Hello this is Usha Pandit, your Mindsprings
English teacher. Today I got you a very important lesson
and one that absolutely confuses the daylights out of everyone, so if you say
gerund then people get so frightened and they get frightened of grammar is almost
synonymous with fright of gerunds. It's that bad
and actually it's very very simple. I really cannot understand why there is so
much fear. So, today I am going to look at gerunds, participles and infinitives. I
think one of our big problems is that we don't cluster things together. So, if you
have certain categories that go together you need to teach them together. If you
teach them in separate years, obviously you will not remember what you learnt
last year or the year before last and then those connections or those links
are not made and then you suffer from immense confusion and naturally fear. So,
these are called Verbals or they are called non verbs. I like to call them
imposters. Now by imposter, who's an impostor ? An imposter is someone who
pretends to be someone else so if a man comes to your door and he's dressed as a
policeman but he's actually a thief and you let him in and then he says I have
to investigate your house or search your house and he robs you then you realize
later that he was an impostor. So, imposter someone in disguise. These
verbals are imposters. Why are we calling them imposters ? Because they all look
like verbs. They look like verbs. So the minute you see them you call them a verb
but they are not verbs they are something else now. if they are not verbs
what can they be ? They have to either be nouns or they have to be adjectives.
So, this is the first thing to remember. The verbals are not verbs. They
are either nouns or adjectives. So, that's the first one. Now what are these
gerunds, participles and infinitives ? It's a set of three imposters who
are pretending to be verbs and they are gerunds, participles and infinitives and
how are they made ? So, if I write their dancing it's an 'ing'
word and therefore that's a gerund. How is it Jarrod identified ? It's an 'ing' word. This ending will always be there in a gerund. Participle - again dancing. So see
the confusion. This can also be dancing So you sing how can it be what's the
difference etc etc. We'll just hold it and here
it will be 'to dance', this is easy. See to + verb. Now these X's are put for you that.
What do those 'X' mean ? Those 'X' mean that there is no helping verb. So, it
is not is dancing, was dancing, has been dancing, had been dancing, nothing just
dancing. So, when you see this word dancing coming alone without any helper
no auxiliary, no helping verb, you know that it is either a gerund or a
participle. This is one thing to remember. This was
very easy. To dance, to plus walk, there is no confusion there. So, the
minute you see to dance, to sing, to jump etc in a sentence you must not jump and
mark it as a verb. You must not say oh there's dance there, you know I can see
the dancing, it's an action word. Don't do it. Look at the thing in front. If it's a
'to' there then it is most likely to be an infinitive which is not a verb. Now, let's
come to these two. Now gerunds are nouns and these are adjectives, that's the difference. Although it's the same word.
Gerunds are nouns and participles are adjectives. When are the adjectives ? When
they come on their own. So, if I say it's dancing
it's a verb. if I say that is what when I say it's a verb what do I mean ? The verb
is made up of the auxiliary and DANCING. The 'ing' word there is also called a
participle. So, participle makes verbs but it will make a verb only if there is a
helper. If there is no helper and it is coming on its own then it remains a
participle. It is not called a verb because it is not making any tenses.
There's nothing in front of it. So, this is one of those things for you to
remember. If this much is clear we'll proceed.
Now when you say when I say dancing is a noun, it must have all the qualities of a
noun. When I say all the qualities of a noun what do I mean ? The work that it
does in the sentence must be that of a noun. Words on their own have
absolutely no strength. All their power comes from the work that they do, the
function that they in a sentence. So, here when you say
swimming is a good exercise, can you see there it's got nothing in front of it no
helper. So, I automatically know this is either a gerund or a participle. Now I
have to find out whether it's a noun or whether it's an adjective. So, swimming is
a good exercise. Now what can it be ? Is it a noun or is it an adjective. if it is an
adjective what have we said ? We have always said that if it's an adjective it
must have a noun after it. Do you remember ? So, I can't just say pretty, cute.
Cute what ? Isn't it ? So now when you say swimming is a good exercise, you will
find that here this cannot be an adjective because it doesn't have a noun
after it, isn't it ? So, therefore it must be a noun. Now let's see if then all the
business of the noun suits it. Now when you say swimming, is it the name of an
action ? Yes, swimming is the name of an action. Can I say that the swimming the
swimming helped him to get better, can I say that ? Yes, the swimming therefore the
article I can put in front of a noun. Can I say my swimming is improving day by
day. My swimming - possessive adjective , you can only put it in front of a noun and
therefore that fits beautifully. Can I say this swimming is really boring ? Yes,
so I can put a demonstrative adjective in front of it and if I say let us go
for swimming, for preposition what comes after a preposition ? A noun. So, you will
find all the noun rules fit the swimming. Let us take one more example. If I cancel
that swimming and if I say golf is a good exercise. What is
golf ? will you call golf a verb ? Will you call
it an adjective ? No. You'll call it a noun, won't you ? So,
therefore you can only change a noun with another noun. Golden rule. You cannot
change it anyway which way you like. You have to change a noun with another noun.
So, you know I can change swimming with golf. So, now I'm a hundred percent sure
that it's a noun. It's an 'ing' word. It does not have any helper in front of
it. It's a gerund. It's that simple. Now
let's go to.. Now I can also change this with I love to swim.
No not this one, but if I say I love to swim here to swim is an infinitive to
+ swim. I can say I love chess. So, therefore is chess a verb ? No.
So, therefore again this here infinitive is a noun.
I can also change this with I love swimming I can say that also, there's no
issues. So, because they've both nouns I can change them. The infinitive is a noun
and the gerund is a noun but they are not always interchangeable so I can say
I want to swim, I can't say I I want swimming this kind of strange. There are
certain verbs that will not allow you to change them and there are certain verbs
that will allow you to change them . Now, swimming ducks are fun to watch what
is happening here ? Can you see this ducks ? Nouns. And what is in front of it ?
Swimming . So what is swimming ? It's an adjective because it's called what kind
of ducks ? Swimming ducks. I can cut this and I can say
pretty ducks. I can put an ordinary adjective. It will work. Black ducks,
several ducks, smooth ducks, cute ducks. I can put any adjective, it'll work because
I can only change an adjective with another adjective. So, therefore
swimming here is an adjective. Watching ducks is fun, if I say watching
ducks is fun, is watching the name of an activity or is it describing the ducks.
The ducks cannot be described as watching ducks. Are we saying that the
Ducks are sitting and watching ? No. So, therefore this is clearly not an
adjective because there is no such thing as watching ducks. They can be swimming
ducks, they can be maybe working ducks but they can't be watching ducks. Ducks
are not sitting and watching anyone and therefore watching ducks for whom ? for me.
For me, watching ducks is a lot of fun because they are cute, they waddle around
and it makes me feel at peace. So, therefore watching ducks is fun. Here
it is a noun and when it's an 'ing' word without anything in front of it this
noun is called a gerund. So, gerund is nothing but a special name that is given
to nouns ending in 'ing' and participles are special names given to
adjectives ending in 'ing'. What you need to remember is both these 'ing' words
should not have any helpers to help it. They should be standing alone. So, once
you understand that, you've understood your gerunds, participles, infinitives.
Let's look at some sentences. Leaping dolphins are a great sight to behold but
fishing is what I like. That's a sentence. Now very often if
you are I have a grammar series called 'Language with Ease'. It goes from one
grade one to grade seven and as early as grade 2, children pick out that certain
words are not verbs. So, in this sentence, if you are going to look at
this sentence, the child will immediately pick up leaping - not a verb. There is
nothing in front of it. They will pick up 'to behold'. Behold means what ? to see.
So, to behold - because they say to plus the verb not a verb and they will pick
out fishing because there is nothing no helper in front of fishing. So, the first
thing to do is to pick out those verbs that are not verbs. Now, this is not only
meant for small children. This is meant for the older children - the large
examination going group of young adults who are doing simple compound complex
transformations. The first thing to do in a simple compound complex
transformation is to pick out the verbs in a sentence so that you know how many
clauses there are, isn't it ? And if you make the mistake of picking out gerunds,
participles and infinitives as verbs then you will never be able to transform
that sentence. Instead of four verbs you will count eight verbs in those big
sentences and you will fail. So, therefore this is a very very important lesson to
pick out verbs and to pick out those that are not verbs. The impostors, the
verbals, the non verbs we must pick up. So, what is leaping dolphins here ? I can see
a noun there. So, there's an on behind it it's an adjective. So, I can say singing
birds, dancing girls, fighting boys all are adjectives because they are telling
you more about the girls and the boys and the words and therefore leaping
dolphins is an adjective. Are a great sight to behold - to see. So, to see
obviously is not a verb, it's a noun. But,
fishing is the name of an activity now, isn't it ? Now, if you
think that's a participle, look out for - is there a noun
after it ? Does it say fishing boat ? fishing net ? Nothing. So, therefore fishing
there is the name of an activity and it's a noun or it's called a gerund. So,
that's how we crack that first bit - the first sentence. The verbs we have clearly
understood that. Let's look at this one. Now, you've got an 'ing' here. But can you
see this guy sitting here - 'are'. What is 'are'? 'Are' is a helping verb. So, very clearly are
planning there is a verb. So, don't just look at 'ing' and say oh it's not a verb.
Don't do the opposite of what you were doing before. Remember there is an 'are'
there and therefore 'are planning' is a continuous tense present continuous
tense. We are planning to visit. 'To visit' is not a verb. The thundering
waterfalls. Can you see 'waterfalls' ? What is 'waterfalls' ? It's a noun. So, what is
thundering ? it's an adjective. Participle, verb, infinitive and
thundering waterfalls and then go boating. So, you get boating is sitting
there without anything. So, it's either a gerund or a participle. Does it have
anything after it ? Boating spree, boating excursion, nothing
boating adventure, nothing after it. Just boating and therefore it will be a
gerund. It's very very very simple. On finding no one to play with the child
began crying and his caring mother got him an ice cream. On finding - can you
see this preposition ? what is the object of a preposition ? Always a noun. So,
therefore I can straight away say this is a gerund. Right ? On finding no one to
play.. 'to play' - infinitive. With the child began crying - Now, 'began' is the work
there but 'began' is not a helping verb. Is it ? Began is not is our has been will
have been it's not that began is the verb here.
What is crying there ? Is the action, the act of crying and therefore it's a
gerund and his caring mother. Mother - noun and therefore caring is an adjective so
this is a participle. A cracking sound broke the singing in the
room. Cracking sound - noun and therefore participle. It's so easy. Broke
the singing. See the ? What is the rule for ? Articles can only be put in front of
nouns and therefore this is a gerund. Why is the gerund ? Because it's an 'ing' word
in the room. Trolling on the Internet. Trolling - ing
word. So, it's either a gerund or a participle. Was Mohan's fascinating
obsession trolling is there some is there a noun after it ? No. So what is trolling ?
It is the name of an activity not a nasty little activity isn't it it's very
modern Sony now because of the internet and
social media we have this trolling. Trolling on the internet was Mohan's fascinating obsession. Can you see obsession ? Obsession means you want to do
it all the time. So, early morning he gets up and start trolling, till late in the
night he trolling somebody means he's harassing them by writing all kinds of
things and getting them to respond and wasting a huge amount of time both his
and the person's. So, obsession he can't get over it. He wants to troll all the
time fascinating therefore is an adjective and therefore it's a
participle. Till he had so it was a obsession till he had to pay -
infinitive, isn't it ? Infinitives. a high price for it
probably the investigating officers from the cybercrime department came and
arrested him and made him go to the police station, he had to pay a high
price for trolling so that he would stop and he would stop harassing people. Now
if I had written trolling on the Internet,
Mohan was caught. Suppose I change it. Trolling on the
Internet, Mohan was caught. Now, this is something I want you to pay attention to.
Here what is happening. This is a very tricky one. Trolling on the Internet,
Mohan was caught. This one when you get it first here is a participle. How is it
an adjective ? Because it's a phrase, it's a participial phrase but you can take
Mohan there and say Mohan who was trolling was caught, can't you ?
What is this phrase doing this ? it is describing Mohan. This is telling you
something more about Mohan. Mohan who was trolling on the Internet was
caught. So, remember this rule was so whenever you look at participles the trick is
who was ? Just add who was and make it into an adjective clause .Can you do it
is the question. Now, this trolling can come here. Mohan who was trolling on the
internet was caught I can put it in the middle also. Mohan was caught trolling on
the Internet. I can put it anywhere but it essentially
remains an adjectival phrase telling you something more about Mohan.
Suppose I say running recklessly, the boy fell into the ditch. Running recklessly -
what do I mean the boy who was running recklessly fell into the ditch. So, for an
adjective you must always be able to connect it with a noun. So, it doesn't
always have to be a noun immediately after it. It can also be a big phrase. It
can be two words and but after that you will get a noun. You should be able to
connect linked it to that noun. If there is no
noun link you can be sure that it will be a noun, it will not be an adjective. An
adjective must get linked to a noun. Adjectives will never float in the air
without nouns. So, this is the lesson on. I hope you understood it. Now you need to
watch this video several times. You know there are people who watch it once and
say oh I've got it .You never get grammar like that. One of what I do with language
with these which is my series is I get children to do it on a daily basis for
10 minutes every day. So, the teacher doesn't really need to you know thoroughly
get it into them, give them definitions, give them exercises and then forget
about it. So, you do gerund for about one week and
then you never look at the end again you will forget gerund and that's how all of
us have forgotten the gerund. Not because we didn't do it but because you did it
fleetingly, then you do it every day you don't have to do it so thoroughly you
can just touch and go. I always tell teachers it's like a feather duster. You
know if you have a feather duster and you're cleaning your house what do you
do ? You take the duster and rub the surface ? No. You just touch it and that's
all you don't worry about it but every day if you touch it it if the surface
will always remain clean. But if you try to dust it after ten minutes after ten
days then there's so much dust on it but the duster will not work. So if you want
an easy life you need to do it every day and touch it on a daily basis and do it
with sentences, where you can do a lot of things. So, I've done a video on this
which I will upload as soon as possible but do remember to pause here try and do
this yourself first. Don't see the whole thing. Stop it
there after I finished that, pause and see whether you can do it
and then start the video and look at it again. Watch the video several times.
If you have any doubts then put it in the comment section, don't forget to
subscribe. Remember that there is a bell icon that you must use so that you get
my notifications when my videos are put up and yes in the description box there
is a link which will take you to the website and you can order the books
there. If you walk through it 10 minutes a day you will be amazing in grab. start
at the bottom, go very slowly feather-duster,
don't stress don't strain don't even try to remember anything. You just do it
every day and it will become part of your memory forever. So, thank you very
much for listening. keep smiling :) till we meet again.
