Guarding the gerund

Ratna Raman

In school while learning grammar, we were introduced to the gerund. The gerund occupies prime space in our linguistic lives and is different from the infinitive. The word gerund originates from the Latin verb ‘gerere’ ( do).  What are gerunds?   Gerunds are nouns formed from verbs and they describe actions.
The gerund and the present participle look exactly the same but there are a few ground rules for distinguishing between them.  The gerund functions as a noun.  “Hurting people is a bad idea.”
 The gerund is also used as a complement of the verb ‘to be’: It is a pleasure ‘to be dancing’ in the rain.  One of her duties ‘is organising’ talks at short notice.
Gerunds follow prepositions: She is good ‘at playing’ the piano. In spite ‘of skipping’ breakfast, we were late for class.
The gerund in English is usually identified by the addition of the three letters ‘ing’ at the end of an infinitive. For example,   ‘to be’ changes to ‘being’ while ‘to eat’ becomes ‘eating.’  The letters ‘ing’ hinge themselves to the end of verbs, thereby ‘propelling’  ‘spelling,’  ‘reading’ and ‘meaning.’  Every  verb that ends with ‘e’ ( with the exception of ‘be’) as in,  to have,  to shape, to create,   to share,  to weave, to reduce,  to distribute,   drops the ‘e’  while taking on the ‘ing.’
What do gerunds do? They function as subjects, complements and objects in any sentence. They are used when actions are real or completed.
‘Reading’ helps you to develop your language skills (subject of sentence).
His favourite pastime is ‘swimming’ in freshwater lakes (complement of sentence).
They enjoy ‘cooking’ (object of sentence).
All the gerunds in the sentences above could be replaced with the infinitive (basic verb form +to). The infinitive differs from the regular verb (dances, danced) because its tense and subject are not limited.
Your language skills would develop if you were ‘to read.’
He wants ‘to swim’ in freshwater lakes.
They like to cook.
 The use of gerunds and infinitives is dictated by the context although it is possible to use gerunds and infinitives interchangeably in most contexts. Gerunds communicate a sense of continuing action because of the use of ‘ing.’  Usually gerunds are used when we refer to real activities or experiences.  The infinitive can often sound like a truism, largely because of the perfect tense which refers to possible activities that could take place. Gerunds refer to real, immediate activity while the infinitive could refer to some potential action.
Gerunds also follow verbs: The baby keeps (present tense) ‘crying’ all the time.  He tried (past tense) ‘shopping' for groceries online.
The gerund travels through various time zones.  
I enjoy ‘running.’ ( simple gerund).
“I am ‘running’ late because of a domestic crisis.”  (progressive gerund and emphasising that  action is taking place now).
“Many people enjoy going for a run,” Passive gerund communicates that the subject of the sentence i.e. ‘going for a run’ is being acted upon.
“The elderly sportsman recalled having run every morning of his life as a young man.” The gerund perfect “having run” emphasises completion in both the past and the future.
Expressions such as ‘can’t stand,’  ‘couldn’t help,’  ‘it’s no use,’ are invariably followed by gerunds.   Infinitives are inappropriate in such cases.   Infinitives 'can't stand' being overlooked by gerunds. I 'couldn't help' thinking that gerunds do turn up in sentences all the time.  However, 'it's no use' feeling sorry for infinitives because they  have their own place in  the language system.