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In the following phrase:

...at nightfall, tents are set up for sleeping in comfort.

What type of phrase is sleeping in comfort?

I suspect it might be either a gerund or a participial. I think that the phrase modifies the word "set"

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  • Sleeping is a gerund, an -ing form employed as a noun, and it is the object of the preposition for; the preposition phrase for sleeping in comfort modifies the clause tents are set up, describing the purpose behind this action.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 2:14
  • Having spent numerous nights in tents, I would say "sarcastic".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 2:33

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It turns out that it is a gerund because if there is nothing the phrase it modifies and it starts with an -ed or -ing then it is gerund because it acts as a noun

however if it does modify something and it describes a noun it is a participial phrase

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