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What's a Gerund?
A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun. The gerund form of a verb looks
exactly like the present participle, but they function differently in a sentence. The gerund
will fill a noun slot (subject, direct object, object of preposition, etc.), but the participle will
be either an adjective or part of a verb phrase:
Here, “crying” is the subject of the sentence. You can see that it's acting like a noun
because you can replace it with something that is more obviously a noun: “dogs.” “Dogs
are clearly nouns, and you could say, “Dogs can relieve stress.” See how you can replace
“dogs” with “crying”? “Dogs can relieve stress,” and “Crying can relieve stress.” “Crying” is
a gerund; a thing that looks like a verb but is acting like a noun.
A noun or pronoun linked immediately with a gerund should be in the possessive case.
Because a gerund acts as a noun, that means that if a noun or a pronoun precedes it, that
noun or pronoun must be in the case that will allow it to modify another noun--i.e, the
possessive case.
• This is my book.
• This is Jane's book.
• This is his book.
• This is their book.
Since a gerund is a noun, just as "book" is a noun, the same rule applies: Use the
possessive form to modify the gerund.
Here is a simple example to help you see the difference between a present participle,
which may be preceded by the objective case of a pronoun or by the plain form of a noun,
and a gerund, which needs the possessive form to modify it:
In the first sentence, his refers to Bob’s reading. Contrast that with “Bob wants you to
come see him reading his poetry.” Here, reading is a present participle, not a gerund, and
the subject is him. Remember, in the first sentence, the subject is “his reading.” In the
second, it’s “him.”
Again, the subject is “his going on and on,” which, if you think about it, is the thing that
annoys the speaker. “I can’t stand to see him going on and on about his girlfriend” will
sound correct in casual speech, but is grammatically wrong.
In this sentence, the word asking is a gerund acting as a noun funtioning as the object of
“mind” It is modified by a possessive pronoun acting as an adjective. Consider: Because
some people don’t like animals, I ask a guest, “Do you mind my dog?” I wouldn’t say, “Do
you mind me dog.” Ergo, I wouldn’t say, “Do you mind me asking?”
Coming,” “being,” and “having” are all gerunds, and require preceding possessive
pronouns (“their,” “his,” and “our”). If a person’s name appears just before the gerund, that
too needs to be in the possessive form: “We’re excited about Bob’s winning the
tournament.”
Confused? Try this simple rule of thumb: if you have to put a pronoun or noun in front of
an “-ing” word, try a possessive one first. If the “-ing” word seems like a thing or an action
that could be possessed, it’s probably a gerund. If using a possessive form makes sense,
go with it.
Even though she loves her dog very much, the dog can’t sleep on her bed.
Despite her loving her dog very much, the dog can’t sleep on her bed.
He resents your being more popular than he is.
They objected to the youngest girl's being given the command position.
We were all sorry about Jane's losing her parents like that.
I didn't like his going (not him going) to New York without me.
The ballerina’s balancing took great skill. Her balancing was lovely.