What is a GERUND Confusing English Grammar

well hey there i’m emma from

english what is a gerund

do you know i can tell you that i didn’t

even know what a gerund was

before i started studying to be a

teacher

but native english speakers use gerunds

a lot in english all the time whether we

realize it or not

so it’s important that you understand

them too and in today’s lesson

i’m going to show you how

[Music]

okay i’m going to start by answering

your question

in the simplest way possible what is a

gerund

gerunds look like a verb but they’re

actually a noun

okay perhaps you still don’t know what

that means

we all know that a verb is an action

right we do a verb for example

i jog every morning but sometimes

i just want to talk about an action not

do it

jogging is one of my favorite ways to

exercise

i love jogging i’m talking about

jogging as an action i’m not jogging

right now

i’m just talking about something that i

love to do

so in other words i’m referring to the

action of jogging as a noun or a thing

so i’ve just used the gerund that’s a

gerund

i used a word that looks like a verb

as a noun so that’s not too difficult

is it and if you think this video will

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so how can we recognize the gerund

what does it look like well the gerund

is

formed by adding ing to the base form of

a verb

or the bare infinitive form

so the base form is jog

with ing jogging

i love jogging jog is the base form

jogging is the gerund so obviously

the reason why this is confusing is

because

this looks a lot like the continuous

form of the verb

right so to recognize a gerund you need

to pay attention to

how it’s used in a sentence and i’ve got

a test for you

i absolutely love singing but performing

in public

makes me really nervous standing on a

stage in front of a crowd

is terrifying so did you hear

all of those gerunds did you recognize

them

let’s take a closer look i absolutely

love

singing but performing in public makes

me

really nervous standing on stage in

front of a crowd

is terrifying okay

so far we’ve learned generally what a

gerund is

and how to make a gerund

so here’s the next question

when and how do we use gerunds

just like nouns gerunds can be used in

many different situations

they can be used as the subject of a

sentence

the object of a sentence they can be

used after prepositions

they can be used with fixed expressions

and

we can sometimes use a gerund after

another verb

that’s a lot of different possibilities

so let’s break them down

together firstly you can use a gerund

when you want to use a verb

as the subject of a sentence or a phrase

volunteering is a great way to give back

to your community

eating fruits and vegetables is

important for a healthy diet

studying gerunds doesn’t have to be

frustrating

okay so now it’s your turn i want you to

write a sentence

in the comments below this video to

practice

tell me what can be frustrating

or what else is important to your health

write a sentence write an answer to that

question

in the comments below this video and

make sure you’re using

a gerund not just a noun we’re

practicing gerunds today right

pause the video if you need to but tell

me

what frustrates you in the comments

next you can use a gerund as the object

of a sentence

now there are some very common verbs

that take gerunds as

objects love like

enjoy prefer

dislike hate

all of these verbs can be followed by a

gerund

i really like cooking but my fiance is a

much better cook than me

she really enjoys taking pictures of

sunsets

i prefer buying meat from my local

butcher

okay it’s your turn now what do you

dislike

doing what do you prefer doing

write your sentence in the comments

below

when you see a verb after a preposition

it’s actually often a gerund you

remember prepositions right i talked

about them

here in this lesson if you need a

refresher

they’re words like on at in

under behind without

she walked out of the room without

saying

a word and so these rules about

prepositions

include expressions that end in

prepositions

like in spite of

in spite of training for years she got

knocked out of the tournament in the

first round

there’s no pointing there’s no point in

taking your jacket it’s really hot

outside

fed up with i’m fed up with asking you

to

be quiet there are some really common

expressions that are followed by gerunds

too

really you do just need to memorize

these ones

like can’t help i can’t help being a

perfectionist

can’t stand i can’t stand

working with people who always show up

late

it’s no use it’s no use leaving a

message

she never calls back anyway

to be worth it’s not worth

spending so much money

these are all really common expressions

that are followed by

a gerund and guess what

it’s your turn again it’s your turn to

write a sentence

what are some of the things that you

can’t stand

doing write it in the comments below

now you may also see gerunds used

after another verb now

some verbs can be followed by a gerund

or the two infinitive and this can be a

little confusing

because actually choosing one or the

other

can change the overall meaning of a

sentence

because in one sentence the word is a

noun

and in the other it’s a verb so for

example

i’ll never forget driving along the

coast of sicily it was

truly stunning

don’t forget to take your grandma to the

supermarket

i’ve actually opened a can of worms

there

so i’ve made an extra lesson a separate

lesson about

gerunds and infinitives and you can

watch it right here

on the um english channel next week it’s

going to be

my next lesson so i’ll go over more

details about the difference between

infinitives and gerunds in that lesson

make sure you subscribe so you don’t

miss it

so let’s practice what we’ve learned

already in this lesson

i want you to find the gerund in each of

the examples that i’m about to put

here and tell me is it being used as

a subject an object

after a preposition or with an

expression it’s no use avoiding him

he’ll keep asking you until you say yes

what’s the gerund avoiding right and

it’s a gerund used with a common

expression

it’s no use it’s no use of voiding

it’s no use asking

do you feel like watching a horror movie

or a romantic film

which is the gerund and it’s a gerund

used as an object isn’t it

not realizing that one of my kids is

sick is one of my biggest fears

so the gerund is realizing

and it’s a gerund use as a subject

used as a subject in spite of being

injured

she still managed to finish the marathon

so the gerund is being

and it’s a gerund used after a

preposition

so do you feel a little more confident

about gerunds now

i’m gonna go down into the comments and

check your sentences now

so i can make sure that you’ve been

using your gerunds correctly

and for all of those other pesky english

topics

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channel

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next lesson