Hello all
Gerunds and infinitives pose a problem to most people who are studying English ( i still get confused). The trouble is gerunds can also appear in
compound nouns, such as
swimming pool,
shopping centre and
racing pigeon. Also in phrases where there is no main verb such as no
smoking.
The gerund should not be confused with the
present participle which has the save form (
verb-ing). I have tried to remember the following rule - not sure it will help but here goes :
Sometimes a present participle is not preceded by a form of 'to be'. For example, in the sentence 'I saw him dancing' dancing is a present participle as it doesn't operate as a noun. As a test, try replacing it by 'something'. You cannot say 'I saw him something', therefore it is neither a noun nor a gerund. On the other hand, you can say 'I enjoy something' therefore in the sentance 'I enjoy dancing' dancing is a gerund.
The trouble is this area of grammar is quite complex - even for the English !!..Hope I haven't confused you all.
have a nice day
Ruby
I think the trouble is that when English is your first language you take words for granted when using them. Does this happen in other languages?