Hi! Welcome to today's lesson: Understand
Gerunds in five simple steps. I'm Arnel from Arnel's
Everyday English and today you are going to learn how to use gerunds. Let me give
you three sentences: Drinking water is healthy. I am drinking water. Is this
drinking water? You can see in three sentences we have drinking, but, only one
of them is a gerund. Number one, drinking water is healthy. Drinking is a gerund.
Number two, present continuous. Number three, drinking
water is a noun, and drinking is the adjective that describes drinking water.
Let's take a look why number one is the gerund. What is a
gerund? Swimming, dancing, playing, doing, feeling, closing, trying, typing, looking,
calling, crying, standing, falling, eating... I think you get the idea.
A gerund is the infinitive + i n g. They look like verbs, but they function as a
noun. We use gerunds when we want to focus on the general idea of an activity,
not the specific action. Swimming is good for your body.
Swimming is my gerund, it is the subject of my sentence. We're
looking at swimming as a general activity. To swim is good for your body?
Swim is good for your body... Eating too much sugar is bad for your teeth.
Eating is my gerund, it is the subject of the sentence. To eat too much sugar is
bad for your teeth? Eat too much sugar? No. Here's a tip, if you want to begin your
sentence with a verb use a gerund. Of course there are exceptions. For example
with imperatives, use the infinitive. Close the door. Sit down. We wouldn't say:
Closing the door, sitting down. We spoke about the grammar of a gerund and using
gerunds as a noun. So, number two: We use gerunds after the verb BE when we speak
about an activity. The best part of a meal is eating dessert. I have my BE: is.
And my gerund: eating dessert. The thing I love most about Sunday's is sleeping. Is
+ my gerund. Don't forget a gerund functions as a noun. So I could say the
best part of a meal is dessert. Dessert is also a noun. Eating, I'm really
focusing on that action. Don't confuse gerunds and continuous
tenses. The best part of a meal is eating dessert.
My dog is eating my dessert! The first one is a gerund, the second one
is the present continuous. Step number three is very important.
Unfortunately for number three there isn't a specific rule. Well, the rule is
you need to memorize! Gerunds follow specific verbs. For example: I avoid
eating too much sugar. After avoid use a gerund. I avoid to eat?
I avoid eat? We've deferred signing the contract until our solicitor has taken a
look at the contract. All these verbs are followed by a gerund because that's the
grammatical rule. So, how do I know which verbs are followed by a gerund? I have a
list for you! What you can do is click the link below, I'm going to give you a
link to my website. There you'll find a list of the most important verbs you
need to know which are all followed by a gerund. Use gerunds after a preposition.
What are prepositions? In, on, at, above, under, through, to, four, of... I think you get
the idea. Use a gerund after a preposition. I'm
good at making brownies. I'm good at make? I'm good at to make? I'm interested
in booking an English course. I went to work in spite of feeling sick.
In spite of feeling sick. Preposition, gerund. You know what? That's it, you've
done a fantastic job! What I'd like you to do: In the comments below leave me an
example sentence with a gerund. Make sure it's not a present past continuous
example and it's not an adjective. Give me an example sentence with a
gerund. I'm so happy you were here, don't forget
to SUBSCRIBE and I'll see you very soon for another video!
