Gerund: Empowering Your Essay

 By: TOEFL consultant

A gerund formed by ending –ing regards as a noun. In general, it means verbal nouns, so it has tenses. The first is present tense indicating the same time as the main verb. For example, “Submitting to this job is not easy.” The second is perfect tense indicating time previously to the expressed time in main verbs. For example, “I appreciate having invested in deposit.”

The indication of the gerund truly shows that the verb has already started.

For example:

She regrets telling her secret.

Here, she has already told her secret. Thus, the action of telling has already started.

We give reference list of verbs followed by gerunds in tables to make you understand easily:

A	Admit Advice Anticipate Appreciate Avoid
C		Complete Consider
D			Delay Deny Discuss Dislike
E		Enjoy
F	Finish Forget
H		Can’t help
K			Keep
M		Mention Mind Miss
P	Postpone Practice
Q		Quit
R			Recall Recollect Recommend Regret Remember Resent Resist Risk
S		Stop Suggest
T	Tolerate
U			Understand

References 

Azar, Betty Schrampfer. 1989. Understanding and Using English Grammar. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.

Voiles, Price R. 1993. Modern Business English. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co.