Infinitives and Gerunds Lesson

​ GERUNDS

• A gerund (pronounced JER-und) is a verb that’s acting as a noun

• Every gerund is a verb with ing tacked to its tail.

• Remember that gerunds are words that are formed with verbs but act as nouns. Present participles do not act as nouns. Instead, they act as modifiers or complete progressive verbs

​ GERUNDS

EXAMPLES OF GERUNDS

1. Swimming in the ocean has been Sharon’s passion since she was five years old.

2. The ballerina taught us dancing.

3. Apologizing to me isn’t enough this time.

4. She is afraid of flying.

5. They are capable of doing hard work.

INFINITIVES

• An infinitive is the verb form that has “to” at the beginning. For example, “to do,” “to sleep,” “to love” and “to create.”

• It is the simplest verb form that you have to modify to fit into sentences.

• For example, “She sleeps” no longer contains the infinitive of the verb “to sleep.” Instead, it has been conjugated into the simple present third person form of the verb “to sleep”: sleeps.