THE GERUND

1. The morphological characteristics. As a verb the gerund has the grammatical categories of voice and tense correlation.

1.1. The category of voice

Active

asking

reading

Passive

being asked

being read

She is fond of reading.

She is fond of being read to.

1.2. The category of tense correlation

Non-Perfect Perfect

asking having asked

being asked having been asked

The perfect form of the gerund expresses priority.

He told me of her having gone to the South for her holiday

Note: The non-perfect form of the gerund expresses priority:

a) after the prepositions on, after:

After reading the book he returned it to the library.

b) after verbs of recollection, gratitude, blame, reproach, punishment and reward:

I regret telling him about it.

2. The syntactical characteristics. The gerund has the following functions in the sentence:

2.1. The subject

Reading is useful.

There is no stopping him..

2.2. A part of the compound predicate

a. the predicative

Seeing is believing.

b. the part of the compound verbal predicate

She went on reading.

She stopped smoking.

Note: The infinitive after the verb to stop has the function of the adverbial modifier of purpose:

He stopped to smoke.

2.3. An object

a. a direct object after the verbs (to deny, to mind, to avoid, to delay, etc.)

Please, avoid making such mistakes.

b. a prepositional object after the verbs (to think of, to insist on, to thank for, to prevent from, etc.), some adjectives and statives

He insisted on doing the work himself.

I am fond of reading.

He was ashamed of having been rude to his sister.

2.4. An attribute

All liked the idea of going to the country.

2.5. An adverbial modifier

a. of time

On entering the room he came up to me.

b. of manner and attending circumstances

You spoiled everything by telling a lie.

He left the room without saying a word.

c. of concession

In spite of being tired they decided to go on with their work.

d. of cause

He didn't say a word for fear of interfering into their conversation.

2.6. A part of the complex subject, the complex object, the attribute, th(adverbial modifier. Complexes with the gerund consist of a noun (in the common or in the possessive case) or a pronoun and the gerund.

a. the complex subject

b. the complex objects with the gerund may be:

(1) direct

Do you mind my joining them?

(2) prepositional

She objected to my joining them.

John's coming so late surprised everyone.

His coming so late surprised everyone.

c. an attribute

Everyone liked the idea of his joining us.

c. an adverbial modifier

I had a lot of letters from my friends since their leaving the town.

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