“Ing Form” (Gerund)
Let us look at the sentences:
i. Gardening is my hobby.
ii. We continued playing.
iii. I prevent him from stealing.
iv. The game was an exciting.
In sentence (i) “gardening” is a non-finite verb ending in “ing” which works as a subject of “is”.
In sentence (ii) “playing” is a non-finite verb ending in “ing” which works as an object of “continued”.
In sentence (iii) “stealing” is a non-finite verb with ending “ing” which works as object of the proposition “from”.
In sentence (iv) “existing” is a non-finite verb with ending “ing” which works as an object of verb “was”.
These verbs (gardening, playing, stealing and existing) are called gerunds. A gerund is a non-finite verb that functions as a noun in a sentence.
Examples;
Gerunds as subjects:
- Reading is my favourite past-time: (subject of is)
- Playing cards is not allowed here: (subject of cards)
- Acting is an art: (subject of is)
Gerund as objects:
- Running is a good exercise: (object of is)
- She hats gambling: (object of hats)
- I like reading poetry: (object of like)
- I could not heap crying: (object of could not)
- Stop talking: (object of stop)
Gerund as object of proposition:-
- I am fond of painting: (object of proposition ‘of’)
- Pardon me for disturbing you: (object of proposition ‘for’)
- He seceded in climbing the top: (object of proposition ‘in’)
- He is fond of hoarding of money: (object of proposition ‘of’)
- I thank you for teaching me that word: (object of proposition ‘for’)
In the next post we shall know about Participles.
Read Also: What is Finite and Non-finite Verb.
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