What is a gerund?

[Leanne]

Although every gerund ends in "ing", not every "ing" word is a gerund.

A gerund is a verb that functions in a sentence as a noun rather than as a present participle acting as verb or adjective. For example:

I am fishing -- fishing is the verb in present tense.

I have a fishing rod -- fishing is a present participle modifying the noun rod

Fishing is a passion of mine -- fishing is the subject of the verb is, therefore it's a noun, so it's a gerund.

More later... but it's a complicated subject and should really be cleared up before the word gets thrown around any more

[abu nuwas]

Perhaps we could have an agenda....or a referendum......about the meaning of a gerundive, or supine, or the Aorist.....or clarification of : 'Fishing, the burly Australian feigned modesty...'

Just to muddy things.

[Aish]

LOL... gerunds are the only thing I remember despising in English class.

[billy]

ok, next time i'll say ing words

[Leanne]

:p

It's come up a few times recently, and I know it can be damned confusing, so it doesn't hurt to explain it... and then write it off as not very important to know

[billy]

it's a lot easier for me to do it that way than remember what it actually is, (i don't even know what a verb is )

[Todd]

One thing I find with gerunds (and like anything this is no hard and fast rule) is that they don't tend to hold the power of a strong verb. They're something I tend to eliminate in edits.

---

Billy would it work better if we said gerunds are when you nounify a verb?

[billy]

get to fuck

i'll stick with saying "you have a lot of 'ing words' " at my age, everything i learn means the forgetting of something else.

[Wildcard]

So 'running' is a gerund and 'cunning' is just and 'ing' word?

[Leanne]

Depends on the sentence

"cunning" is always an adjective, unless you can "cun" something, and that just sounds rude.

"Billy is running away from the discussion" -- verb

"Running is a waste of effort" -- gerund

[billy]

the issue i have is that; too many words ending with ing in the space of a few lines feels week, unless they are used for a specific purpose and intended. in truth that was the reason i mentioned it. i did call them gerunds but that was my mistake, lots of ing ends often waste space.

i know i have been guilty of inging myself in the past (inging, is that a verb? hehe)

[Leanne]

'ing' words often seem a bit passive and lacking in 'punch' -- and additionally, that same sound repetition can get pretty dull as the 'ing' is never where the stress falls in a word, it's just kind of tacked on the end.

[Philatone]

bravo for making a topic on this.
I just try to see if the word is acting as a noun or adjective before deciding. easier said than done sometimes of course.
I teach at an international school for people learning English, and I don't usually look forward to teaching this, unfortunately. now, if the students came to me with a bit stronger background in grammar in their own language...

[Leanne]

Haha, I know what you mean -- I teach adult literacy and it's very confusing stuff, especially when people have trouble even identifying verbs. I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am that this sort of thing comes fairly easily to me.

I do think it's very important in poetry to consider how even the smallest words act in a line/sentence. We have only a small space in which to convey maximum meaning, so word choice is absolutely vital.

[billy]

i agree but if you're lucky enough to know then you can use it properly. at least i won't look like a twat when i say "too many gerunds" any more

[Leanne]

Plenty of other ways for you to look like a twat :p

To illustrate the difference in a line of poetry, compare:

the holding of hands to holding hands

or

the breaking of bread to breaking bread

A gerund is not wrong, nor should they automatically be removed from a poem -- they have a purpose, depending on the mood and connotations you wish a phrase to convey. Still, too much of anything in a small space becomes... well, too much.

[abu nuwas]

Before -ing words, gerund or no, are written off as weak, it is worth pointing out that, just because the stress does not fall on the final -ing syllable, they can be extremely helpful, if the meter requires two unstressed syllables 'e.g. ' .....-ing a '. Though this is beginning to remind me of a rather passionate 'debate' about whether the definite article could ever bear the stress....from another dimension, and aeons ago....

I like Gerunds! Gerunds to the Fore! Onward Christian Ge-erunds! What other part of speech gives off the impression of having wrapped itself around a good few dinners?

[Leanne]

I certainly don't think one is weak simply for lack of stress

No part of speech should be considered anathema to poetry -- we should use every device at our disposal, even the despised ones (even if our only reason is just to upset the purists, like writing sonnets about rude bits). I only ask that people know what they're using and why, so they can better argue for its use.

Now if that sounds a good idea, I have a preposition for you...

[Wildcard]

Water! Water! Leanne needs water for her jokes!

Ok after a little digging, I get it. If 'running' is the action, it's not a gerund, but if 'running' is the subject then it is a gerund. I never really even heard 'gerund' until recently. (maybe I shouldn't admit that . . .)

[Leanne]

You're not alone, AA, it's mostly a term used by anal grammarians (of which I'm not one, despite all evidence to the contrary, I just like things to be reasonably correct!)

But yes, that's pretty much the size of it.