{"id":3056,"date":"2012-11-07T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?p=3056"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:50:19","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:50:19","slug":"gmat-grammar-gerunds-and-gerund-phrases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-grammar-gerunds-and-gerund-phrases\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Grammar: Gerunds and Gerund Phrases"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the GMAT Sentence Correction, the “-ing” form of a verb<\/a> will sometimes act as part of the main verb: in this case, it is part of one of the Progressive Tenses<\/a> of a verb.\u00a0 Sometimes the “-ing” form of a verb will modify a noun: in this case, it is a participle<\/a>.\u00a0 Sometimes, though, the “-ing” form of a verb will act as a noun itself<\/span><\/em> in a sentence.\u00a0 In this case, it is a gerund<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Gerunds<\/h2>\n

A gerund is the \u2013ing form of a verb acting as a noun, in any of the “noun roles” possible in a sentence.\u00a0 A gerund can be the subject, the direct object, or the object of a prepositional phrase.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Walking is an underappreciated form of exercise.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Right after a big meal, one should avoid swimming.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 To appreciate the art of pitching is to understand the essential aspect of baseball.<\/p>\n

In #1, the gerund “walking” is the subject of the sentence.\u00a0 In #2, the gerund “swimming” is the direct object of the verb “avoid.”\u00a0 In #3, the gerund “pitching” is the object of the preposition “of”.\u00a0 Notice that this gerund inside a prepositional phrase is packaged inside an infinitive<\/a> phrase.\u00a0 A gerund can also start a phrase, and have other forms packed inside of it.\u00a0 On Sentence Correction, the GMAT loves<\/em> to pack one grammatical form inside another, just like Russian dolls<\/a>.\u00a0 The more layers, the better!\u00a0 All verb-form phrases (participial phrases, infinitive phrases, gerund phrase) allow for this Russian-doll layering — any one of those could go “inside” any of the others, and they can stack in multiple layers — unlimited fun for the nerds who write GMAT Sentence Correction questions!<\/p>\n

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Gerund phrases<\/h2>\n

Because the gerund is a verb form, it can take a direct object, a prepositional phrase, an adverb or an adverbial phrase<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 In other words, it can be followed by all the grammatical pieces that can follow an ordinary bonafide verb.\u00a0 When a gerund is followed by these pieces, it becomes a gerund phrase.\u00a0 Here are some examples, with the gerund phrases underlined.<\/p>\n

4. Listening to all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies in a row<\/span> is his idea of a day well spent.<\/p>\n

5. Why don’t more people find hiking in a forest in a rainstorm<\/span> a magical experience?<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 A manual for re-booting the photocopy machine after it shuts down due to a power surge<\/span> would be helpful.<\/p>\n

7. I prefer reading a scintillating book<\/span> to watching an hour of mind-numbing television<\/span>.<\/p>\n

In #4, the gerund phrase is the main subject of the sentence; a gerund could also be the subject of any subordinate clause.\u00a0 In #5, the gerund phrase is the direct object of the verb “find”; incidentally, this is the idiomatic form “to find A B<\/span>“, where “A” is the object and “B” is the quality or characteristic one ascribes to A.\u00a0 In #6, the gerund phase is the object of the preposition “for”; notice that packed within the gerund phrase is a subordinate clause beginning with the word “after” \u2013 again, the Russian-dolls thing that the GMAT loves.\u00a0 In #7, the first gerund phrase (“reading \u2026”) is the direct object of the verb “prefer” and the second gerund phrase (“watching \u2026”) is the object of the preposition “to”.\u00a0 This final sentence demonstrates the idiomatic form “to prefer A to B<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

Gerunds are a frequently tested form on GMAT Sentence Correction.\u00a0 Here are a couple of GMAT SC practice questions involving gerunds.<\/p>\n

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Practice Questions<\/h2>\n

1) The income categories of Senator Crocker\u2019s proposed tax code are as broad as to fail to distinguish the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in<\/span> a sophisticated stock option move.<\/p>\n