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{{Short description|Nonfinite verb form}}{{Distinguish|text=the Gerundive}}In linguistics, a gerund ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|ɛ|ɹ|ən|d}}{{citation|last=Wells|first=John C.|year=2008|title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary|edition=3rd|publisher=Longman|isbn=9781405881180}} abbreviated ger) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, it is one that functions as a noun. The name is derived from Late Latin gerundium, meaning "which is to be carried out". In English, the gerund has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable by an adverb and being able to take a direct object. The term "-ing form" is often used in English to refer to the gerund specifically. Traditional grammar makes a distinction within -ing forms between present participles and gerunds, a distinction that is not observed in such modern grammars as A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language and The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.

Traditional use

{{unreferenced section|date=July 2016}}The Latin gerund, in a restricted set of syntactic contexts, denotes the sense of the verb in isolation after certain prepositions, and in certain uses of the genitive, dative, and ablative cases. It is very rarely combined with dependent sentence elements such as object. To express such concepts, the construction with the adjectival gerundive is preferred. By contrast, the term gerund has been used in the grammatical description of other languages to label verbal nouns used in a wide range of syntactic contexts and with a full range of clause elements.Thus, English grammar uses gerund to mean an -ing form used in non-finite clauses such as playing on computers. This is not a normal use for a Latin gerund. Moreover, the clause may function within a sentence as subject or object, which is impossible for a Latin gerund.

• Playing on computers is fun. (-ing clause as subject)
• I like playing on computers (-ing clause as object)

The contrast with the Latin gerund is also clear when the clause consists of a single word.

• Computing is fun. ("gerund" as subject)
• I like computing ("gerund" as object)

Latin never uses the gerund in this way, since the infinitive is available.Palmer, L.R. , 1954, The Latin Language, London. Faber and Faber.Traditional English grammar distinguishes non-finite clauses used as above from adverbial use, adjective-like modification of nouns, and use in finite progressive (continuous) forms

• Playing on computers, they whiled the day away.
• The boys playing on computers are my nephews.
• They are always playing on computers.

In these uses playing is traditionally labelled a participle.Traditional grammar also distinguishes -ing forms with exclusively noun properties as in {|

building >	contrast "gerund">| I like building things

painting >	contrast "gerund">| I like painting pictures

writing is good >	contrast "gerund" >| I like writing novels

The objection to the term gerund in English grammar is that -ing forms are frequently used in ways that do not conform to the clear-cut three-way distinction made by traditional grammar into gerunds, participles and nouns{{how|date=November 2018}}.

Latin gerund

{{Further|Latin syntax#The gerund|Latin conjugation#Gerund}}

Form

The Latin gerund is a form of the verb.WEB, Archives, The National, The National Archives - Lesson 11 - Gerunds and gerundives,weblink 2022-04-18, Latin, en-GB, It is composed of:

• the infectum stem (the stem used to form present and imperfect tense forms)
• a vowel appropriate to the verb class or conjugation of the verb
• the suffix -nd-
• a nominal inflectional ending

For example,{| class="wikitable"

					laudandum >| 'the act of praising'

					monendum >| 'the act of warning'

					legendum >| 'the act of reading'

					capiendum >| 'the act of taking'

					audiendum >| 'the act of hearing'

Related gerundive forms are composed in a similar way with adjectival inflexional endings.

Function

The four inflections are used for a limited range of grammatical functionsPalmer, L.R. , 1954, The Latin Language, London. Faber and Faber.{|class="wikitable"! Case !! Function !! Example !! Translation || Notes

			| infinitive used

			| infinitive used

		canes alere ad venandumTerence, Andria 57.>	| after ad, in, ob and occasionally other prepositions

		tempus >	| nouns include occasio, tempus, causa, gratia

		operam dare >	| after verbs, e.g., studeo, operam dare and adjectives, e.g., natus, optimus

		cepimus >		participle use, thus providing the gerundio forms in Italian language>Italian, Spanish language	, and Portuguese language>Portuguese, which are used instead of forms derived from Latin present participles

These functions could be fulfilled by other abstract nouns derived from verbs such as vēnātiō 'hunting'. Gerunds are distinct in two ways.

• Every Latin verb can regularly form a gerund
• A gerund may function syntactically in the same way as a finite verb. Typically the gerund of a finite verb may be followed by a direct object, e.g., ad discernendum vocis verbi figuras 'for discerning figures of speech', hominem investigando opera dabo 'I will devote effort to investigating the man'.

When people first wrote grammars of languages such as English, and based them on works of Latin grammar, they adopted the term gerund to label non-finite verb forms with these two properties.

Gerunds in various languages

Meanings of the term gerund as used in relation to various languages are listed below.

• Latin has the non-finite gerundium, formed with -andum, -endum and noun inflexions. It is syntactically equivalent to a noun, except in the nominative and accusative cases, which use the infinitive. In particular the ablative case forms (-ando, -endo) were used adverbially. Latin grammars written in English use the form gerund.Palmer 1954 See the section above for further detail.
• Several Romance languages have inherited the form, but without case inflections. They use it primarily in an adverbial function, comparably to the Latin ablative use. The same form may be used in an adjectival function and to express progressive aspect meaning. These languages do not use the term present participle. Grammars of these languages written in English may use the form gerund.

• In the earliest stages of the West Germanic languages, the infinitive was inflected after a preposition. These dative and, more rarely, genitive case forms are sometimes called gerundium or gerund or West Germanic gerund.Prokosch, E. 1939. A Comparative Germanic Grammar. Philadelphia. Linguistic Society of America for Yale University.Harbert, Wayne. 2007 The Germanic Language. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|052101511-1}}

URL = HTTP://WWW.MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM/DICTIONARY/GERUND, A noun formed from a verb (such as the -ing form of an English verb when used as a noun)., See the sections below for further detail.

• In Arabic, it refers to the verb's action noun, known as the masdar form (Arabic: ). This form ends in a tanwin and is generally the equivalent of the -ing ending in English.
• In Bulgarian, it translates the term (deepriʧastije). It refers to the verb noun formed by adding the suffix - (-jki) to the verb form, like (hodi, he/she/it walks) – (hodejki, while walking)
• In Hebrew, it refers either to the verb's action noun, or to the part of the infinitive following the infinitival prefix (also called the infinitival construct).
• In Hungarian, it practically refers to the verbal noun, formed by appending a suffix. Common suffixes are -ás (adás, giving), -és (kérés, asking).
• In Japanese, it designates verb and verbals adjective forms in dictionary form paired with the referral particle no, which turns the verbal into a concept or property noun, or also can refer to the -te form of a verb.
• In Korean, it refers to the word '것' ('thing') modified by the adjective form of the verb.
• In Macedonian, it refers to the verb noun formed by adding the suffix - (-jḱi) to the verb form, like in јаде (jade, he eats) — (jadejḱi, while eating).
• In Maldivian (Dhivehi), the gerund is the root form of the verb, for example, {{transl|dv|neshun}}, meaning "dancing".
• In Persian, it refers to the verb's action noun, known as the ism-masdar form (Persian: ).
• In Polish, it refers to the verbal noun, formed by appending a suffix. Common suffixes are -anie (pÅ‚ywanie, swimming), -enie (jedzenie, eating).
• In Russian, it translates the term (dejepričastije) an adverbial participle formed with the suffixes - (-ja) Present; - (-v) or - (-vÅ¡i) Past.Using Russian: A Guide to Contemporary Usage, By Derek Offord, page xxiiiOxford Essential Russian Dictionary, OUP Oxford, 13 May 2010, page 46WEB,weblink Пить - Conjugation with stress marks, examples and a quiz, , By , page 171WEB,weblink Деепричастие, academic.ru, 7 September 2022, WEB,weblink Перевод adverbial+participle с английского на русский,
• In Serbo-Croatian, it was used to refer to what are now classified as participles / verbal adverbs: present (-ći) and past (-vÅ¡i, sometimes -v). Modern grammars rarely use the term.BOOK, Gramatika hrvatskoga ili srpskoga književnog jezika, Maretić, Tomo, Matica hrvatska, 1963, 3rd, Zagreb, 232, BOOK, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: A Grammar with Sociolinguistic Commentary, Alexander, Ronelle, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2006, 0-299-21194-0, Madison, 230,
• In Turkish, it refers to a large number of verb endings subject to vowel harmony and sometimes used in conjunction with postpositions. Called zarf-fiil, baÄŸ-fiil, ulaç or gerundiumErgin, Muharrem. Ãœniversiteler İçin Türk Dili. s. 310. Ä°stanbul: Bayrak Yayım, 2009. and defined as "a verb used as an adverb in a sentence", the Turkish gerund may also constitute part of an (adverbial) clause.

In other languages, it may refer to almost any non-finite verb form; however, it most often refers to an action noun, by analogy with its use as applied to Latin.

Gerunds in English

In traditional grammars of English, the term gerund labels an important use of the form of the verb ending in -ing (for details of its formation and spelling, see English verbs). Other important uses are termed participle (used adjectivally or adverbially), and as a pure verbal noun.An -ing form is termed gerund when it behaves as a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object); but the resulting clause as a whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) functions as a noun within the larger sentence.For example, consider the sentence "Eating this cake is easy." Here, the gerund is the verb eating, which takes an object this cake. The entire clause eating this cake is then used as a noun, which in this case serves as the subject of the larger sentence.An item such as eating this cake in the foregoing example is an example of a non-finite verb phrase; however, because phrases of this type do not require a subject, it is also a complete clause. (Traditionally, such an item would be referred to as a phrase, but in modern linguistics it has become common to call it a clause.) A gerund clause such as this is one of the types of non-finite clause. The structure may be represented as follows:{| class="wikitable"!!! Subject !! Verb !! Complement

		| easy

	no subject) >	Verb >| Object

		| this cake

Formation

Non-finite verb forms ending in -ing, whether termed gerund or participle may be marked like finite forms as Continuous or Non-continuous, Perfect or Non-perfect, Active or Passive. Thus, traditional grammars have represented the gerund as having four forms {{ndash}} two for the active voice and two for the passive:F T Wood, 1961, Nesfield's English Grammar, Composition and Usage, MacMillan and Company Ltd., p 78 "{| class="wikitable"! !! Active !! Passive

	|Being loved

	|Having been loved

The same forms are available when the term participle is used.

Examples of use

The following sentences illustrate some uses of gerund clauses, showing how such a clause serves as a noun within the larger sentence. In some cases, the clause consists of just the gerund (although in many such cases the word could equally be analyzed as a pure verbal noun).

• Swimming is fun. (gerund as subject of the sentence)
• I like swimming. (gerund as direct object)
• I never gave swimming all that much effort. (gerund as indirect object)
• Swimming in the pool is one way to relax. (gerund phrase as subject)
• Do you fancy swimming in the pool? (gerund phrase as direct object)
• After swimming in the pool, he ate his lunch. (gerund phrase as the complement of a preposition)

Using gerunds of the appropriate auxiliary verbs, one can form gerund clauses that express perfect aspect and passive voice:

• Being deceived can make someone feel angry. (passive)
• Having read the book once before makes me more prepared. (perfect)
• He is ashamed of having been gambling all night. (perfect progressive aspect)

For more detail on when it is appropriate to use a gerund, see Verb patterns classified as gerund use below, and also {{slink||Uses of English verb forms|Gerund}}.

Distinction from other uses of the -ing form

In traditional grammars, gerunds are distinguished from other uses of a verb's -ing form: the present participle (which is a non-finite verb form like the gerund, but is adjectival or adverbial in function), and the pure verbal noun or deverbal noun.The distinction between gerund and present participles is not recognised in modern reference grammars, since many uses are ambiguous.Quirk, Raymond, Sidney Greembaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Scartvik, 1985, A Comprehensive Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman, London {{ISBN|0582517346}}, pp 1290-1293Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K Pullum, 2002, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0521431468}}. pp 1220-1222

Roles of "gerund" clauses in a sentence

Non finite -ing clauses may have the following roles in a sentence:Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finnegan, 1999, Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Harlowe, Perason Education Limited. pp 201-202.{|! !! Role !! Example

	Subject >| Eating cakes is pleasant.

	Extraposed subject >| It can be pleasant eating cakes.

	Subject Complement >| What I'm looking forward to is eating cakes

	Direct object >| I can't stop eating cakes.

	Prepositional object >| I dreamt of eating cakes.

	Adverbial >| He walks the streets eating cakes.

	Part of noun phrase >| It's a picture of a man eating cakes.

	Part of adjective phrase >| They are all busy eating cakes.

	Complement of preposition >| She takes pleasure in eating cakes.

In traditional grammars, the term gerund is not used for roles F, G, and H.Thus{| class="wikitable"|1. John suggested asking Bill.

							| Role D object — traditionally asking is a "gerund"

					(no subject)	Verb	Object

						| Bill

||2. I heard John asking Bill.

		Subject		Verb		Object

							| Role G adverbial — traditionally asking is a "participle"

					Subject	Verb	Object

						| Bill

||3. Playing football is enjoyable

		Subject		Verb		Complement

							| Role A subject — traditionally playing is a "gerund"

	no subject) >	Verb >| Object

		| football

||4. Her playing of the Bach fugues was inspiring.

		Subject		Verb		Complement

									|

	Possessive>	Head >| Postmodifier

							|Noun phrase, not clause — playing is a verbal noun (also termed deverbal noun)

For more details and examples, see (-ing#Uses|-ing: uses).

"Gerund" clauses with a specified subject

In traditional grammars, a grammatical subject has been defined in such a way that it occurs only in finite clauses, where it is liable to "agree" with the "number" of the finite verb form. Nevertheless, non-finite clauses imply a "doer" of the verb, even if that doer is indefinite "someone or something". For example,

• We enjoy singing. (ambiguous: somebody sings, possibly ourselves)
• Licking the cream was a special treat (somebody licked the cream)
• Being awarded the prize is a great honour (someone is or may be awarded the prize)

Often the "doer" is clearly signalled

• We enjoyed singing yesterday (we ourselves sang)
• The cat responded by licking the cream (the cat licked the cream)
• His heart is set on being awarded the prize (he hopes he himself will be awarded the prize)
• Meg likes eating apricots (Meg herself eats apricots)

However, the "doer" may not be indefinite or already expressed in the sentence. Rather it must be overtly specified, typically in a position immediately before the non-finite verb

• We enjoyed them singing.
• The cat licking the cream was not generally appreciated.
• We were delighted at Paul being awarded the prize.

The "doer" expression is not the grammatical subject of a finite clause, so objective them is used rather than subjective they.Traditional grammarians may object to the term subject for these "doers". And prescriptive grammarians go further, objecting to the use of forms more appropriate to the subjects (or objects) of finite clauses. The argument is that this results in two noun expressions with no grammatical connection. They prefer to express the "doer" by a possessive form, such as used with ordinary nouns:

• We enjoyed their singing. (cf. their voices, their attempt to sing)
• The cat's licking the cream was not generally appreciated. (cf. the cat's purr, the cat's escape)
• We were delighted at Paul's being awarded the prize. (cf. Paul's nomination, Paul's acceptance)

Nonetheless, the possessive construction with -ing clauses is very rare in present-day English. Works of fiction show a moderate frequency, but the construction is highly infrequent in other types of text.Biber et al p. 750Prescriptivists do not object when the non-finite clause modifies a noun phrase

• I saw the cat licking the cream.

The sense of the cat as notional subject of licking is disregarded. Rather they see the cat as exclusively the object of I saw The modifying phrase licking the cream is therefore described as a participle use.Henry Fowler claims that the use of a non-possessive noun to precede a gerund arose as a result of confusion with the above usage with a participle, and should thus be called fused participleH. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1926 or geriple.Penguin guide to plain English, Harry Blamires (Penguin Books Ltd., 2000) {{ISBN|978-0-14-051430-8}} pp. 144–146It has been argued that if the prescriptive rule is followed, the difference between the two forms may be used to make a slight distinction in meaning:

• The teacher's shouting startled the student. (shouting is a gerund, the shouting startled the student)
• The teacher shouting startled the student. (shouting can be interpreted as a participle, qualifying the teacher; the teacher startled the student by shouting)
• I don't like Jim's drinking wine. (I don't like the drinking)
• I don't like Jim drinking wine. (I don't like Jim when he is drinking wine)

However, Quirk et al. show that the range of senses of -ing forms with possessive and non-possessive subjects is far more diverse and nuanced:Quirk et al pp. 1290–1291{|! Sentence !! Meaning

The painting of Brown is as skilful as that of Gainsborough. >| a. 'Brown's mode of painting'b. 'Brown's action of painting'

Brown's deft painting of his daughter is a delight to watch. >| 'It is a delight to watch while Brown deftly paints his daughter.'

Brown's deftly painting his daughter is a delight to watch. >| a. 'It is a delight to watch Brown's deft action of painting.'b. 'It is a delight to watch while Brown deftly paints.'

I dislike Brown's painting his daughter. >| a. "I dislike the fact that Brown paints his daughter.'b. 'I dislike the way Brown paints his daughter.'

I dislike Brown painting his daughter. >| 'I dislike the fact that Brown paints his daughter (when she ought to be at school).'

I watched Brown painting his daughter. >| a. 'I watched Brown as he painted his daughter.'b. 'I watched the process of Brown('s) painting his daughter.'

Brown deftly painting his daughter is a delight to watch. >| a. 'It is a delight to watch Brown's deft action of painting his daughter'b. 'It is a delight to watch while Brown deftly paints his daughter.'

These sentence exemplify a spectrum of senses from more noun-like to more verb-like. At the extremes of the spectrum they place

• at the noun end (where possessive Brown's unmistakably expresses ownership) :

{|! Noun phrase !! Meaning

some paintings of Brown's >| a. 'some paintings that Brown owns' b. 'some paintings painted by Brown'

Brown's paintings of his daughters >| a. paintings depicted his daughter and painted by him'b. 'paintings depicting his daughter and painted by somebody else but owned by him'

• and at the verb end (where Brown's would clearly be impossible):{|! Sentence !! Meaning

  Painting his daughter, Brown noticed his hand was shaking. >| 'while he was painting'

  Brown painting his daughter that day, I decided to go for a walk. >| 'since Brown was painting his daughter'

  The man painting the girl is Brown. >| 'who is painting'

  The silently painting man is Brown. >| 'who is silently painting'

  | Brown is painting his daughter.In some cases, particularly with a non-personal subject, the use of the possessive before a gerund may be considered redundant even in quite a formal register. For example, "There is no chance of the snow falling" (rather than the prescriptively correct "There is no chance of the snow's falling").

  Verb patterns classified as "gerund" use

  The term gerund describes certain uses of -ing clauses as 'complementation' of individual English verbs, that is to say the choice of class that are allowable after that word.The principal choices of clauses are{|

  Clause type >	Example >	Subject of clause >	Possessive >| Passive equivalent

  finite>	I remember that she came. >	she >	| That she came is remembered.— more frequent: It is remembered that she came.

  bare infinitive >	I saw her come. >	her acts as object of saw and subject of come >	| not possible

  to-infinitive without subject>	She remembered to come. >	she >	|not possible

  to-infinitive with subject>	I reminded her to come. >	her acts as object of reminded and subject of to come >	| She was reminded to come.

  -ing without subject >	I remember seeing her come.>	I >	| rare but possible: Seeing her come is remembered.

  -ing with subject >	I remember her coming. >	her acts as object of remember and subject of coming >	| rare but possible: Her coming is remembered.

  -ing without subject >	She kept coming. >	she >	| not possible

  -ing with subject >	We kept her coming.>	her acts as object of kept and subject of coming >	| She was kept coming.

  -ing without subject >	She ended up coming. >	she >	| not possible

  -ing without subject >	She wasted time coming.>	she >	| Her time was wasted coming.

  • The term gerund is applied to clauses similar to [4a] and [4b].
  • In [6a] and [6b] coming is related to the participle use as an adverbial.
  • in [5a] and [5b] the verbs kept and coming refer to the same event. Coming is related to the progressive aspect use in She is coming.
  • Verbs such as start and stop, although similar to verbs like keep,Collins COBUILD Grammar Patterns 1: Verbs. 1996. London. Harper Collins. {{ISBN|0003750620}}. p 61
  
  
  
  are generally classified with verbs like remember. Therefore, She started coming is termed a gerund use.
  • The proposed test of passivisation to distinguish gerund use after remember from participle use after keep fails with sentences like [5b].
  • The proposed test of possible possessive subject successfully distinguishes [4b] (traditional gerund) from [5b] (traditionally participle).
  
  
  
  The variant * We kept Jane's coming is not grammatically acceptable. The variant I remember Jane's coming is acceptable — indeed required by prescriptive grammarians

  Verbs followed by "gerund" pattern

  Historically, the -ing suffix was attached to a limited number of verbs to form abstract nouns, which were used as the object of verbs such as like. The use was extended in various ways: the suffix became attachable to all verbs; the nouns acquired verb-like characteristics; the range of verbs allowed to introduce the form spread by analogy first to other verbs expressing emotion, then by analogy to other semantic groups of verbs associated with abstract noun objects; finally the use spread from verbs taking one-word objects to other semantically related groups verbs.Los, Bettelou. A Historical Syntax of English. 2015, Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press. pp 129-138The present-day result of these developments is that the verbs followed by -ing forms tend to fall into semantic classes. The following groups have been derived from analysis of the most common verbs in the COBUILD data bank:COBUILD (1996) pp 83-86

  Pattern 4a: I remember seeing her come

  'LIKE' AND 'DISLIKE' GROUP

  adore, appreciate, (cannot|) bear, (not) begrudge, detest, dislike, (cannot) endure, enjoy, hate, like, loathe, love, (not) mind, mind, prefer, relish, resent, (cannot) stand, (cannot) stomach, (not) tolerate, take to
  dread, (not) face. fancy, favour, fear, look forward to
  'CONSIDER' GROUP

  anticipate, consider, contemplate, debate, envisage, fantasise, imagine, intend, visualise
  'REMEMBER' GROUP

  forget, miss, recall, recollect, regret, remember, (cannot) remember
  'RECOMMEND' GROUP

  acknowledge, admit, advise, advocate, debate, deny, describe, forbid, mention, prohibit, propose, recommend, report, suggest, urge
  
  
  
  'INVOLVE' GROUP

  allow, entail, involve, justify, mean, necessitate, permit, preclude, prevent, save
  'POSTPONE' GROUP

  defer, delay, postpone, put off
  'NEED' GROUP

  deserve, need, require, want
  'RISK' GROUP

  chance, risk
  OTHERS WITH -ING OBJECT

  discourage, encourage, endure, mime, practise, get away with, go into. go towards, go without, play at

  Pattern 5a: She kept coming

  In addition, the COBUILD team identifies four groups of verbs followed by -ing forms that are hard to class as objects. In the verb + -ing object construction the action or state expressed by the verb can be separated from the action or state expressed by the -ing form. In the following groups, the senses are inseparable, jointly expressing a single complex action or state. Some grammarians do not recognise all these patterns as gerund use.COBUILD (1996) pp 81–82
  
  
  
  'START' AND 'STOP' GROUP

  begin, cease, come, commence, continue, finish, get, go, (not) go, keep, quit, resume, start, stop, burst out, carry on, fall about, fall to, give over, give up, go about, go around/round, go on, keep on, leave off, take to
  'AVOID' GROUP

  avoid, (not) bother, escape, evade, forbear, omit, (cannot) resist, shun, hold off
  'TRY' GROUP

  chance, risk, try
  'GO RIDING' GROUP

  come, go

  Pattern 4b: I remember her coming

  Verbs with this pattern do not normally allow the 'subject' of the -ing clause to be used in an equivalent passive construction such as *She is remembered coming. The COBUILD Guide analyses her coming as the single object of I remember.Many of the verbs that allow pattern 4a (without object) also allow this pattern.
  'LIKE' GROUP (verbs from the above 'LIKE' AND 'DISLIKE', 'DREAD AND LOOK FORWARD TO', 'CONSIDER' and 'REMEMBER' groups)

  anticipate, envisage, appreciate, (cannot) bear, (not) begrudge, contemplate, dislike, dread, envisage, fear, forget, hate, (will not) have, imagine, like, (not) mind, picture, recall, recollect, remember, (not) remember, resent, see, stand, tolerate, visualise, want, put up with
  'REPORT' GROUP (subset of the above 'RECOMMEND' GROUP)

  describe, mention, report
  'ENTAIL' GROUP (subset of the above 'INVOLVE' GROUP)

  entail, involve, justify, mean, necessitate
  'STOP' GROUP (subset of the above 'START' AND 'STOP' GROUP)

  avoid, preclude, prevent, prohibit, resist, save, stop
  'RISK' GROUP (identical with above)

  chance, risk

  Pattern 5b: We kept her coming

  In contrast to Pattern 4b, these verbs allow the 'subject' of the -ing clauses to be used in an equivalent passive construction such as She was kept coming. The COBUILD guide analyses her coming as a string of two objects of We kept:– (1)her and (2)coming.
  'SEE' GROUP

  catch, feel, find, hear, notice, observe, photograph (usually passive), picture (usually passive), see, show, watch
  'BRING' GROUP

  bring, have, keep, leave, send, set

  Pattern 6a: She ended up coming

  These verbs refer to starting, spending or ending time. The following -ing form is an adverbial, traditionally classed as a participle rather than a gerund.
  die, end up, finish up, hang around, start off, wind up

  Pattern 6b: She wasted time coming

  These verbs also relate to time (and, by extension, money). The object generally expresses this concept. However, the object of busy or occupy must be a reflexive pronoun, e.g., She busied herself coming. The following -ing form is an adverbial, generally classed as a participle rather than a gerund.
  begin, busy, end, finish, kill, occupy, pass, spend, start, take, waste
  to-infinitive pattern">

  Verbs followed by either "gerund" or to-infinitive pattern

  Like the -ing suffix, the to-infinitive spread historically from a narrow original use, a prepositional phrase referring to future time. Like the -ing form it spread to all English verbs and to form non-finite clauses. Like the -ing form, it spread by analogy to use with words of similar meaning.A number of verbs now belong in more than one class in their choice of 'complementation'.

  Patterns 4a and 3a: I remember seeing her come and She remembered to come

  Verbs in both 'START' AND 'STOP' (-ing) GROUP and 'BEGIN' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  begin, cease, come, commence, continue, get, start, Also go on — with different meanings

  She went on singing — 'She continued singing' She went on to sing — 'Afterwards, she sang' She went on at me to sing — 'She nagged me to sing' (i.e. that I should sing)

  Superficially, stop appears to be used in the 3a (to-infinitive) pattern

  She stopped to sing — 'She stopped in order to sing'

  However, the phrase to sing is quite separate and separable

  She stopped for a moment to sing She stopped what she was doing to sing

  And the phrase may be used in all manner of sentences

  She travelled to Paris to sing She abandoned her husband and her children to sing
  Verbs in both 'DREAD' AND LOOK FORWARD TO' (-ing) GROUP and 'HOPE' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  dread, fear
  Verb in both 'CONSIDER' (-ing) GROUP and 'HOPE' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  intend
  Verb in both 'REMEMBER' (-ing) GROUP and 'MANAGE' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  remember — with different meanings

  I remembered going —'I remembered that I had previously gone' I remembered to go —'I remembered that I had to go, so I did go'
  Verbs in both 'NEED' (-ing) GROUP and 'NEED' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  deserve, need

  Patterns 4a, 4b, 3a and 3b: I remember coming, She remembered to come, I remember her coming and I reminded her to come

  Verbs in both 'LIKE AND DISLIKE' (-ing) and WITH OBJECT (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  hate, like, love, prefer Unlike other Pattern 3b verbs, the object is indivisible

  He hates his wife to stand out in a crowd does not mean He hates his wife

  With would there is often a difference of meaning

  I like living in Ambridge — 'I live in Ambridge, and I like it' I would like to live in Ambridge — 'I don't live in Ambridge, but I have a desire to live there in the future' I would like living in Ambridge — 'I don't live in Ambridge, but if I ever did live there, I would enjoy it'

  There is an apparent similarity between

  I like boxing — 'I box and I enjoy it' I like boxing — 'I watch other people boxing and I enjoy it'

  However, only the former meaning is possible with an extended non-finite clause

  I like boxing with an experienced opponent — 'I like it when I box with an experienced opponent'

  Patterns 4a and 3b: I remember coming and I reminded her to come

  Verbs in both 'RECOMMEND' (-ing) and 'TELL' or 'NAG' AND 'COAX'(to-infinitive) GROUPS

  advise, forbid, recommend, urge These verbs do not admit -ing Pattern 4b with a word serving as object of the RECOMMEND verb. However they can be used with a possessive 'subject' of the -ing form.

  I advised leaving — 'I advised somebody (unidentified) that we (or the person or people we have in mind) should leave' I advised him to leave — 'I advised him that he should leave' but not *I advised him leaving I advised his leaving — 'I advised somebody (unidentified) that he should leave
  Verbs in both 'CONSIDER' (-ing) and 'BELIEVE' or 'EXPECT' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  consider, intend

  Patterns 4b and 3b: I remember her coming and I reminded her to come

  Verbs in both the 'SEE ' (-ing) and 'OBSERVE' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  hear, see, observe The to-infinitive pattern occurs in passive clauses, e.g., She was seen to come. Corresponding active clauses use the bare infinitive pattern, e.g., We saw her come.
  Verbs in both the 'SEE ' (-ing) and 'BELIEVE' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  feel, find, show (usually passive)
  Verb in both the 'ENTAIL' subgroup (-ing) and the 'EXPECT' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  mean — with different meanings

  That means her going tomorrow — 'In that case she'll go tomorrow' We mean her to go tomorrow — 'We intend that she'll go tomorrow' She's meant to be here tomorrow — 'It is intended that she'll be here tomorrow' She's meant to be here now — 'It was intended that she should be here now, but she isn't'

  Patterns 5a and 3a: She kept coming and She remembered to come

  Verb in both the 'TRY' (-ing) and 'TRY' (to-infinitive) GROUPS

  try — with different meanings

  She tried leaving — 'She left in order to see what might happen (or how she might feel)' She tried to leave — 'She attempted to leave'

  Verbs followed by either "gerund" or bare infinitive pattern

  Patterns 4b and 2: I remember her coming and I saw her come

  Verb in both the 'SEE ' (-ing) and 'SEE' (bare infinitive) GROUPS

  feel. hear, notice, see,watch These patterns are sometimes used to express different meanings

  I saw him leaving — 'I saw him as he was leaving' I saw him leave — 'I saw him as he left'

  Borrowings of English -ing forms in other languages

  English verb forms ending in -ing are sometimes borrowed into other languages. In some cases, they become pseudo-anglicisms, taking on new meanings or uses not found in English. For instance, camping means "campsite" in many languages, while parking often means a car park. Both these words are treated as nouns, with none of the features of the gerund in English. For more details and examples, see -ing words in other languages.

  See also

  • Gerundive
  • Infinitive
  • Non-finite verb
  • Participle
  • Verbal noun

  References

  {{Reflist}}

  External links

  • {{Wiktionary-inline}}
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  - content above as imported from Wikipedia
  - "gerund" does not exist on GetWiki (yet)
  - time: 7:13am EDT - Sat, May 18 2024