In linguistics, a gerund (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.
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 a dependent sentence element such as an 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.
The contrast with the Latin gerund is also clear when the clause consists of a single word.
Latin never uses the gerund in this way, since the infinitive is available.[1]
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
In these uses playing is traditionally labelled a participle.
Traditional grammar also distinguishes -ing forms with exclusively noun properties as in
| I work in that building | contrast "gerund" | I like building things |
| That is a good painting | contrast "gerund" | I like painting pictures |
| Her writing is good | contrast "gerund" | I like writing novels |
The Latin gerund is a form of the verb.[2] It is composed of:
For example,
| laud- | -a- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | First conjugation | laudandum | 'the act of praising' | |
| mon- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Second conjugation | monendum | 'the act of warning' | |
| leg- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Third conjugation | legendum | 'the act of reading' | |
| capi- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Third conjugation | capiendum | 'the act of taking' | |
| audi- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Fourth conjugation | audiendum | 'the act of hearing' |
The four inflections are used for a limited range of grammatical functions[3]
| Case | Function | Example | Translation | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Subject | no example | infinitive used | ||
| Accusative | Object | no example | infinitive used | ||
| Accusative | After preposition | canes alere ad venandum[4] | 'to rear dogs for hunting' | after ad, in, ob and occasionally other prepositions | |
| Genitive | Modifying abstract noun | pugnandi tempus | 'time for (lit. of) fighting' | nouns include occasio, tempus, causa, gratia | |
| Dative | Expressing purpose | auscultando operam dare | 'apply effort to listening' | after verbs, e.g., studeo, operam dare and adjectives, e.g., natus, optimus | |
| Ablative | Instrumental | pugnando cepimus | 'we took by fighting' | became undistinguishable from participle use, thus providing the gerundio forms in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, which are used instead of forms derived from Latin present participles |
However, this was a rare construction. Writers generally preferred the gerundive construction, in which the gerundive adjective was inflected to agree with the noun acting as its object: e.g., res evertendae reipublicae 'matters concerning the overthrow of the state' (literally 'of the state being overthrown').
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.
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.[5] 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.
Grammars of French written in English may use the forms gerundive and present participle.
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.[6] [7]
In descriptions of Slavic languages, the term gerund refers to verbal forms that are also frequently referred to as verbal adverb, adverbial participle, or (in some Slavic languages) deepričastie. These forms describe circumstances, actions concurrent (present gerund) or immediately preceding (past gerund) those in the predicate. Morphologically they are uninflected (except in Czech),[9] and syntactically they have an adverbial function, and thus generally bear resemblance to Romance gerunds such as those found in Italian,[10] [11] rather than to noun-like gerunds in English[12] or Latin.
Additionally, some linguists use the term to refer to verbal nouns, historically formed with the
suffix,[17] such as Serbo-Croatian glȅdānje (from glȅdati)[18] or Polish Polish: chodzenie (from Polish: chodzić).[19]
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.
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:
| ! Subject | Verb | Complement | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | Eating this cake | is | easy | |
| (no subject) | Verb | Object | ||
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | eating | this cake |
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 two for the active voice and two for the passive:[23]
| Active | Passive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Present or Continuous | Loving | Being loved | |
| Perfect | Having loved | Having been loved |
Using gerunds of the appropriate auxiliary verbs, one can form gerund clauses that express perfect aspect and passive voice:
For more detail on when it is appropriate to use a gerund, see Verb patterns classified as gerund use below, and also .
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.[24] [25]
Non finite -ing clauses may have the following roles in a sentence:[26]
| Role | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Subject | Eating cakes is pleasant. | |
| B | Extraposed subject | It can be pleasant eating cakes. | |
| C | Subject Complement | What I'm looking forward to is eating cakes | |
| D | Direct object | I can't stop eating cakes. | |
| E | Prepositional object | I dreamt of eating cakes. | |
| F | Adverbial | He walks the streets eating cakes. | |
| G | Part of noun phrase | It's a picture of a man eating cakes. | |
| H | Part of adjective phrase | They are all busy eating cakes. | |
| I | 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
| 1. John suggested asking Bill. | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | John | suggested | asking Bill | Role D object — traditionally asking is a "gerund" | ||||||
| (no subject) | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | asking | Bill | ||||||||
| 2. I heard John asking Bill. | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | I | heard | John asking Bill | Role G adverbial — traditionally asking is a "participle" | ||||||
| Subject | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | John | asking | Bill | |||||||
| 3. Playing football is enjoyable | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Complement | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | Playing football | is | enjoyable | Role A subject — traditionally playing is a "gerund" | ||||||
| (no subject) | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | playing | football | ||||||||
| 4. Her playing of the Bach fugues was inspiring. | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Complement | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | Her playing of the Bach fugues | was | inspiring | |||||||
| Possessive | Head | Postmodifier | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NOUN PHRASE | Her | playing | of the Bach fugues | Noun phrase, not clause — playing is a verbal noun (also termed deverbal noun) |
For more details and examples, see -ing: uses.
Often the "doer" is clearly signalled
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
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:
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.[27]
Prescriptivists do not object when the non-finite clause modifies a noun phrase
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 participle[28] or geriple.[29]
It 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:
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:[30]
| 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.' |
| 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' |
| 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").
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 | |
| 1. finite | I remember that she came. | overt grammatical subject she | impossible | That she came is remembered.— more frequent: It is remembered that she came. | |
| 2. bare infinitive | I saw her come. | her acts as object of saw and subject of come | impossible | not possible | |
| 3a. to-infinitive without subject | She remembered to come. | notional subject 'understood' as identical to she | n.a. | not possible | |
| 3b. to-infinitive with subject | I reminded her to come. | her acts as object of reminded and subject of to come | impossible | She was reminded to come. | |
| 4a. -ing without subject | I remember seeing her come. | notional subject 'understood' as identical to I | n.a. | rare but possible: Seeing her come is remembered. | |
| 4b. -ing with subject | I remember her coming. | her acts as object of remember and subject of coming | possible | rare but possible: Her coming is remembered. | |
| 5a . -ing without subject | She kept coming. | notional subject 'understood' as identical to she | n.a. | not possible | |
| 5b. -ing with subject | We kept her coming. | her acts as object of kept and subject of coming | impossible | She was kept coming. | |
| 6a. -ing without subject | She ended up coming. | notional subject 'understood' as identical to she | n.a. | not possible | |
| 6b. -ing without subject | She wasted time coming. | notional subject 'understood' as identical to she | n.a. | Her time was wasted coming. |
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
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.[32]
The 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:[33]
'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
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.[34]
'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
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
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
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
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
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'.
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
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'
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
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'
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'
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'
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.