The gerund?! … Yes, that’s true but I really don’t want to use this word, “gerund”. It sounds so complicated and discouraging (it was for me). Forget about gerund and focus on verb+ing.
I tried to come up with as many examples as possible and three rules that derive from the examples.
Use verb+ing
- As the subject of the sentence
Smoking is bad for your health.
- After some verbs (a list is provided)
Have you finished studying the gerund?
- After prepositions
He left without saying good bye.
But rules without a consistent number of examples have no value. Below you can see some examples.
Examples:
- Eating outside makes me feel good. (rule 1)
- Swimming is always a pleasure for me. (rule 1)
- Studying English is very popular inVietnam. (rule 1)
- I enjoy reading in bed. (rule 2)
- I dislike having dinner with my wife’s family. (rule 2)
- I feel like singing. (rule 2)
- I have just finished cleaning the house. (rule 2)
- He keeps on talking in the class. (rule 2)
- I don’t mind helping him. (rule 2)
- I practice speaking English every day. (rule 2)
- My wife spends hours talking on the phone. (rule 2)
- I hate going to school. (rule 2)
- I like having lunch in the garden. (rule 2)
- I love waking up on a sunny morning. (rule 2)
- I started building this house last year. (rule 2)
- Hey, please stop talking. (rule 2)
- I am thinking of buying a bigger house. (rule 3)
Note:
- ‘Help’ can be used with the infinitive and base form with no difference in meaning. (He helped me to move vs. He helped me move)
- ‘Start’ can be use with both infinitive and verb + ing with no difference in meaning.(It started raining vs It started to rain)
- ‘Try’, ‘remember’, and ‘stop’ (‘stop’ with infinitive) can be used with infinitive form and verb + ing but the meaning is different.
- ‘Hate’, ‘like’ and ‘love’ can be used with the infinitive and verb +ing with no difference in meaning (I like to play tennis vs I like playing tennis)
ESLvietnamZone.com