What's a gerund? Does it have something to do with Jer's errands? Well, if his legs are causing sleepiness from all the errands, then causing is the gerund! Let us further explain.
Quite simply a gerund is a word that has -ing added to a base verb, which is the present participle of a verb. The difference is that gerunds are used as nouns. (Driving is required.) When the verb in the "ing" form is used as a verb or an adjective, it is usually a present participle. (She was fishing for compliments.)
Reading, writing, and thinking are things you might do when you see this article. In fact, in that last sentence we used a gerund phrase as the subject of the sentence.
Here are other examples of how gerunds function:
1. Object of a preposition: After brushing her teeth, she went to bed.
**Be careful not to dangle the gerund.
Right: After learning the specifics, he could make plans easily. (He learns.)
Wrong: After learning the specifics, plans were easily made. (Plans do not learn.)
2. Object of a verb: She loves singing in the shower.
3. Subject of a verb: Writing is a difficult task.
4. Subject complement with a linking verb: His errors were making him crazy.
5. Possessive noun: One of my pet peeves is hearing his singing to the radio.
Wrong: One of my pet peeves is hearing him singing to the radio.
6. Adjectives: The dancing instructor gave me another lesson on the tango.
7. In a passive sense (used after the verbs want, need, or require): This house needs cleaning.
8. After a preposition: If you use a verb after a preposition, you must use a gerund (no exceptions): Please sign the memo before leaving.
For more information on gerunds, take a look at: http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/gerund.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund.
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