GERUNDS.
272. The gerund is like the participle in form, and like a noun in use.
The participle has been called an adjectival verbal; the gerund may be called a noun verbal. While the gerund expresses action, it has several attributes of a noun,—it may be governed as a noun; it may be the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or a preposition; it is often preceded by the definite article; it is frequently modified by a possessive noun or pronoun.
Distinguished from participle and verbal noun.
273. It differs from the participle in being always used as a noun: it never belongs to or limits a noun.
It differs from the verbal noun in having the property of governing a noun (which the verbal noun has not) and of expressing action (the verbal noun merely names an action, Sec. II).
The following are examples of the uses of the gerund:—
(1) Subject: "The taking of means not to see another morning had all day absorbed every energy;" "Certainly dueling is bad, and has been put down."
(2) Object: (a) "Our culture therefore must not omit the arming of the man." (b) "Nobody cares for planting the poor fungus;" "I announce the good of being interpenetrated by the mind that made nature;" "The guilt of having been cured of the palsy by a Jewish maiden."
(3) Governing and Governed: "We are far from having exhausted the significance of the few symbols we use," also (2, b), above; "He could embellish the characters with new traits without violating probability;" "He could not help holding out his hand in return."
Exercise.—Find sentences containing five participles, five infinitives, and five gerunds.
SUMMARY OF WORDS IN -ING
274. Words in -ing are of six kinds, according to use as well as meaning. They are as follows:—
(1) Part of the verb, making the definite tenses.
(2) Pure participles, which express action, but do not assert.
(3) Participial adjectives, which express action and also modify.
(4) Pure adjectives, which have lost all verbal force.
(5) Gerunds, which express action, may govern and be governed.
(6) Verbal nouns, which name an action or state, but cannot govern.