Questions tagged [gerund-phrases]
A ɢᴇʀᴜɴᴅ-ᴘʜʀᴀꜱᴇ is a non-finite verb clause headed by an -ɪɴɢ verb when that entire clause is being used as a substantive, typically by being the grammatical subject or object. Though one of the 4 possible types of ɴᴏᴜɴ ᴘʜʀᴀꜱᴇꜱ, its ɢᴇʀᴜɴᴅ syntactic head is still a verb, not a noun.
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What is the grammatical term for a noun after a gerund/infinitive
For instance, there are the sentences "Reading books is good" and "To be a hero is your duty."
Could I say that books and "hero" are objects of the verbs reading and To ...
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Understanding something vs. understanding 'of' something? [duplicate]
"Understanding something" or "understanding of something"? Is there a general rule? Or does it depend on the context? If it is context dependent, what about this sentence:
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Does the term USING in the sentence act as gerund or participle? [closed]
Whether they are good or bad, we can draw a comparison using their behaviour!
Is using a gerund/present participle in this sentence?
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Adverb position(by deliberately doing.....)
I have searched the definition of contrarily to know its usage. I found this
A child who behaves contrarily behaves badly by deliberately doing the opposite of what is wanted or expected.
I ...
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Another tricky subject-verb agreement question (for me)
I was hoping someone could break down the following sentence that I have written into its subject, verb, and predicate parts:
This is why supporting demand-side policies is a less-risky proposition.
...
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Gerund vs Participle
When discussing faulty parallelism in Merriam Webster's (1994) Dictionary of English Usage, they use the following sentence to illustrate faulty parallelism, but in doing so they refer to "taking ...
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Don't worry about YOU being alone or YOUR being alone? [duplicate]
Can't stop wondering what the correct option is.
Or are they both correct, and the latter just sounds more formal?
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Noun + Gerund Structure Differences [closed]
Just need your insights on the sentences that really boggle my mind.
The first sentence below is an excerpt taken from the following article:
The effect of smoking on bone healing
It is difficult to ...
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What's correct: "I saw him eating" or "I saw his eating"? [duplicate]
I was always taught that if you can replace a participle with a pronoun, then you should use the possessive case. So instead of "I saw him eating", because I can substitute "it" ...
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One subject, compound object phrases - comma or no comma?
My question is about how to punctuate sentences like the following:
The system allows searching for variables using their long name and cryptic variable names and filtering the data sets based on a ...
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are there other phrases set up like "end up ____-ing (gerund)" if so, what are they called?
I'm watching a documentary and this was said:
"We believe they did intentional things that kept Gabriel in harm's way, and ultimately ended up in him dying"
The "him dying" part ...
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Is "calling" a gerund in "calling bell"? [closed]
In the phrase "calling bell", the word "calling" acts as what? Is it a gerund? Or is it an adjective?
If so then what kind of adjective? Similar phrases might be "revolving ...
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Is it ok to make an independent clause into a dependent one with a gerund verb?
I see this particular sentence structure all the time when reading fiction,
and it bothers me. I most often see it in between dialogue tags.
She whispered, her hair blowing in the wind.
It’s always ...
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Why is there no article before "key" in "key amongst them being ..."?
Why is there no article before key in the sentence?
There are however pressing challenges for both systems, key amongst them being the need for better IT skills on the part of students and teachers.
...
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Gerund after "to". Sentence: We use music to helping us relax
I found this question in a test:
"We use music to helping us relax." Where helping was the correct answer option.
I want to know why is this form of the verb correct and not the infinitive ...
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Should this verb be in the third-person singular form, the infinitive form, or the present participle form? [duplicate]
Watching a game review, I've noticed a phrase whose meaning confused me. The reason why I got confused is that the author used a base form of the verb "to explore" in pair with the singular ...
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Verb + Subject + present participle or Verb + possessive + present participle?
I and my friend were discussing about which of the followings being correct.
"I can't imagine you using a dictionary"
"I can't imagine your using a dictionary"
I think that the ...
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“As if” is followed by a gerund?
Here is the first definition of prolepsis by Merriam-Webster:
the representation or assumption of a future act or development as if presently existing or accomplished*
My questions:
1. Is existing ...
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I was happy playing the piano (gerund or participle?)
In the sentence, “I was happy playing the piano,” is the phrase “playing the piano” a participial (Playing the piano, I was happy) or a gerund with an elided, or assumed, preposition (I was happy [...
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Can "english learning" be paraphrased with "of" preposition? [duplicate]
1?) Scheduled session of learning of English.
2?) Scheduled session of learning English.
I guess I understand that in sentences it would be "learning English", because there are subjects, but how ...
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Can the gerund clause take a personal pronoun as its subject in “It’s no use (his?) crying over lost love”?
From a grammar book, I’ve have learned that a gerund clause can be
optionally preceded by a personal pronoun to show the logical
subject of the verb; that is, whoever is doing the gerund’s ...
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Plural forms of gerunds [duplicate]
In this sentence, the noun savings is in plural form:
I have one savings account.
It is like a gerund or maybe it is a gerund, I am not clear about
it. But when I searched the Internet, I found ...
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subordinate clause [duplicate]
I'm looking for a grammatical explanation for this clause
Men tend to talk about fewer subjects, the most popular being work, and sport.
In other words, we could say "..., among which, work and ...
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See this sentence "This is my last night working here"! What grammar structure is it? Reduced Relative Clause?
We often reduce relative clauses when the relative pronoun is the subject of relative clause.
The professor who is teaching mathematics will leave the university. Reduced: The professor teaching ...
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Preposition followed by participial phrase
For example,
After brushing my teeth, I go to bed
Is this a participial phrase, or a prepositional phrase, or both?
Brushing my teeth...
Is participial, but the after is making me think that ...
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"Dave saying that really pissed me off" 2 subjects? [duplicate]
So I was teaching and came up with a sentence like this. I'm British and it seems like something I could imagine saying but the grammar seems weird and the students didn't like.
I'm NOT TALKING ...
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When do present participles shift from being "gerunds" or "verbal nouns" to become non-finite clauses?
Note: This is not a question about what is the difference between a gerund, verb and participle, interesting as that polemic may be. It is about non-finite clauses, which does bear upon these ...
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being usages dilemma
I've read in BBC that we use use "being" as a verb-ing. BBC has listed two kinds of usage; what I want to learn about here is the "preposition + verb-ing" usage. It has been said that "being + past ...
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ensure or ensuring [duplicate]
This sentence extracted from a book. I wonder whether 'ensure' has been used correctly here? Or as I guess it should be either 'ensuring' or 'to ensure'?
What promises do is ensure that callbacks ...
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Placement of adverb with gerund-participle that is the object of a preposition
I have a rather fussy grammar question, and I'm having a hard time finding out whether there even is a rule that applies here. Even describing the structure correctly is a bit of a challenge.
The ...
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Can a plural noun be followed by “due to it”? [closed]
Is it correct to say, for example
“You would put your health at risk by smoking cigarettes, due to it containing toxic chemicals.”
user354641
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The gerund and its complementation
In what cases does the gerund stemming from a transitive verb take the direct object of that verb and when is a prepositional complement used?
For example:
Brown's deft painting of his daughter is ...
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How can "of me doing something" be grammatically correct? What grammar rule is this? [duplicate]
The first book on my list has actually been recommended to me like
multiple times over the years of me doing BookTube.
I found that sentence in my English book, and the last part where it reads of ...
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At one time operating vs At one time it operated
Since "at one time" is a time indicator, shouldn't the gerund "operating" be equivalent, while giving a better flow joining sentences? Or is it more confusing/improper?
Preceding text of the same ...
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"With my/their/our V-ing..." as supplement to main clause
Here are some news article examples containing 'with my/their etc. being...' as supplement to a main clause:
(1) Since the opposing counsel would be the U.S. Department of Justice, and with my being ...
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"I found it a strain having to concentrate for so long." Why does this sentence use 'having'?
I read below sentence.
I found it a strain having to concentrate for so long.
I guess this sentence means 'I got pressure that I can't give all my attention for long hours'.
My question is why ...
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For the linguists among us: I like loud singing vs I like singing loudly
Can you explain why using "loud" as either an adjective or an adverb changes the meaning of the sentence. Is it just an English convention, or is there something deeper going on?
I like loud singing =...
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Does a verbal noun turn back into a verb when modified by an adverb? [duplicate]
Here singing is a noun:
I like singing.
But what about here?
I like singing loudly.
Loudly is still an adverb, right? But singing is still
behaving like a noun, right?
So which is it, a noun ...
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possessive + gerund without pronoun
I think I understand the possessive + gerund construct but in some cases I'm still finding it difficult to get it sound right in my head. I think this mostly has to do with the subject's being a noun/...
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How is "swimming" being used grammatically in "I saw them swimming in the lake"?
Consider this sentence:
I saw them swimming in the lake.
How is "swimming" used in the sentence? Is it a gerund or verb or anything else and how is it connected to the sentence?
I am mostly aware ...
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What’s the underlying grammar behind starting off a ɢᴇʀᴜɴᴅ clause with an ᴏʙᴊᴇᴄᴛ pronoun?
Yesterday I encountered this sentence (I’ll refer to the numbered words in
my question below):
This is because many students think that all of their sentences need to
be ‘complex’ (...
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(Noun) being (noun) verb ... AND With (noun) being (noun), ...?
First time poster here. Please forgive me for violating any rules if I have. I might also be asking a stupid question.
So... I have heard 'being' used in different situations and naturely pick up ...
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Which are right choices in: “Can you imagine him/his forgetting his own birthday?”
Which one of the following is correct?
Can you imagine his forgetting his own birthday?
Can you imagine him forgetting his own birthday?
The question was asked in SNAP 2009 and I can't understand ...
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When and why can you omit “when” (or other conjunctions or prepositions) before a gerund clause that’s used adverbially?
I had a bad experience working there.
Is that sentence correct, or must I write:
I had a bad experience when working there.
I had a bad experience while working there.
or even:
...
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English Poetry Question [closed]
Is talking a gerund in this sentence?
We hear people talking of your son’s birth.
I just need to know for my English poetry assignment.
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Gerund, participle, or present continuous verb
In the following sentence,
I did quite well in the examination, without having to burn the midnight oil.
What is "having" -- a gerund, a participle, or just a present continuous verb?
I tried Wren &...
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Should "gerund + objective" be modified by adjectives or adverbs?
I read from TheFreeDictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Gerunds.htm the examples "Studying too hastily will result in a poor grade." and "Working from home allows me to spend more time with my ...
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"I have you returning the car."
Context: Top Notch 2
Conversation:
Agent: I have you returning the car on August 14th here at the airport.
Renter: Yes. That's correct.
I am puzzled by this sentence in a conversation between a ...
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"I hate Jill singing those songs." = "I hate Jill when she is singing those songs."?
Can the sentence
I hate Jill singing those songs.
mean
I hate Jill when she is singing those songs.
Or does it mean something else?
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'Your understanding my sense of humour...' vs 'Your understanding OF my sense of humour...' [duplicate]
Are both of the above phrases correct or only the latter?
For example, if saying, 'Your understanding (of) my sense of humour was the only thing that made the dinner enjoyable'. Is the 'of' ...
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