Inlinguistics, agerund (/ˈdʒɛrənd,-ʌnd/[1]abbreviatedger) is any of variousnonfinite verb forms in variouslanguages; most often, but not exclusively, it is one that functions as anoun. The name is derived fromLate Latingerundium, meaning "which is to be carried out". InEnglish, the gerund has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable by anadverb and being able to take adirect object. The term "-ing form" is often used in English to refer to the gerund specifically. Traditionalgrammar makes a distinction within-ing forms betweenpresent participles and gerunds, a distinction that is not observed in such modern grammars asA Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language andThe Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.
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The Latin gerund, in a restricted set of syntactic contexts, denotes the sense of the verb in isolation after certain prepositions, and in certain uses of thegenitive,dative, andablative cases. It is very rarely combined with a dependent sentence element such as anobject. To express such concepts, the construction with theadjectivalgerundive is preferred. By contrast, the term gerund has been used in the grammatical description of other languages to label verbal nouns used in a wide range of syntactic contexts and with a full range ofclause elements.
Thus, English grammar usesgerund to mean an-ing form used innon-finite clauses such asplaying on computers. This is not a normal use for a Latin gerund. Moreover, the clause may function within a sentence assubject orobject, which is impossible for a Latin gerund.
The contrast with the Latin gerund is also clear when the clause consists of a single word.
Latin never uses the gerund in this way, but instead uses theinfinitive.[2]
Traditional English grammar distinguishes non-finite clauses used as above fromadverbial use, adjective-like modification of nouns, and use infiniteprogressive (continuous) forms
In these usesplaying is traditionally labelled aparticiple.
Traditional grammar also distinguishes-ing forms with exclusivelynoun properties as in
| I work in thatbuilding | contrast "gerund" | I likebuilding things |
| That is a goodpainting | contrast "gerund" | I likepainting pictures |
| Herwriting is good | contrast "gerund" | I likewriting novels |
The objection to the termgerund in English grammar is that-ing forms are frequently used in ways that do not conform to the clear-cut three-way distinction made by traditional grammar intogerunds,participles andnouns[how?].
The Latin gerund is a form of the verb.[3] It is composed of:
For example,
| laud- | -a- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | First conjugation | laudandum | 'the act of praising' |
| mon- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Second conjugation | monendum | 'the act of warning' |
| leg- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Third conjugation | legendum | 'the act of reading' |
| capi- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Third conjugation | capiendum | 'the act of taking' |
| audi- | -e- | -nd- | -um, -ī, -ō | Fourth conjugation | audiendum | 'the act of hearing' |
Relatedgerundive forms are composed in a similar way withadjectival inflexional endings.
The four inflections are used for a limited range of grammatical functions[4]
| Case | Function | Example | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Subject | no example | infinitive used | |
| Accusative | Object | no example | infinitive used | |
| Accusative | After preposition | canes alere advenandum[5] | 'to rear dogs for hunting' | afterad, in, ob and occasionally other prepositions |
| Genitive | Modifying abstract noun | pugnandi tempus | 'time for (lit. of) fighting' | nouns includeoccasio, tempus, causa, gratia |
| Dative | Expressing purpose | auscultando operam dare | 'apply effort to listening' | after verbs, e.g.,studeo, operam dare and adjectives, e.g.,natus, optimus |
| Ablative | Instrumental | pugnando cepimus | 'we took by fighting' | became undistinguishable fromparticiple use, thus providing thegerundio forms inItalian,Spanish, andPortuguese, which are used instead of forms derived from Latin present participles |
These functions could be fulfilled by other abstract nouns derived from verbs such asvēnātiō 'hunting'. Gerunds are distinct in two ways.
When people first wrote grammars of languages such as English, and based them on works of Latin grammar, they adopted the termgerund to label non-finite verb forms with these two properties.
Meanings of the termgerund as used in relation to various languages are listed below.
Latin has the non-finitegerundium, formed with-andum,-endum and noun inflexions. It is syntactically equivalent to a noun, except in the nominative and accusative cases, which use the infinitive. In particular theablative case forms (-ando,-endo) were used adverbially. Latin grammars written in English use the formgerund.[6] See the section above for further detail.
Several Romance languages have inherited the form, but withoutcase inflections. They use it primarily in an adverbial function, comparably to the Latin ablative use. The same form may be used in an adjectival function and to expressprogressive aspect meaning. These languages do not use the termpresent participle. Grammars of these languages written in English may use the formgerund.
In the earliest stages of theWest Germanic languages, theinfinitive wasinflected after a preposition. Thesedative and, more rarely,genitive case forms are sometimes calledgerundium orgerund orWest Germanic gerund.[7][8]
In descriptions of Slavic languages, the termgerund refers to verbal forms that are also frequently referred to asverbal adverb,adverbial participle, or (in some Slavic languages)deepričastie. These forms describe circumstances, actions concurrent (present gerund) or immediately preceding (past gerund) those in the predicate. Morphologically they are uninflected (except in Czech),[10] and syntactically they have an adverbial function, and thus generally bear resemblance to Romance gerunds such as those found in Italian,[11][12] rather than to noun-like gerunds in English[13] or Latin.
Additionally, some linguists use the term to refer toverbal nouns, historically formed with the*-ьje suffix,[18] such as Serbo-Croatianglȅdānje (fromglȅdati)[19] or Polishchodzenie (fromchodzić).[20]
In other languages, it may refer to almost any non-finite verb form; however, it most often refers to an action noun, by analogy with its use as applied to Latin.
In traditional grammars of English, the termgerund labels an important use of the form of the verb ending in-ing (for details of its formation and spelling, seeEnglish verbs). Other important uses are termedparticiple (used adjectivally or adverbially), and as a pureverbal noun.
An-ing form is termedgerund when it behaves as averb within aclause (so that it may be modified by anadverb or have anobject); but the resulting clause as a whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) functions as anoun within the larger sentence.
For example, consider the sentence "Eating this cake is easy." Here, the gerund is the verbeating, which takes an objectthis cake. The entire clauseeating this cake is then used as a noun, which in this case serves as thesubject of the larger sentence.
An item such aseating this cake in the foregoing example is an example of a non-finiteverb phrase; however, because phrases of this type do not require a subject, it is also a complete clause. (Traditionally, such an item would be referred to as aphrase, but in modernlinguistics it has become common to call it a clause.) A gerund clause such as this is one of the types ofnon-finite clause. The structure may be represented as follows:
| Subject | Verb | Complement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | Eating this cake | is | easy |
| (no subject) | Verb | Object | |
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | eating | this cake |
Non-finite verb forms ending in-ing, whether termedgerund orparticiple may be marked like finite forms as Continuous or Non-continuous, Perfect or Non-perfect, Active or Passive. Thus, traditional grammars have represented the gerund as having four forms – two for the active voice and two for the passive:[24]
| Active | Passive | |
|---|---|---|
| Present or Continuous | Loving | Being loved |
| Perfect | Having loved | Having been loved |
The same forms are available when the termparticiple is used.
The following sentences illustrate some uses of gerund clauses, showing how such a clause serves as a noun within the larger sentence. In some cases, the clause consists of just the gerund (although in many such cases the word could equally be analyzed as a pureverbal noun).
Using gerunds of the appropriateauxiliary verbs, one can form gerund clauses that expressperfect aspect andpassive voice:
For more detail on when it is appropriate to use a gerund, seeVerb patterns classified as gerund use below, and also §§ Uses of English verb forms andGerund.
In traditional grammars, gerunds are distinguished from other uses of a verb's-ing form: the present participle (which is anon-finite verb form like the gerund, but is adjectival or adverbial in function), and the pure verbal noun ordeverbal noun.
The distinction between gerund and present participles is not recognised in modern reference grammars, since many uses are ambiguous.[25][26]
Non finite-ing clauses may have the following roles in a sentence:[27]
| Role | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| A | Subject | Eating cakes is pleasant. |
| B | Extraposed subject | It can be pleasanteating cakes. |
| C | Subject Complement | What I'm looking forward to iseating cakes |
| D | Direct object | I can't stopeating cakes. |
| E | Prepositional object | I dreamt ofeating cakes. |
| F | Adverbial | He walks the streetseating cakes. |
| G | Part of noun phrase | It's a picture of a maneating cakes. |
| H | Part of adjective phrase | They are all busyeating cakes. |
| I | Complement of preposition | She takes pleasure ineating cakes. |
In traditional grammars, the termgerund is not used for rolesF, G, andH.
Thus
| 1.John suggestedasking Bill. | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | John | suggested | asking Bill | Role Dobject — traditionallyasking is a"gerund" | ||||||
| (no subject) | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | asking | Bill | ||||||||
| 2.I heard Johnasking Bill. | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | I | heard | John asking Bill | Role Gadverbial — traditionallyasking is a"participle" | ||||||
| Subject | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | John | asking | Bill | |||||||
| 3.Playing football is enjoyable | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Complement | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | Playing football | is | enjoyable | Role Asubject — traditionallyplaying is a"gerund" | ||||||
| (no subject) | Verb | Object | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NON-FINITE CLAUSE | playing | football | ||||||||
| 4.Herplaying of the Bach fugues was inspiring. | ||||||||||
| Subject | Verb | Complement | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF SENTENCE | Her playing of the Bach fugues | was | inspiring | |||||||
| Possessive | Head | Postmodifier | ||||||||
| STRUCTURE OF NOUN PHRASE | Her | playing | of the Bach fugues | Noun phrase, not clause —playing is averbal noun (also termeddeverbal noun) |
For more details and examples, see-ing: uses.
In traditional grammars, a grammatical subject has been defined in such a way that it occurs only in finite clauses, where it is liable to "agree" with the "number" of the finite verb form. Nevertheless, non-finite clauses imply a "doer" of the verb, even if that doer is indefinite "someone or something". For example,
Often the "doer" is clearly signalled
However, the "doer" may not be indefinite or already expressed in the sentence. Rather it must be overtly specified, typically in a position immediately before the non-finite verb
The "doer" expression is not the grammatical subject of a finite clause, so objectivethem is used rather than subjectivethey.
Traditional grammarians may object to the termsubject for these "doers". Andprescriptive grammarians go further, objecting to the use of forms more appropriate to the subjects (or objects) of finite clauses. The argument is that this results in two noun expressions with no grammatical connection. They prefer to express the "doer" by apossessive form, such as used with ordinary nouns:
Nonetheless, the possessive construction with-ing clauses is very rare in present-day English. Works of fiction show a moderate frequency, but the construction is highly infrequent in other types of text.[28]
Prescriptivists do not object when the non-finite clause modifies a noun phrase
The sense ofthe cat as notional subject oflicking is disregarded. Rather they seethe cat as exclusively the object ofI saw. The modifying phraselicking the cream is therefore described as aparticiple use.
Henry Fowler claims that the use of a non-possessive noun to precede a gerund arose from confusing the above usage with a participle, and should thus be calledfused participle[29] orgeriple.[30]
It has been argued that if the prescriptive rule is followed, the difference between the two forms may be used to make a slight distinction in meaning:
However, Quirk et al. show that the range of senses of-ing forms with possessive and non-possessive subjects is far more diverse and nuanced:[31]
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| The painting of Brown is as skilful as that of Gainsborough. | a. 'Brown's mode of painting' b. 'Brown's action of painting' |
| Brown's deft painting of his daughter is a delight to watch. | 'It is a delight to watch while Brown deftly paints his daughter.' |
| Brown's deftly painting his daughter is a delight to watch. | a. 'It is a delight to watch Brown's deft action of painting.' b. 'It is a delight to watch while Brown deftly paints.' |
| I dislike Brown's painting his daughter. | a. "I dislike the fact that Brown paints his daughter.' b. 'I dislike the way Brown paints his daughter.' |
| I dislike Brown painting his daughter. | 'I dislike the fact that Brown paints his daughter (when she ought to be at school).' |
| I watched Brown painting his daughter. | a. 'I watched Brown as he painted his daughter.' b. 'I watched the process of Brown('s) painting his daughter.' |
| Brown deftly painting his daughter is a delight to watch. | a. 'It is a delight to watch Brown's deft action of painting his daughter' b. 'It is a delight to watch while Brown deftly paints his daughter.' |
These sentences exemplify a spectrum of senses from more noun-like to more verb-like. At the extremes of the spectrum they place
| Noun phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| some paintings of Brown's | a. 'some paintings that Brown owns' b. 'some paintings painted by Brown' |
| Brown's paintings of his daughters | a. paintings depicted his daughter and painted by him' b. 'paintings depicting his daughter and painted by somebody else but owned by him' |
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Painting his daughter, Brown noticed his hand was shaking. | 'while he was painting' |
| Brown painting his daughter that day, I decided to go for a walk. | 'since Brown was painting his daughter' |
| The man painting the girl is Brown. | 'who is painting' |
| The silently painting man is Brown. | 'who is silently painting' |
| Brown is painting his daughter. |
In some cases, particularly with a non-personal subject, the use of the possessive before a gerund may be considered redundant even in quite a formal register. For example, "There is no chance of the snow falling" (rather than the prescriptively correct "There is no chance of the snow's falling").
The termgerund describes certain uses of-ing clauses as 'complementation' of individual English verbs, that is to say the choice of class that are allowable after that word.
The principal choices of clauses are
| Clause type | Example | Subject of clause | Possessive | Passive equivalent |
| 1.finite | I rememberthat she came. | overt grammatical subjectshe | impossible | That she came is remembered.— more frequent:It is rememberedthat she came. |
| 2.bare infinitive | I sawher come. | her acts as object ofsaw and subject ofcome | impossible | not possible |
| 3a.to-infinitive without subject | She rememberedto come. | notional subject 'understood' as identical toshe | n.a. | not possible |
| 3b.to-infinitive with subject | I remindedher to come. | her acts as object ofreminded and subject ofto come | impossible | She was remindedto come. |
| 4a.-ing without subject | I rememberseeing her come. | notional subject 'understood' as identical toI | n.a. | rare but possible:Seeing her come is remembered. |
| 4b.-ing with subject | I rememberher coming. | her acts as object ofremember and subject ofcoming | possible | rare but possible:Her coming is remembered. |
| 5a .-ing without subject | She keptcoming. | notional subject 'understood' as identical toshe | n.a. | not possible |
| 5b.-ing with subject | We kept hercoming. | her acts as object ofkept and subject ofcoming | impossible | She was keptcoming. |
| 6a.-ing without subject | She ended upcoming. | notional subject 'understood' as identical toshe | n.a. | not possible |
| 6b.-ing without subject | She wasted timecoming. | notional subject 'understood' as identical toshe | n.a. | Her time was wastedcoming. |
Historically, the-ing suffix was attached to a limited number of verbs to form abstract nouns, which were used as the object of verbs such aslike. The use was extended in various ways: the suffix became attachable to all verbs; the nouns acquired verb-like characteristics; the range of verbs allowed to introduce the form spread by analogy first to other verbs expressing emotion, then by analogy to other semantic groups of verbs associated with abstract noun objects; finally the use spread from verbs taking one-word objects to other semantically related groups verbs.[33]
The present-day result of these developments is that the verbs followed by-ing forms tend to fall into semantic classes. The following groups have been derived from analysis of the most common verbs in theCOBUILD data bank:[34]
In addition, the COBUILD team identifies four groups of verbs followed by-ing forms that are hard to class as objects. In theverb +-ing object construction the action or state expressed by the verb can be separated from the action or state expressed by the-ing form. In the following groups, the senses are inseparable, jointly expressing a single complex action or state. Some grammarians do not recognise all these patterns asgerund use.[35]
Verbs with this pattern do not normally allow the 'subject' of the-ing clause to be used in an equivalent passive construction such as *She is rememberedcoming.
The COBUILD Guide analyseshercoming as the single object ofI remember.
Many of the verbs that allow pattern 4a (without object) also allow this pattern.
In contrast to Pattern 4b, these verbs allow the 'subject' of the-ing clauses to be used in an equivalent passive construction such asShe was keptcoming.
The COBUILD guide analyseshercoming as a string of two objects ofWe kept:– (1)her and (2)coming.
These verbs refer to starting, spending or ending time.
The following-ing form is an adverbial, traditionally classed as a participle rather than a gerund.
These verbs also relate to time (and, by extension, money). The object generally expresses this concept.
However, the object ofbusy oroccupy must be areflexive pronoun, e.g.,She busiedherself coming.
The following-ing form is an adverbial, generally classed as a participle rather than a gerund.
Like the-ing suffix, theto-infinitive spread historically from a narrow original use, a prepositional phrase referring to future time. Like the-ing form it spread to all English verbs and to form non-finite clauses. Like the-ing form, it spread by analogy to use with words of similar meaning.
A number of verbs now belong in more than one class in their choice of 'complementation'.
English verb forms ending in-ing are sometimes borrowed into other languages. In some cases, they becomepseudo-anglicisms, taking on new meanings or uses not found in English. For instance,camping means "campsite" in many languages, whileparking often means a car park. Both these words are treated as nouns, with none of the features of the gerund in English. For more details and examples, see-ing words in other languages.
A noun formed from a verb (such as the-ing form of an English verb when used as a noun).
