PRESENT PARTICIPLES

Review: A gerund is a form of a verb ending in “ing.” A gerund has the properties of noun.
Reading is his favorite hobby. Reading is the subject.
Thinking of a name for my paper took a long time.

The present participle is the –ing form of the verb that is used as a verb and an
adjective.

Take the verb “to cry.”

Used as a verb: I was crying for my lost cat.
Used as an adjective: The crying baby was in the crib.
You could substitute other adjectives such as “beautiful” or “smelly” for the word
“crying.”

Take the verb “to smile.”

Used as a verb: I am smiling after our victory yesterday.
Used as an adjective: The smiling coach took us out for ice cream. You could put in
“happy” or “angry”

Examples: Underline the participles in the following sentences

1. Let sleeping dogs lie.

2. The visiting exchange students ate all of the cookies.

3. The tree outside is a weeping willow.

4. Today is the show’s opening performance.

5. A basking shark is more like a whale than a shark.

So how do you tell if an –ing verb is a gerund or a present participle?

See if you can substitute in another noun for the –ing word. If you can, then it is a gerund.
Skydiving can be dangerous. You could substitute other nouns such as football or exams
or bears.
The crying baby was in the crib. You can’t substitute another noun such as child there. So
it is not a gerund.

If you can substitute another adjective for the –ing word, then it is a present participle. (You may
sometimes have to move the order of the sentence around to have it make sense!)
The driving rain forced us inside. You could substitute other adjectives such as cold or
warm or hard.
 Skydiving can be dangerous. You can’t put an adjective such as beautiful. So it is not a
present participle.

In the below sentences decide if each underlined word is a gerund or a present

participle:

1. James enjoys swimming. ____________________________________

2. The raging bull was about to attack the tourists. ____________________________________

3. The deciding factor in our decision was that we didn’t have a ride.
____________________________________

4. Studying helped him get good grades. ____________________________________

5. I cannot allow sleeping in class. ____________________________________

6. Raising the funds was a difficult task. ____________________________________

7. I saw a commercial for a cheese called “Laughing Cow.” ____________________________________

8. Her favorite activity is skiing. ____________________________________

9. Camping is our family’s summer vacation. ____________________________________

10. “Working Girl” is a good movie from the 80s. ____________________________________

11. The writing teacher asked us for our paper. ____________________________________

12. I love cooking dinner for my neighbors. ____________________________________

12. He asked for two new climbing ropes for his birthday. ____________________________________

14. She sent me a video of a dancing baby. ____________________________________

Please write two sentences using gerunds and two sentences using present
participles.

1.

2.
3.

4.