Gerunds & Verbal Nouns

Imagine your teacher has written on the board:

Swimming is fun. I like swimming.

You know exactly what both mean. But then someone says, "Ah yes, the gerund is the subject there," and suddenly English feels like a secret club you weren't invited to.

Here's the thing: you already use gerunds every day. "Reading's boring." "I hate waiting." Every one of those "-ing" words is doing a noun's job, even though it looks exactly like a verb. That's the whole puzzle: the same "-ing" shape can be a verb in disguise or a noun in disguise, and English expects you to tell which is which.

What a gerund is

A gerund is a verb + -ing used as a noun.

• Swimming is fun.
• I love reading.

In each, ask: "What is the thing in this sentence?" The thing that is fun is swimming; the thing you love is reading. So they're acting as nouns, even though they're built from verbs.

The phrase verbal noun in our title is just the family name for any noun grown out of a verb — and a gerund is the main member of that family. Older grammar books sometimes reserve gerund for an "-ing" form that still behaves a bit like a verb (reading novels) and verbal noun for one that's drifted all the way into noun territory (the swimming was fun). You don't need to lose sleep over exactly where the border sits — even grammarians disagree.

How do you spot one? Look for an "-ing" word you could swap for it:

• Drawing helps me relax. → It helps me relax. ✔
• She is running fast. → She is it? ✘ — so running there is part of the verb, not a gerund.

Where gerunds go in a sentence

Gerunds can do most of the jobs other nouns do. Three big ones, plus one that catches people out:

1. Subject — the main thing the sentence is about: Reading improves your vocabulary. Walking to school keeps me fit.

2. Object — the thing being liked, hated, avoided: I enjoy swimming. She hates losing. Plenty of verbs take gerunds: like, love, enjoy, hate, avoid, finish, stop, practise [US: practice], suggest. (✔ I enjoy swimming. ✘ I enjoy to swim.)

3. Complement — after be, renaming the subject: My favourite hobby is drawing. The problem is getting everyone to agree.

4. After a preposition — this is the tricky one, because prepositions demand a noun-type form: She's good at drawing. He left without saying goodbye. Not good at to draw.

A gerund can also bring friends along — its own object or adverb — to form a gerund phrase that still acts as one noun: Eating too much chocolate makes me feel sick. Try the "it" test on the whole chunk: It makes me feel sick. ✔

Gerund vs present participle

Gerunds and present participles both end in -ing and both come from verbs. The difference is the job:

• A gerund acts as a noun.
• A present participle acts as part of a verb, or as an adjective (describing a noun).

Compare:

1. Running is good exercise. → running = thing = gerund
2. She is running every morning. → is running = verb = present participle
3. The running water was icy. → running describes water = present participle

A reliable test: swap the "-ing" word for a plain noun. Running is good exercise → Sport is good exercise works, so it's a gerund. She is running → She is sport? Nonsense — so that's a participle.

Gerund vs infinitive after verbs

This is where English stops being tidy. Some verbs usually take a gerund (I enjoy reading. They suggested going by train.). Others take a to-infinitive (I decided to read. They planned to go.). Some take either with barely a change (I like reading / I like to read — both fine).

But a small, important set of verbs change meaning depending on which follows — and this group is worth genuinely learning:

• I stopped smoking. — I no longer smoke.
• I stopped to smoke. — I paused another activity in order to smoke.
• I remember locking the door. — a memory of something already done.
• I remembered to lock the door. — I didn't forget; I did it.

Don't memorise every verb — trust your ear. If I enjoy to swim sounds off, it's because enjoy wants a gerund.

"My leaving" vs "me leaving"

Even adults argue about this one:

• I was surprised by my brother leaving.
• I was surprised by my brother's leaving.

In older, careful grammar, the "-ing" phrase is a genuine noun, so the word before it takes the possessive — my brother's leaving. You still see this in formal writing: I object to your wasting time. In everyday English we often drop it: I object to you wasting time. Both are widely used.

My advice for school: in formal essays, the possessive (your interrupting, our winning) looks polished; in speech and casual writing, the plain form (you interrupting, us winning) is completely normal. If a possessive sounds clunky with a long phrase, rephrase instead.

Watch out: don't learn a fake rule like "always use a gerund after like." In real English, I like to read is completely fine — both forms exist side by side.

Quick check

1. Underline the gerund and say its job (subject, object, or complement): a) Watching cartoons helps me relax. b) My favourite activity is skateboarding. c) They avoided talking about the test.

2. Gerund or present participle? a) She is writing an essay. b) Writing essays can be difficult. c) The shining stars lit up the sky.

3. Choose the more natural option for school writing: a) I enjoy (to play / playing) the piano. b) They decided (to leave / leaving) early. c) She's good at (listening / to listen).

4. Rewrite using a possessive before the gerund: I didn't like them talking during the film.

Where next

• What Is a Noun? (for the basic idea of "thing" words this article builds on)
• What Is a Verb? (for the verb basics behind every gerund)
• Subjects and Objects in Sentences
• Complements and What They Do in Sentences
• → The Verb System — non-finite forms in full: infinitives, gerunds and participles.