car for his boss. (appositive)
His favorite sport, fencing, was an expensive one. (appositive)
Very rarely, gerunds can even function as object complements. But I’m talking rarely. Yet you can find them as object complements after the verbs call and consider (and maybe a few others). No comma is needed before the gerund.
She considers her life’s work editing.
Our family calls two Ds and an F failing.
Gerunds can be used in a variety of ways to enhance your writing. I encourage you to explore the possibilities of gerund use.
_____________________
Infinitives—the word to plus the basic form of a verb—can also function as nominals, which means that they can be used in most of the same places gerunds are used. (We don’t usually use infinitives as the object of a preposition, yet they can be used after but and except.)
In some instances you’ll have a choice between a gerund and an infinitive. One option may work or sound better given the meaning of the sentence, the personality of the speaker, the genre, the rhythm, or the intended mood, tone, effect, or impact. And though I won’t go into detail here, some verbs take only the infinitive and not a gerund as a direct object, and some verbs can’t be followed by a gerund.
The two options aren’t necessarily exact substitutes, so choose the option that best fits your needs.
To beat the record is her goal
Beating the record is her goal.
Sal’s one desire was to eliminate her rival.
Sal’s one desire was eliminating her rival.
He hates to lie.
He hates lying.
He agreed to finish the project.
He agreed finishing the project. X
Tony spoke to his boss about leaving the firm.
Tony spoke to his boss about to leave the firm. X
He had no option but to leave the firm.
_____________________
Confusing Advice
I’ve seen a lot of advice in writing forums that mentions gerunds—don’t use gerunds to begin sentences, don’t start too many sentences with gerunds. Yet it’s typically not gerunds at the beginning of sentences that cause problems; those giving the advice often confuse gerunds with participial phrases, which also begin with words ending in -ing. More often it’s present participles and participial phrases that create difficulties. Yes, the form of gerunds and present participles is the same. But the meaning and use are different.
Feel free to use gerunds as subjects. You wouldn’t want to start three sentences in a row with a gerund, and you wouldn’t want to alternate sentences to begin one with a participial phrase, the next with a gerund, the next with a participial phrase and so on, but you can certainly use gerunds as subjects without worrying that you’re doing something wrong.
Tags: gerund, noun Posted in: Grammar & Punctuation
[…] Site Editing” ends with a gerund, which is a verb that’s used like a noun, but even more specifically: “a gerund names or identifies actions, states of being, and states of mind rather than […]
The reader will focus on what stands out. Turn the reader's attention where you want it to go.
Thank you for reading The Editor's Blog, an Internet resource for fiction writers,
freelance editors, and everyone who loves words
***
*****
Copyright © 2010-2018 E. A. Hill Visit Beth at A Novel Edit
Write well. Write often. Edit wisely.
Running down the road, she was happy.
Running in this sentence is a present participle, part of a participial phrase. The participial phrase is used as an adjective.
This is wrong.”Running down the road” doesn’t describe “she”. Running down the road, she reached her house might be better, but it still sounds awkard. Running with her hands tied behind her back, she reached the road is a lot better example as it really describes how “she” reached the road.
Marc, I’m going to differ with you. Running down the road does describe she. It tells what she is doing. Unless it also contains references to the how, a present participial phrase doesn’t describe how; a present participial phrase tells what the person or thing is doing.
John, steering the stolen car, raced after his friend.
John, steering madly, raced after his friend. (Madly tells how he was steering.)
Smiling, Jane made her son’s lunch.
Smiling joyfully, Jane made her son’s lunch. (Joyfully describes how she smiled.)
Because these phrases do describe a noun or pronoun, we can easily recognize dangling modifiers when they point to or describe something other than the noun they’re intended to modify.
Smiling, the lunch looked good to Jane. X We know this is wrong because smiling isn’t modifying the lunch; it’s describing Jane. So Jane should be the word following the comma in this construction.
Your examples provide different details, but running is still a present participle and running down the road is still a participial phrase that serves as a modifier of she. She could do anything while running down the road—
Running down the road, she sang a happy song.
Running down the road, she planned her next robbery.
Running down the road, she screamed.
———-
Of course, the order of the words can be switched up when we use participial phrases—and sometimes the order will sound better one way rather than another—but the phrase is still modifying a noun or pronoun.
She, running down the road, sang a happy song.
She sang a happy song, running down the road.
This is an explicit, concise explanation of gerunds. Thank you so much Beth! I’ve shared it online. All best to you.
Thank you for this article.
I have a question about participial phrases. Is mouth drooling an example of a participial phrase or does the participial phrase have to start with a participle? For example, can I say the dog watched, mouth drooling…
Sam, you can say the dog watched, mouth drooling, but mouth drooling is an absolute phrase, not a participial one. Drooling is definitely a participle, but it’s not a participial phrase in that construction. The dog watched, drooling all over the place contains a participial phrase.
An absolute phrase will have a noun or a pronoun before the participle. An absolute phrase modifies a clause. The noun in the absolute phrase will be different from the noun in the clause.
Eyes blinking, Jared stared into the sun.
Rain falling madly, he raced down the road.
A participial phrase won’t have a stated noun or pronoun—as you said, it starts with the participle itself. A participial phrase modifies a noun (not the whole clause, as is true of absolute phrases), typically the subject of an independent clause. The implied (not stated) noun of the participial phrase is the same as the subject of the clause it modifies.
Blinking, Jared stared into the sun. (Jared is blinking and Jared is staring into the sun. In the earlier example, eyes were blinking).
A few articles you may want to look at—participial phrases and absolute phrases.
I hope this helps.
Thank you for clarifying this for me. You’re wonderful.
Sorry to bother you again. I saw a sentence similar to this one: ,
Her eyes followed the chicken, her mouth watering, imagining the chicken in a stew.
It sounds wrong to me, but I can’t explain it.
Going by what you said,” her mouth watering” would be an absolute phrase modifying the clause “her eyes followed the chicken”. However, this sounds wrong.
The other thing that bothers me about the sentence is the participial phrase. I’m not sure what noun it’s modifying.
Am I wrong in thinking this sentence is grammatically incorect? Would you please explain.
Thank you.
Sam, there are a couple of issues, but let’s start with the most important one–who is imagining the chicken in a stew? Even without the “mouth watering” part, this says that her eyes are doing the imagining. This sentence is layering too much on a faulty foundation.
A few options if keeping all the parts is necessary:
Eyes on the chicken and mouth watering, she imagined the bird in a stew. Or Her eyes on the chicken and her mouth watering, she imagined . . .
Her eyes followed the chicken and her mouth watered as she imagined the bird in a stew.
Imagining the chicken in a stew, she felt her mouth water and allowed her eyes to track the bird.
Any of these would work.
Thank you so much for replying.
This confirms what I thought about who was doing the imagining.
Thanks again.
Good explanation. Thanks