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!