20 Gerund Examples

Gerund

The gerund it is ornot of the three types of verboids, that is, of words that derive from verbs but are often not they fulfill in the sentence the proper function of verbs (which is that of the nucleus of the predicate), but the from adverb, integrating to circumstantial complements. For example: wanting, thinking.

The verbs are three:

Gerunds are quite easy to identify from their morphology, since they all end in -ando or in -endo.

Examples of gerunds

More examples in: Gerund verbs

Syntactic function

Gerunds express the prolongation of an action over time and can work in two ways:

Gerunds characteristics

The formation of the gerund can follow a regular pattern (with the simple addition of the aforementioned suffixes) or irregular, as happens in verbs ending in -and go, in which the order of the vowels is reversed (such as ‘laugh’ / laughing), or those with an 'o', which is modified by 'u' (like 'power' / being able).

Although in verbal phrases the Auxiliar verb that most commonly precedes the gerund is to be, also other verbs can form verb phrases with gerund. For example: It lives talking my bad or Was born weighing 3 K.

As can be seen, gerunds are invariable in gender and number, this differentiates them from conjugated verbs and also from the participle, which flexes in gender and number.

Incorrect uses of the gerund

The gerund cannot fulfill an adjective function by modifying a noun. So prayers like The box containing the documents disappeared that afternoon It is incorrect.

Another common and incorrect use of the gerund is that of posteriority. For example: He took the plane, arriving in Madrid the next day. This is an incorrect phrase, since the gerund can only denote simultaneity or priority.