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gerund

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin gerundium, from gerendus (“which is to be carried out”), future passive participle (gerundive) of gerō (“carry, bear”).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gerund (plural gerunds)

Examples (English, verbal noun)
  • Walking is good exercise.
  • The crying of the baby was a constant annoyance.
  • He most enjoyed the singing.
Examples (Russian, adverbial)
Нельзя́ переходи́ть у́лицу, чита́я газе́ту.
Nelʹzjá perexodítʹ úlicu, čitája gazétu.
One shouldn’t cross a street while reading a newspaper.
Examples (Afrikaans, adverbial)
Daardie vent stap al lesende die straat oor!
That fellow is crossing the street while reading!
  1. (grammar) A verbal form that functions as a verbal noun.
    • 1991, Edward Johnson, The Handbook of Good English, page 208:
      Compounds in which gerunds are the second element look exactly like compounds in which present participles are the second element, but different principles of hyphenation apply.
    • 2002, Dan Mulvey, Grammar the Easy Way, page 25:
      Like any noun, the gerund functions as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, or predicate nominative. The gerund phrase is made up of the present participle ("-ing") and can contain an object and/or a modifier (and sometimes many modifiers). The gerund is a verbal noun.
    • 2005, Gary Lutz, Diane Stevenson, The Writer's Digest Grammar Desk Reference, page 55:
      Gerunds and gerund phrases are always nouns, so they are always predicate nominatives when used as complements. Do be careful to distinguish progressive-tense verbs from gerunds used as subjective complements.
  2. (grammar) In some languages such as Dutch, Italian or Russian, a verbal form similar to a present participle, but functioning as an adverb to form adverbial phrases or continuous tense.
    • 2013, John Butt, Carmen Benjamin, A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish, Kindle edition, Routledge, →ISBN:
      The Spanish gerund is quite unlike the English -ing form (‘walking’, ‘replying’, ‘saying’, etc.), which can function as a gerund, a present participle, a noun or an adjective; and it is also unlike the French form ending in -ant, which covers the functions of both the Spanish gerund and the adjectival form in -ante, -(i)ente discussed at 19.4.

Usage notes

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  • In English, a gerund has the same spelling as a present participle, but functions differently; however, this distinction may be ambiguous or unclear and so is no longer made in some modern texts such as A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language and The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.

Hypernyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “gerund, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Participle

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gerund

  1. past participle of runnen

Declension

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Declension of gerund
uninflected gerund
inflected gerunde
positive
predicative/adverbial gerund
indefinite m./f. sing. gerunde
n. sing. gerund
plural gerunde
definite gerunde
partitive gerunds
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