Gerunds, Present Participle and Infinitives

by Meera Pradhan

Gerunds

• Gerunds are verbals that function as nouns and have an –ing ending.

• For example, 'Walking helps clear my mind'.

• To identify a gerund, search for a word that looks like a verb, and is in the -ing form but doesn't actually act as a verb.

Multiple Choice

Identify the gerund in the sentence.

Ken enjoys sketching people.

• Ken

• enjoys
• sketching
• people

Present Participle

• Present participle, always ending in -ing, is created from the form of a verb used with the verb to be(am, is, are, was, were, been) as an auxiliary verb 

• For example 'The other day, I was sitting in the park while my little sister was playing with her toys.'

• To identify a present participle, look for the -ing form of a verb.

Infinitives

• An infinitive is a verbal consisting of to + a verb, and it acts like a subject, direct object, subject complement, adjective, or adverb in a sentence.

• For example, 'She went to play football.'

• To identify an infinitive, just search for the to+verb form of the verb.

Multiple Choice

A gerund is used as

• Noun

• Verb

• Pronoun

Multiple Choice

Identify the gerund in the sentence.
Of all my interests, I care most about swimming.

• swimming
• interests
• care
• about

Multiple Choice

I'm shy and I don't like ... in public.

• sing

• to sing

• singing

Multiple Choice

He likes singing.

Identify gerund .

• He

• Likes

• Singing

Multiple Choice

IDENTIFY THE GERUND(S) 
I'm thinking of painting my house.

• I'm 
• thinking
• painting
• house

Multiple Choice

Would you like ....  to my party on Saturday? It's my birthday.

• come
• coming
• to come

Multiple Choice

I really like ... in the rain, do you?

• walk
• walking
• walks

Multiple Choice

Which of these sentences contain an infinitive?

• I was studying at home yesterday when he called.

• We will be shifting to the new apartment this weekend.

• We have to study for a test, so I'm afraid we won't be able to make it.

• I went to the expensive parlor down the street.

Multiple Choice

I was baking cupcakes for my mother yesterday. Helping my mother makes me happy, especially when we work together. After that, I went to cycle in the neighborhood.

Which of the highlighted words is a gerund?

• Baking

• Helping

• Cycling

• None of these