Gerunds and Infinitives

Gerunds and Infinitives

What is a Gerund?

• A gerund is a verb form that ends in '-ing' and functions as a noun within a sentence.

• A gerund takes on the role of a noun and can act as a subject or a subject complement, a direct object, an indirect object, or comes after a preposition.

​The role of Gerunds

The following are examples of gerunds in different functions.

• Swimming is my favourite pastime. - Gerund as a subject

• My dog's favourite pastime is swimming. - Gerund as a subject complement.

• I learnt swimming when I was four years old. - Gerund as a direct object.

• Mr. James taught us swimming last year. - Gerund as an indirect object.

• After swimming, I like to eat a heavy breakfast. - Gerund after a preposition.
  
  
  

Examples of the Gerund

Some examples of the Gerund are as follows:

Examples:

Sweeping is a great way to remove negativity.
Dancing is good for the mind and the soul.
Painting is a stress-buster.

Multiple Choice

In the following sentence, identify the gerund :

Drinking causes damage to health.

• Drinking

• causes

• damage

• health

Reorder

Reorder the following words to make a sentence where the subject is a gerund:

Martha's dancing is passion

• Dancing

• is

• Martha's

• passion

1

2

3

4

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Dropdown

Select the correct option:
Everybody likes ​

Select answer

to music.

Match

Match the words in the following to their functions as parts of speech:

Postponing leads to big disappointments.

• postponing

• leads

• to

• big

• disappointments

gerund

verb

preposition

adjective

noun

• gerund

• verb

• preposition

• adjective

• noun

What is an 'Infinitive'?

• An infinitive is the base form of a verb, often preceded by the word 'to' (e.g., to run, to eat).

• It can appear in sentences either with the 'to' (full infinitive) or without it (bare infinitive), depending on the context or the verbs/adjectives/prepositions it follows.

Ways to use the infinitive

There are three different ways to use the infinitive.

• with 'to' as a prefix- I like to practise yoga every day.

• without 'to' as a prefix- She should practise her yoga every day.
  (this form of the infinitive comes after modal verbs such as would, should, might, can, etc.)

• as a split infinitive- I want Samantha to really practise yoga well.

​ Activity:

​Think of creating three sentences for each of the three infinitive types.

The verbs in the chart can be used as a ready-reckoner to make sentences using the infinitive.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct infinitive from the options given in the boxes, to fill in the blanks:

There is too much work ..................................

• to do

• do

• doing

• to doing

Dropdown

Choose the correct option from the Drop Down options:
The teacher told the students ​

Select answer

very hard for the tests.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct infinitive from the options given in the boxes, to fill in the blanks:

Bears like ____________ during winters.

• hibernation

• to hibernate

• hibernate

• hibernating

Drag and Drop

Complete the sentence with the appropriate infinitive form of the verb 'feed' to describe the action of the vulture.
The vulture goes to its nest

Placeholder

for its young ones.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

feeding

feeds

fed

to feed

• The Infinitive is the base form of the verb; It is not conjugated with any noun, while being used.

• It can function as an adjective, an adverb or a noun.

• It can also be split with an adverb between 'to' and the verb.
  E.g.: to + really + work.
  (The infinitive acts as a noun)

​The Infinitive

• The gerund is a verb + ing.

  which functions as a noun.

• It can act as a subject, a direct object, an indirect object or a subject complement and is used after a preposition.

​The Gerund

Let's summarize: