gerunds

In English, the gerund is identical in form to the present participle (ending in -ing) and can behave as a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object), but the clause as a whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) acts as a noun within the larger sentence. For example: Eating this cake is easy.
In "Eating this cake is easy," "eating this cake," although traditionally known as a phrase, is referred to as a non-finite clause in modern linguistics. "Eating" is the verb in the clause, while "this cake" is the object of the verb. "Eating this cake" acts as a noun phrase within the sentence as a whole, though; the subject of the sentence is the non-finite clause, specifically eating.
Other examples of the gerund:

• I like swimming. (direct object)
• Swimming is fun. (subject)

Not all nouns that are identical in form to the present participle are gerunds.^[3] The formal distinction is that a gerund is a verbal noun – a noun derived from a verb that retains verb characteristics, that functions simultaneously as a noun and a verb, while other nouns in the form of the present participle (ending in -ing) are deverbal nouns, which function as common nouns, not as verbs at all. Compare:

• I like fencing. (gerund, an activity, could be replaced with "to fence")
• The white fencing adds to the character of the neighborhood. (deverbal, could be replaced with an object such as "bench")

Double nature of the gerund

As the result of its origin and development the gerund has nominal and verbal properties. The nominal characteristics of the gerund are as follows:

1. The gerund can perform the function of subject, object and predicative:
   • Smoking endangers your health. (subject)
   • I like making people happy. (object)
2. The gerund can be preceded by a preposition:
   • I'm tired of arguing.
3. Like a noun the gerund can be modified by a noun in the possessive case, a possessive adjective, or an adjective:
   • I wonder at John's keeping calm.
   • Is there any objection to my seeing her?
   • Brisk walking relieves stress.

The verbal characteristics of the gerund include the following:

1. The gerund of transitive verbs can take a direct object:
   • I've made good progress in speaking Basque.
2. The gerund can be modified by an adverb:
   • Breathing deeply helps you to calm down.
3. The gerund has the distinctions of aspect and voice.
   • Having read the book once before makes me more prepared.
   • Being deceived can make someone feel angry.

Verb patterns with the gerund

Verbs that are often followed by a gerund include admit, adore, anticipate, appreciate, avoid, carry on, consider, contemplate, delay, deny, describe, detest, dislike, enjoy, escape, fancy, feel, finish, give, hear, imagine, include, justify, listen to, mention, mind, miss, notice, observe, perceive, postpone, practice, quit, recall, report, resent, resume, risk, see, sense, sleep, stop, suggest, tolerate and watch. Additionally, prepositions are often followed by a gerund.
For example:

• I will never quit smoking.
• We postponed making any decision.
• After two years of deciding, we finally made a decision.
• We heard whispering.
• They denied having avoided me.
• He talked me into coming to the party.
• They frightened her out of voicing her opinion.

Verbs followed by a gerund or a to-infinitive

With little change in meaning

advise, recommend and forbid:
These are followed by a to-infinitive when there is an object as well, but by a gerund otherwise.

• The police advised us not to enter the building, for a murder had occurred. (Us is the object of advised.)
• The police advised against our entering the building. (Our is used for the gerund entering.)

consider, contemplate and recommend:
These verbs are followed by a to-infinitive only in the passive or with an object pronoun.

• People consider her to be the best. – She is considered to be the best.
• I am considering sleeping over, if you do not mind.

begin, continue, start; hate, like, love, prefer
With would, the verbs hate, like, love, and prefer are usually followed by the to-infinitive.

• I would like to work there. (more usual than working)

When talking about sports, there is usually a difference in meaning between the infinitive and gerund (see the next section).

With a change in meaning

like, love, prefer
In some contexts, following these verbs with a to-infinitive when the subject of the first verb is the subject of the second verb provides more clarity than a gerund.

• I like to box. (I enjoy doing it myself.)
• I like boxing. (Either I enjoy watching it, I enjoy doing it myself, or the idea of boxing is otherwise appealing.)
• I do not like gambling, but I do like to gamble."

dread, hate and cannot bear:
These verbs are followed by a to-infinitive when talking subjunctively (often when using to think), but by a gerund when talking about general dislikes.

• I dread / hate to think what she will do.
• I dread / hate seeing him.
• I cannot bear to see you suffer like this. (You are suffering now.)
• I cannot bear being pushed around in crowds. (I never like that.)

forget and remember:
When these have meanings that are used to talk about the future from the given time, the to-infinitive is used, but when looking back in time, the gerund.

• She forgot to tell me her plans. (She did not tell me, although she should have.)
• She forgot telling me her plans. (She told me, but then forgot having done so.)
• I remembered to go to work. (I remembered that I needed to go to work.)
• I remembered going to work. (I remembered that I went to work.)

go on:

• After winning the semi-finals, he went on to play in the finals. (He completed the semi-finals and later played in the finals.)
• He went on giggling, not having noticed the teacher enter. (He continued doing so.)

mean:

• I did not mean to scare you off. (I did not intend to scare you off.)
• Taking a new job in the city meant leaving behind her familiar surroundings. (If she took the job, she would have to leave behind her familiar surroundings.)

regret:

• We regret to inform you that you have failed your exam. (polite or formal form of apology)
• I very much regret saying what I said. (I wish that I had not said that.)

try:
When a to-infinitive is used, the subject is shown to make an effort at something, attempt or endeavor to do something. If a gerund is used, the subject is shown to attempt to do something in testing to see what might happen.

• Please try to remember to post my letter.
• I have tried being stern, but to no avail.

stop, quit:
When the infinitive is used after 'stop' or 'quit', it means that the subject stops one activity and starts the activity indicated by the infinitive. If the gerund is used, it means that the subject stops the activity indicated by the gerund.

• She stopped to smell the flowers.
• She stopped smelling the flowers.

Or more concisely:

• She stopped walking to smell the flowers.

• He quit working there to travel abroad.

Gerunds preceded by a genitive

Because of its noun properties, the genitive (possessive case) is preferred for a noun or pronoun preceding a gerund.

• We enjoyed their [genitive] singing.

This usage is preferred in formal writing or speaking. The objective case is often used in place of the possessive, especially in casual situations:

• I do not see it making any difference.

Really, 'I do not see its making any difference' is the correct option.
This may sound awkward in general use, but is still the correct manner in which to converse or write. And this form of gerund is applicable in all relative cases, for instance:

• He affected my going there.
• He affected your going there.
• He affected his/her/its going there.
• He affected our going there.
• He affected their going there.

This is because the action, of doing or being, belongs, in effect, to the subject/object (direct or indirect) practising it, thus, the possessive is required to clearly demonstrate that.
In some cases, either the possessive or the objective case may be logical:

• The teacher's shouting startled the student. (Shouting is a gerund, and teacher's is a possessive noun. The shouting is the subject of the sentence.)
• The teacher shouting startled the student. (Shouting is a participle describing the teacher. This sentence means The teacher who was shouting startled the student. In this sentence, the subject is the teacher herself.)

Either of these sentences could mean that the student was startled because the teacher was shouting.
Using the objective case can be awkward, if the gerund is singular but the other noun is plural. It can look like a problem with subject-verb agreement:

• The politicians' debating was interesting.

One might decide to make was plural so that debating can be a participle.

• The politicians debating were interesting.

Gerunds and present participles

Insofar as there is a distinction between gerunds and present participles, it is generally fairly clear which is which; a gerund or participle that is the subject or object of a preposition is a gerund, if it refers to the performance of an action (but present participles may be used substantively to refer to the performer of an action), while one that modifies a noun attributively or absolutely is a participle. The main source of potential ambiguity is when a gerund-participle follows a verb; in this case, it may be seen either as a predicate adjective (in which case it is a participle), or as a direct object or predicate nominative (in either of which cases it is a gerund). In this case, a few transformations can help distinguish them. In the table that follows, ungrammatical sentences are marked with asterisks, per common linguistic practice; it should be noted that the transformations all produce grammatical sentences with similar meanings when applied to sentences with gerunds but either ungrammatical sentences, or sentences with completely different meanings, when applied to sentences with participles.

Transformation	Gerund use	Participle use
(none)	John suggested asking Bill.	John kept asking Bill.
Passivization	Asking Bill was suggested.	*Asking Bill was kept.
Pronominal substitution	John suggested it.	*John kept it.
Use as a noun	John suggested the asking of Bill.	*John kept the asking of Bill.
Replacement with a finite clause	John suggested that Bill be asked.	*John kept that Bill be asked.
Use with an objective or possessive subject	John suggested our asking Bill.	*John kept his asking Bill.
Clefting	Asking Bill is what John suggested.	*Asking Bill is what John kept.
Left dislocation	Asking Bill John suggested.	*Asking Bill John kept.

None of these transformations is a perfect test, however.

English gerund-like words in other languages

English words ending in -ing are often transformed into pseudo-anglicisms in other languages, where their use is somewhat different from in English itself. In many of these cases, the loanword has functionally become a noun rather than a gerund. For instance, camping is a campsite in Bulgarian, Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish; in Bulgarian, Dutch, French, Polish, and Russian parking is a car park; lifting is a facelift in Bulgarian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Hebrew, and Spanish. The French word for shampoo is (le) shampooing.

The gerund in popular culture

In the Molesworth books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, Searle included a series of cartoons on the private life of the gerund, intended to parody the linguistic snobbery of Latin teachers' striving after strict grammatical correctness and the difficulty experienced by students in comprehending the construction.
Owen Johnson's "Lawrenceville Stories" feature a Latin teacher who constantly demands that his students determine whether a given word is a gerund or a gerundive.
In the new episode of Dan Vs., "The Ninja", after Dan's milk carton exploded from the ninja's shuriken, a teenager said to Dan "Drinking problem much?" and Dan complained that the sentence had no verb, just a gerund.

tenses

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

We often use the present perfect Tense to give new information or to announce

recent happening:

e.g. Do you know about Mary ? She’s gone to Jakarta.

We can use the Present Perfect Tense withalready to say that something has

happened sooner than expected :

e.g. Don’t forget to post this letter, will you? I’vealready posted it.

We can use the Present Perfect Tense withjust (= a short time ago)

e.g. Would you like something to eat? ‘No, thanks. I’vejust had lunch’.

We talk about a period of time that continuous up to the present, we use the

present perfect.

e.g. Dave: Have you travelled a lot, Nora?

Nora: Yes, I have been to 47 different countries.

We often useever andnever with the present perfect:

e.g. have youeve r eaten caviar?

We havenever had a car.

We have to use present perfect Tense with This is the first time…, It the first

time…

e.g. This is the first time he has driven a car. (not drives)

We often use the present perfect with yet. Yet shows that the speaker is expecting

something to happen. Use yet only in questions and negative sentences: e.g. Has it

stopped raining yet ? (not ‘did it stop’).

The pattern:
S + have/has + verb 3……………………….etc
S + haven’t/hasn’t + Verb 3…………….….etc
Have/has + S + verb 3………………….. ….etc?
QW + have/has + S + verb 3………………..etc

PAST PERFECT TENSE

We use the Past perfect to say that something had already happened before this

time :

Example :

- When I arrived at the party, Tom had already gone home

- When I got home, I found that someone had broken into my flat and had

stolen my fur coat.

- George didn’t want to come to the cinema with us because he had already

seen the film twice.

- It was my first time in an aeroplane. I was very nervous because I hadn’t

flown before.

The pattern:
S + had + verb 3…………when/before S + V2
S + hadn’t + Verb 3……… when/before S + V2
Had + S + verb 3………… when/before S + V2 ?
QW + had + S + verb 3……… when/before S + V2 ?

Translate these sentences into English !

1. Rumah itu sangat sunyi ketika saya tiba. Semua orang sudah pergi tidur.
2. Saya merasa sangat lelah ketika saya pulang, jadi saya langsung pergi tidur
3. Saya tidak lapar, saya baru saja makan siang.
4. To tidak bearada di rumah ketika saya tiba. Dia baru saja keluar

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

S + have/has + been + verb 4…………etc S + haven’t/hasn’t + been + verb 4……etc Have/has + S + been + verb 4……….etc ? QW + have/has + S + been + verb 4…etc ?

Example :

-Pelajar pelajartengah menyanyi sejak pagi ini

+ The students have been singing since this morning
- The students haven’t been singing since this morning
? Have the students been singing since this morning ?

Translate these sentences into English !

1. Hari sudah hujan selama dua jam
2. Berapa lama kamu sudah belajar bahasa inggris ?
3. Saya sudah menonton acara TV tersebut sejak dua jam
4. Dia (pr) sudah bermain tenis sejak dia berumur 8 tahun
5. Berapa lama kamu suah merokok ?
6. Mereka sudah bermain PS selama tiga jam

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

S + had been + verb 4…………when S + V2
S + hadn’t been + Verb 4……… when S + V2
Had + S + been + verb 4………… when S + V2 ?
QW + had + S + been + verb 4……… when S + V2 ?

Example :

-Merekatengah mengerjakan PR ketika saya datang kemarin

+ They had been doing the homework when I came yesterday
- They hadn’t been doing the homework when I came yesterday
? Had they been doing the homework when I came yesterday ?

Translate these sentences into English !

1. Mereka sudah bermain bola selama satu jam ketika ada petir yang

menakutkan

2. Ken sudah merokok selama 30 tahun ketika akhirnya dia berhenti

3. Orkestra itu sudah bermain selama sepuluh menit ketika seorang laki laki

berteriak
4. Saya sudah mengetik selama tiga puluh menit ketika listrik itu padam
5. Mereka sudah tidur selama 6 jam ketika kebakaran itu terjadi

PRESENT FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

S + will be + Verb 4 + O + at…………..o’clock
S + won’t be + Verb 4 + O + at………..o’clock
Will + S + be + Verb 4 + O + at……….o’clock ?
QW + will + S + be +Verb 4…………o’clock ?

Example :

-Kamu sedang akan pergi ke sekolah pukul 7 besok pagi

+ You will be going to school at seven o’clock tomorrow morning
- You won’t be going to school at seven o’clock tomorrow morning
? Will you be going to school at seven o’clock tomorrow morning ?

Translate these sentences into English !

1. George sedang akan meninggalkan Indonesia pada pukul 9 besok pagi
2. Saya sedang akan menyelesaikan PR itu sore nanti
3. Dia (pr) sedang akan menonton acara di stadion tersebut nanti malam
4. Mereka sedang akan makan malam di restauran itu nanti malam
5. Para karyawan sedang akan menyelesaikan pekerjaan itu pukul 9 nanti malam

PRESENT FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

S + will have + verb 3 + ……….by the end……
S + won’t have + Verb 3 + ………..by the end….
Will + S + have + Verb 3 + ………by the end…. ?
QW + will + S + have +Verb 3 +…………by the end… ?

Example :

-Kita sudah akan tiba di Jakarta besok sore.

+ We will have arrived in Jakarta tomorrow afternoon
- We won’t have arrived in Jakarta tomorrow afternoon
? Will we have arrived in Jakarta tomorrow afternoon ?

Translate these sentences into English !

1. John sudah akan selesai mengerjakan pekerjaanya menjelang akhir minggu ini
2. Menjelang minggu depan saya akan selesai membaca buku ini
3. Menjelang bulan depan dia akan membayar hutangnya
4. Kami sudah akan mendapat rumah baru menjelang akhir tahun ini

PRESENT FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

S + will have been + verb 4………since……….
S + won’t have been + verb 4…….since……….
Will + S + have been + verb 4……since……….?
QW + will + S + have been + verb 4….since…..?

Example :

-Mereka tengah akan belajarsejak pagi besok

+ They will have been studying since this morning
- They won’t have been studying since this morning
? Will they have been studying since this morning ?

Translate these sentences into English !

1. Menjelang akhir tahun ini kami akan sudah mempelajari bahasa inggris

selama tiga tahun
2. Menjelang hari natal saya akan sudah bekerja di kantor ini selama lima tahun
3. Menjelang liburan sekolah ini saya sudah mengikuti tes selama 5 kali
4. Menjelang hari raya idul fitri saya sudah akan dua kali pulang ke desa

PAST FUTURE TENSE

S + would + V1…IF + S + verb 2………….etc
S + wouldn’t + verb 1….+ object…………..etc
Would + S + verb 1 ….+ object ……….…..etc ?

Example :

1. Saya akan datang ANDAIKATA kamu mengundang saya

I would come if you invited me

2. Tom akan melakukan perjalanan JIKAdia punya uang

Tom would travel if he had more money

Exercise : Translate these sentences into English!

1. Jika saya jadi kamu, saya tidak akan membeli rumah itu
2. Saya akan keluar jika hari tidak hujan
3. Jika saya kaya, saya akan membeli sebuah villa
4. Jika saya dapat berbicara bahasa inggris, saya akan pergi keluar negeri
5. Saya tidak akan keberatan tinggal di Amerika jika cuacanya bagus

PAST FUTURE CINTINUOUS TENSE

S + would be + Verb 4……when S + verb 2……….etc
S + wouldn’t + be + verb 4….when S + verb 2………etc
Would + S + be + verb 4 ….. when S + verb 2……etc ?

Example :

-Sedianyamer eka sedang akan pulang KETIKA kami datang

+ They would be going home when we came
- They wouldn’t be going home when we came
? Would they be going home when we came ?

Translate these sentences into English !

1. Saya akan sedang menempuh ujian hari berikutnya pada waktu itu

2. Kami akan sedang membangun rumah itu pada waktu itu

3. Mereka sedang akan bermain babak kedua pada pertandingan sepakbola

waktu itu

PAST FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

S + would have + verb 3…..IF + S + had + verb 3…….
S + wouldn’t have + verb 3 ……object………..etc
Would + S + have + verb 3 …….object………..etc ?

Example :

-Ia sudah akan menjadi presiden ANDAIKATA partainya menang dalam

pemilihan umum.

- He would have become a presiden if his party had won in general election

Exercise : Translate these sentences into English!

1. Jika saya telah mengetahui bahwa kamu sakit, saya akan menemuimu

2. Tom tidak akan mengikuti ujian itu jika dia mengetahui bahwa soalnya akan

begitu sulit.
3. Jika saya berjumpa dengan mu, saya akan mengatakan hello
4. Jika saya telah mengumpulakan uang, saya akan menikahi mu
5. Saya akan mengirim surat ini jika kamu telah selesai membuatmya

PAST FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

S + would have + been + verb 4…..IF + S + had + verb 3…….
S + wouldn’t have been + verb 4…….object…………etc
Would + S + have been + verb 4.. …….object………..etc ?

Example :

-Sedianyarapat tengah akan dimulai sejak pagi ANDAIKATA walikota

sudah datang tepat pada waktunya

- The meeting would have been starting since this morning if Mayor had come

on time.

Exercise : Translate these sentences into English!

1. Sedianya concert itu tengah akan dimulai andaikata artis artis itu datang pada

waktunya.

2. Sedianya saya tengah akan tidur andaikata mereka belum datang

3. Andaikata ayah saya telah selesai berbelanja, ibu saya akan memasak

makanan itu

present tenses

PRESENT TENSE

Present Tense is used to talk about something in general. And it is also used to talk

about something which is happened repeatedly or habituallly activities.

e.g. + The earth goes round the sun
- The earth doesn’t go round the sun
? Does the earth go round the sun ?

+ I get up at 8 o’clock every morning
- I don’t get up at 8 o’clock every morning
? Do you get up at 8 o’clock very morning?

The pattern :
S + Verb 1 (s/es)…………………………………… Everyday/today
S + don’t/doesn’t + Verb 1…………………… ……Everyday/today
Do/Does + S + Verb 1………………………………Everyday/today?
QW + Do/does + S + Verb 1…………………….…Everyday/today?

We use the present simple when wse say how often we do things:

e.g. How often do you go to the dentist ?

Mary doesn’t often drink tea.

present future tenses

PRESENT FUTURE TENSES

We often usew ill in this situation:

Offering to do something:

e.g. That bag looks heavy. I’ll help with it.

Agreeing and refusing to do something:

e.g. I’ve asked john to help me but he won’t

Promising to do something.

e.g. I will come to your house tonight. I promise.

Asking someone to do something.

Will you close the window,please!

The pattern :
S + will/shall + Verb 1…………………………………… Tomorrow
S + won’t/shan’t + Verb 1…………………… ………… Tomorrow
Will/Shall + S + Verb 1………………………………….. Tomorrow?
QW + will/shall + S + Verb 1…………………….………Tomorrow?

We often use will to be going to when we say what we have already decided to do,
what we intend to do in the future.
e.g. A:There’s a film on television tonight.A re you going to watch it?

B: No, I am too tired. I am going to have an early night.

The pattern :
S + am/is/are + going to + Verb 1……………………………………
S +am/is/are + not + going to + Verb 1…………………… …………
Am/is/are + S + going to + Verb 1………………………………….. .?
QW + am/is/are + S + going to + verb 1……………