Example sentences for: gerund

How can you use “gerund” in a sentence? Here are some example sentences to help you improve your vocabulary:

  • In both her Cecilia (1782) and Diary (1787), we see the verb functioning as a gerund.

  • These are: prepositional phrase, participial phrase, gerund phrase, infinitive phrase, adverb clause, adjective clause, and noun clause.

  • The numbers in the above sentence indicate the beginning of each phrase and subordinate clause-- (1) adverb clause: “When people who swing want to see what's happening” modifies the verb try in the main clause; (2) adjective clause: “who swing” modifies the noun people ; (3) infinitive phrase: “to see what's happening” acts as the direct object of the verb want ; (4) noun clause: “what's happening” acts as the direct objective of the infinitive “to see”; (5) gerund phrase: “attending parties given by hipsters” acts as the direct object of the verb try ; (6) participial phrase: “given by hipster” modifies the noun parties ; (7) perpositional phrase: “by hipsters” modifies the passive participle given . In subsequent sentences I shall provide numbers but leave the reader to identify the structures, which will appear in varying orders, so as to avoide cluttering the discussion with labyrinthine explanations like this one.

  • An author may omit letters, perhaps to show clipped gerund forms (singin', goin', whistlin') , to indicate dropped hs ('ello, 'adn't, 'ome) , or lost final ds (husban', tol') .

  • In opting for the gerunds, one often saves a syllable or more, but the specific, continuous action of a gerund may not be so attractive to a society fuzzily focused on process.


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