English Grammar | GERUNDS in 5 Simple Steps

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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!