Gerund And Present Participle | Learn English

VERBS FOLLOWED BY THE GERUND

February 18th, 2010 1-language1 No comments

VERBS FOLLOWED BY THE GERUND

The gerund is used after certain verbs.

Example

miss: I miss living in England.

The most important of these verbs are shown below.
Those marked * can also be followed by a that-clause

Example:

VERB	GERUND
She admitted…	breaking the window
	THAT-CLAUSE
She admitted…	that she had broken the window.

acknowledge,*
admit,*
anticipate,* appreciate,*
avoid,
celebrate,
consider, contemplate,
defer,
delay,
deny,*
detest,
dislike,
dread,
enjoy,
entail,
escape,
excuse,
fancy (=imagine)*,
finish,
forgive,
imagine,*
involve,

keep,
loathe,
mean,(=have as result)*
mention,*
mind,
miss,
pardon,
postpone,
prevent,
propose,*
recall,*
recollect,*
remember,
report,*
resent,
resist,
risk,
save (=prevent the wasted effort)
stop,
suggest,*
understand,*

Notes:

Appreciate is followed by a possessive adjective and the gerund when the gerund does not refer to the subject.

Compare :

I appreciate having some time off work. (I’m having the time…)
I appreciate your giving me some time off work. (You’re giving me the time…)

Excuse, forgive, pardon can be followed by an object and the gerund or for + object and the gerund (both common in spoken English), or a possessive adjective + gerund (more formal and less likely to be said):

Excuse me interrupting.
Excuse me for interrupting.
Excuse my interrupting.

Suggest can be used in a number of ways, but BE CAREFUL.

It is important not to confuse these patterns:

suggest/suggested (+ possessive adjective) + gerund:

He suggests going to Glastonbury
He suggested going to Glastonbury
He suggested/suggests my going to Glastonbury

suggest/suggested + that-clause (where both that and should may be omitted):

He suggests that I should go to New York
He suggested that I should go to New York
He suggested/suggests I should go to New York
He suggested/suggests I go to New York
He suggested I went to New York.

suggest/suggested + question word + infinitive:

He suggested where to go.

Propose is followed by the gerund when it means ‘suggest’:

John proposed going to the debate
but by the infinitive when it means ‘intend’:
The Government proposes bringing in new laws..

Stop can be followed by a gerund or infinitive, but there is a change of meaning – see GERUND / INFINITIVE? section.

Dread is followed by the infinitive when used with ‘think’, in the expression ‘I dread to think’:

I dread to think what she’ll do next.

Prevent is followed

EITHER by a possessive adjective + gerund:

You can’t prevent my leaving.

OR by an object + from + gerund:

You can’t prevent me from leaving.

Examples

Normally, a girl wouldn’t think of marrying a man she did not love.
Most people don’t like receiving bad news.
We can’t risk getting wet – we haven’t got any dry clothes.
If you take that job it will mean getting home late every night.
I can’t imagine living in that big house.
If you buy some petrol now, it will save you stopping on the way to London.
She couldn’t resist eating the plum she found in the fridge.
They decided to postpone painting the house until the weather improved.

home Excuse laws

Stop debate
possessive York

suggestsuggested time

Excuse pardon prevent think meaning keep
loathe
meanhave havent shell getting that proposes subject

Compare that suggests verbs
Example

miss dread possessive gerund adjective broken GERUND thatclause miss from proposed appreciate number adjective section

Dread gerund Normally prevent said

breaking until giving formal late Excuse cant York
gerund

result
mention
mind
miss
pardon
postpone
prevent
propose
recall
recollect
remember
report
resent
resist
risk
save where intend
stopping gerund will York
work appreciate Glastonbury
window
acknowledge
admit
anticipate spoken thatclause
Example
VERB your effort
stop
suggest
understand

Notes

Appreciate that below
Those followed gerund

should love
time dont suggested Most English suggest

time
these used interrupting
every CAREFUL

It object word admitted means most GERUND

The Excuse living what object question adjective when living that gerund suggested ways imagine also suggestedsuggests suggested getting some think John suggestedsuggests VERBS marked having infinitive

THE GERUND

February 18th, 2010 1-language1 No comments

THE GERUND

This looks exactly the same as a present participle, and for this reason it is now common to call both forms ‘the -ing form’. However it is useful to understand the difference between the two. The gerund always has the same function as a noun (although it looks like a verb), so it can be used:

a. as the subject of the sentence:

Eating people is wrong.
Hunting tigers is dangerous.
Flying makes me nervous.

b. as the complement of the verb ‘to be’:

One of his duties is attending meetings.
The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.
One of life’s pleasures is having breakfast in bed.

c. after prepositions. The gerund must be used when a verb comes after a preposition:

Can you sneeze without opening your mouth?
She is good at painting.
They’re keen on windsurfing.
She avoided him by walking on the opposite side of the road.
We arrived in Madrid after driving all night.
My father decided against postponing his trip to Hungary.

This is also true of certain expressions ending in a preposition, e.g. in spite of, there’s no point in..:

There’s no point in waiting.
In spite of missing the train, we arrived on time.

d. after a number of ‘phrasal verbs’ which are composed of a verb + preposition/adverb

Example:
to look forward to, to give up, to be for/against, to take to, to put off, to keep on:

I look forward to hearing from you soon. (at the end of a letter)
When are you going to give up smoking?
She always puts off going to the dentist.
He kept on asking for money.

NOTE: There are some phrasal verbs and other expressions that include the word ‘to’ as a preposition, not as part of a to-infinitive: – to look forward to, to take to, to be accustomed to, to be used to. It is important to recognise that ‘to’ is a preposition in these cases, as it must be followed by a gerund:

We are looking forward to seeing you.
I am used to waiting for buses.
She didn’t really take to studying English.

It is possible to check whether ‘to� is a preposition or part of a to-infinitive: if you can put a noun or the pronoun ‘it’ after it, then it is a preposition and must be followed by a gerund: