THE GERUND

THE GERUND

This looks exactly the same as a present participle, and for this reason it is now common to call both forms 'the -ing form'. Howeverit is useful to understand the difference between the two. The gerund always has the same function as a noun (although it looks like a verb), so it can be used:

a. as the subject of the sentence:

• Eating people is wrong.
• Hunting tigers is dangerous.
• Flying makes me nervous.

b. as the complement of the verb 'to be':

• One of his duties is attending meetings.
• The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.
• One of life's pleasures is having breakfast in bed.

c. after prepositions. The gerund must be used when a verb comes after a preposition:

• Can you sneeze without opening your mouth?
• She is good at painting.
• They're keen on windsurfing.
• She avoided him by walking on the opposite side of the road.
• We arrived in Madrid after driving all night.
• My father decided against postponing his trip to Hungary.

This is also true of certain expressions ending in a preposition, e.g. in spite of, there's no point in..:

• There's no point in waiting.
• In spite of missing the train, we arrived on time.

d. after a number of 'phrasal verbs' which are composed of a verb + preposition/adverb

Example:
to look forward to, to give up, to be for/against, to take to, to put off, to keep on:

• I look forward to hearing from you soon. (at the end of a letter)
• When are you going to give up smoking?
• She always puts off going to the dentist.
• He kept on asking for money.

NOTE: There are some phrasal verbs and other expressions that include the word 'to' as a preposition, not as part of a to-infinitive: - to look forward to, to take to, to be accustomed to, to be used to. It is important to recognise that 'to' is a preposition in these cases, as it must be followed by a gerund:

• We are looking forward to seeing you.
• I am used to waiting for buses.
• She didn't really take to studying English.

It is possible to check whether 'to’ is a preposition or part of a to-infinitive: if you can put a noun or the pronoun 'it' after it, then it is a preposition and must be followed by a gerund:

• I am accustomed to it (the cold).
• I am accustomed to being cold.

e. in compound nouns

Examples

• a driving lesson, a swimming pool, bird-watching, train-spotting

It is clear that the meaning is that of a noun, not of a continuous verb.

Examples

• the pool is not swimming, it is a pool for swimming in.

f. after the expressions:

can't help, can't stand, it's no use/good, and the adjective worth:

• She couldn't help falling in love with him.
• I can't stand being stuck in traffic jams.
• It's no use/good trying to escape.
• It might be worth phoning the station to check the time of the train.

The Gerund and the Present Participle: 'ING' Form

The Gerund and the Present Participle: 'ING' Form

INTRODUCTION

The '-ing' form of the verb may be a present participle or a gerund.

The form is identical, the difference is in the function, or the job the word does in the sentence.

The present participle:

This is most commonly used:

• as part of the continuous form of a verb,
  he is painting; she has been waiting

• after verbs of movement/position in the pattern:
  verb + present participle,
  She sat looking at the sea

• after verbs of perception in the pattern:
  verb + object + present participle,
  We saw him swimming

• as an adjective, e.g. amazing, worrying, exciting, boring

The gerund:

This always has the same function as a noun (although it looks like a verb), so it can be used:

• as the subject of the sentence:
  Eating people is wrong.

• after prepositions:
  Can you sneeze without opening your mouth?
  She is good at painting

• after certain verbs,
  e.g. like, hate, admit, imagine

• in compound nouns,
  e.g. a driving lesson, a swimming pool, bird-watching, train-spotting

THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE

The Present Participle

The present participle of most verbs has the form base+ing and is used in the following ways:

a. as part of the continuous form of a verb
(See continuous tenses in VERB TENSES)

Examples

• I am working
• he was singing
• they have been walking

b. after verbs of movement/position in the pattern: verb + present participle

Examples

• She went shopping
• He lay looking up at the clouds
• She came running towards me

This construction is particularly useful with the verb 'to go', as in these common expressions :

to go shopping to go skiing to go fishing

to go walking to go swimming to go running to go dancing

c. after verbs of perception in the pattern: 
verb + object + present participle

Examples

• I heard someone singing.
• He saw his friend walking along the road.
• I can smell something burning!

NOTE: There is a difference in meaning when such a sentence contains a zero-infinitiverather than a participle. The infinitive refers to a complete action, or part of an action.:

Compare:

• I heard Joanna singing (= she had started before I heard her, and probably went on afterwards)
• I heard Joanna sing (= I heard her complete performance)

d. as an adjective

Examples

amazing, worrying, exciting, boring

• It was an amazing film.
• It's a bit worrying when the police stop you
• Dark billowing clouds often precede a storm.
• Racing cars can go as fast as 400kph.
• He was trapped inside the burning house.
• Many of his paintings depict the setting sun.

e. with the verbs spend and waste, in the pattern: verb + time/money expression + present participle

Examples

• My boss spends two hours a day travelling to work.
• Don't waste time playing computer games!
• They've spent the whole day shopping.

f. with the verbs catch and find, in the pattern: verb + object + present participle:

With catch, the participle always refers to an action which causes annoyance or anger:

• If I catch you stealing my apples again, there'll be trouble!
• Don't let him catch you reading his letters.

This is not the case with find, which is unemotional:

• We found some money lying on the ground.
• They found their mother sitting in the garden.

g. to replace a sentence or part of a sentence:

When two actions occur at the same time, and are done by the same person or thing, we can use a present participle to describe one of them:

• They went out into the snow. They laughed as they went. They went laughing out into the snow.
• He whistled to himself. He walked down the road.  Whistling to himself, he walked down the road.

When one action follows very quickly after another done by the same person or thing, we can express the first action with a present participle:

• He put on his coat and left the house.  Putting on his coat, he left the house.
• She dropped the gun and put her hands in the air.  Dropping the gun, she put her hands in the air.

The present participle can be used instead of a phrase starting as, since, because, and it explains the cause or reason for an action:

• Feeling hungry, he went into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
  (= because he felt hungry...)
• Being poor, he didn't spend much on clothes.
• Knowing that his mother was coming, he cleaned the flat.

Conditional : Unreal Past

The past tense is sometimes used in English to refer to an 'unreal' situation. So, although the tense is the past, we are usually talking about the present, e.g. in a Type 2 conditional sentence:

If an elephant and a mouse fell in love, they would have many problems.

Although fell is in the past tense, we are talking about a hypothetical situation that might exist now or at any time, but we are not referring to the past. We call this use the unreal past.

Other situations where this occurs are:

• after other words and expressions like 'if' (supposing, if only, what if);
• after the verb 'to wish';
• after the expression 'I'd rather..'

Expressions like 'if'

The following expressions can be used to introduce hypothetical situations:
- supposing, if only, what if. They are followed by a past tense to indicate that the condition they introduce is unreal:

• Supposing an elephant and a mouse fell in love? (= but we know this is unlikely or impossible)
• What if we painted the room purple? (= that would be very surprising)
• If only I had more money. (= but I haven't).

These expressions can also introduce hypothetical situations in the past and then they are followed by the past perfect.

Examples

• If only I hadn't kissed the frog (= I did and it was a mistake because he turned into a horrible prince, but I can't change it now.)
• What if the elephant had trodden on the mouse? (She didn't, but we can imagine the result!)
• Supposing I had given that man my money! (I didn't, so I've still got my money now.)

The verb to wish

The verb to wish is followed by an 'unreal' past tense when we want to talk about situations in the present that we are not happy about but cannot change:

• I wish I had more money (=but I haven't)
• She wishes she was beautiful (= but she's not)
• We wish we could come to your party (but we can't)

When we want to talk about situations in the past that we are not happy about or actions that we regret, we use the verb to wish followed by the past perfect:

• I wish I hadn't said that (= but I did)
• He wishes he hadn't bought the car (= but he did buy it.)
• I wish I had taken that job in New York (= but I didn't, so I'm stuck in Bristol)

NOTE: When we want to talk about situations we are not happy about and where we wantsomeone else to change them, we use to wish followed by would + infinitive:

• I wish he would stop smoking. (= I don't like it, I want him to change it)
• I wish you would go away. (= I don't want you here, I want you to take some action)
• I wish you wouldn't squeeze the toothpaste from the middle! (= I want you to change your habits.)

I'd rather and it's time...

These two expressions are also followed by an unreal past. The verb is in the past tense, but the situation is in the present.

When we want to talk about a course of action we would prefer someone else to take, we use I'd rather + past tense:

• I'd rather you went
• He'd rather you called the police
• I'd rather you didn't hunt elephants.

NOTE: the stress can be important in these sentences, to show what our preference is:

• I'd rather you went = not me,
• I'd rather you went = don't stay
• He'd rather you called the police = he doesn't want to
• He'd rather you called the police = not the ambulance service

Similarly, when we want to say that now is a suitable moment to do something, either for ourselves or for someone else, we use it's time + past tense:

• It's (high) time I went.
• It's time you paid that bill.
• Don't you think it's time you had a haircut?

MIXED CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

It is possible for the two parts of a conditional sentence to refer to different times, and the resulting sentence is a "mixed conditional" sentence. There are two types of mixed conditional sentence:

A. Present result of past condition:

1. Form

The tense in the 'if' clause is the past perfect, and the tense in the main clause is the present conditional:

IF' CLAUSE	MAIN CLAUSE
If + past perfectIf I had worked harder at school If we had looked at the map	Present conditionalI would have a better job now. we wouldn't be lost.

2. Function

In these sentences, the time is past in the 'if' clause, and present in the main clause. They refer to an unreal past condition and its probable result in the present. They express a situation which is contrary to reality both in the past and in the present:

• If I had worked harder at school is contrary to past fact - I didn't work hard at school,
• I would have a better job nowis contrary to present fact - I haven't got a good job.
• If we had looked at the map (we didn't), we wouldn't be lost (we are lost).

Examples

• I would be a millionaire now if I had taken that job.
• If you'd caught that plane you'd be dead now.
• If you hadn't spent all your money on CDs, you wouldn't be broke.

B. Past result of present or continuing condition.

1. Form

The tense in the If-clause is the simple past, and the tense in the main clause is the perfect conditional:

IF' CLAUSE	MAIN CLAUSE
If + simple pastIf I wasn't afraid of spiders If we didn't trust him	Perfect conditionalI would have picked it up. we would have sacked him months ago.

2. Function

In these sentences the time in the If-clause is now or always, and the time in the main clause is before now. They refer to an unreal present situation and its probable (but unreal) past result:

• 'If I wasn't afraid of spiders' is contrary to present reality - I am afraid of spiders, and 'I would have picked it up' is contrary to past reality - I didn't pick it up. 
• 'If we didn't trust him' is contrary to present reality - we do trust him, and 'we would have sacked him' is contrary to past reality - we haven't sacked him.

Examples

a. If she wasn't afraid of flying she wouldn't have travelled by boat.
b. I'd have been able to translate the letter if my Italian was better.
c. If I was a good cook, I'd have invited them to lunch.
d. If the elephant wasn't in love with the mouse, she'd have trodden on him by now.