Gerunds

What words do you use instead?

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The right ones.

There's no answer to your question as phrased.

Post a few sentences to show where you have used a gerund and want to get rid of it.

giaaddison said:

I use way too many of these.

What words do you use instead?

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What is a gerund?

WistfulWriter said:

What is a gerund?

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Words that end in -ing. I was going to the store. Going is the gerundic form of the verb to go.

gerund n. verbal noun, in English ending in -ing (e.g. do you mind my asking you?). [Latin] ~Oxford Ref

giaaddison said:

I use way too many of these.

What words do you use instead?

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Probably another tense or form of the same verb.

-Derek

Key that exact question into Google

WistfulWriter said:

What is a gerund?

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Do you mind my asking you? Jeepers. I'm a thicko - and seeing 'asking' there as a verbal noun takes a little head-scratching - for me at least.

I love 'eating'. - is simpler for me to understand. To get rid of the gerund (or verbal noun 'eating'), rephrase the statement - to maybe, I love all kinds of food.

Bufty said:

Do you mind my asking you? Jeepers. I'm a thicko - and seeing 'asking' there as a verbal noun takes a little head-scratching - for me at least.

I love 'eating'. - is simpler for me to understand. To get rid of the gerund (or verbal noun 'eating'), rephrase the statement - to maybe, I love all kinds of food.

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How about: I love to eat.

Richard

Bufty said:

Do you mind my asking you? Jeepers. I'm a thicko - and seeing 'asking' there as a verbal noun takes a little head-scratching - for me at least.

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That sample does sound as if it were written by an English prof. -- but I've been known to politely use other forms of same, e.g. "I hope you don't mind my asking..." (usually when requesting sex).

-Derek

Not all words ending in -ing are gerunds. Gerunds are verbs rendered nouns by the suffix -ing, such as "Writing is fun" or "I like writing." On the other hand, in "I am writing," writing is part of the present progressive tense. In "Running out the door, he saw the flying pig," we have a participial phrase, modifying "he" and another participle adjective modifying "pig."

It's not the gerund it's the passive word pair that gets you. "I love eating" is an activce phrase, so no worries there. "I was running" is passive and can be made active by saying "I ran." Of course there's the acceptable use of "was running" if you need to know something in the midst of action as the narrator encounters it. "Bob was running around in circles as I entered the room." Just look for the stronger verb choice when you see -ing paired with an auxilary (sp?) verb (A "to be" verb). That usually takes care of things.

Danthia, I'm afraid I have to disagree with your definition of passive. You seem to be confusing it with the progressive (imperfect?) tense

A passive verb is one whose action or state of being is happening to the subject of the sentence, rather than being performed by the subject.

Matt hit the ball is active.
Matt is hitting the ball is active.
Matt hit the ball is active.
Matt was hitting the ball is active.

The ball was hit by Matt is passive.

Maryn, pleasantly disagreeable (want a muffin?)

The question in the original post was missing any examples.

Nobody is saying a gerund is wrong per se.


The original poster asked a vague question that has been answered given its restrictions, but the OP may not be referring to gerunds at all -it may be participial phrasing that's the problem.

Hence my original request for illustrations of the OP's problem sentences.

And the 'I was running' is not passive.

Danthia said:

It's not the gerund it's the passive word pair that gets you. "I love eating" is an activce phrase, so no worries there. "I was running" is passive and can be made active by saying "I ran." Of course there's the acceptable use of "was running" if you need to know something in the midst of action as the narrator encounters it. "Bob was running around in circles as I entered the room." Just look for the stronger verb choice when you see -ing paired with an auxilary (sp?) verb (A "to be" verb). That usually takes care of things.

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Okay. Grammar geekry coming up.

"Gerund" vs. "Participle" is confusing because there's no definitive usage of the terms; some use "gerund" as a synonym for all "-ing forms", so that they can use "participle" for all "-ed" froms. But most distinguish between "gerund" and "participle" along "nominal" (a noun) or "adjectival/verbal" uses.

The distinction isn't unchallenged. The Cambridge Grammar basically abandons the distinction, talking about a "gerund-participle".

Basically, it's like this:

There is a verb:

I write a story.

Easy to spot, isn't it?

Now add an -ing to the infinitive:

"writing"

Now you have a new form, but you can't tell what it is. This form could be used in various contexts:

1. I am writing a story.

Here writing is the main verb of the sentence, while "am" is the auxiliary verb. Most theories would call this a "participle".

2. I don't like bad writing.

Here, writing functions like a noun. See how it takes an adjective, "bad"? Only nouns take adjectives. This people call "gerunds".

2.a. Your constant writing is getting on my nerves.

Gerund again. See how, in addition to the adjective "constant", we have a possessive pronoun? It's definitely used as a noun isn't it.

Easy? Good.

Now we're arriving at dpaterso's:

3. Do you mind my asking you...

Ah. A gerund. There's a possessive prounoun in front of it, so it has to be a noun, right? Easy again. Phew.

Oh, wait. "my asking you..."

Nouns don't take direct objects. Only verbs take direct objects. Ah... so it's a verb? A participle? Um...

Tug of war. "my" pulls one way, "you" the other. Is it a gerund? Is it a participle?

See the ambiguity? Fine. Now consider this:

4. Writing is hard.

Gerund or participle? We have no grammatical hints at all. Some people would argue that because "writing" occurs in the subject slot it must be a noun and thus a gerund. I don't buy that:

5. Writing well is hard.

See? Basically the same situation as 4., only modified by an adverb. (I could have different modifications: "Writing about kittens is hard." etc.

The above would have to be a participle, then, as only verbs (or adjectives) get modified by adverbs.

Ah, darn it, but you could also have:

6. Creative writing is hard.

Adjective? Gerund? Aha!

***

Basically, gerund vs. participle is a mess. And, practically speaking, the distinction is not all that important in English. Basically you have an -ing-form, that's derived from a verb. And it could be used as a verb or as an adjective or as a noun, or as anything inbetween.

I'm not going to comment on avoiding the -ing form or not, as that would only send me down another rant.

I was talking about passive writting not the verb itself And yes, I was running may not be the best example of that. You hear a lot of feedback like "the writing felt passive to me, try cutting out those gerunds and to be verbs" and that what's I felt the poster was asking about. Perhaps I'm not using the correct term, but I suspect that is the problem the poster is facing.

To the question: "I hope you don't mind my asking...", you'd have to reply: "Yes, I do mind your asking" But I'm not sure you can possess an asking.

Shouldn't that be: I hope you don't mind me asking? - Yes, I do mind you asking.

"Do you mind my walking on your grass?" "Do you mind my sitting on your lap?"

The OP hasn't come back, but maybe some of her too many ings are in sentences like that where they could be removed by saying: Do you mind if I whatever.

Okay, I'll go back to sleep now.

I am always using too many gerunds, even though English is being my first language. Why, I am wondering, must I be doing this? Whether I am writing in present tensioning, or was writing in past tensioning, always the gerunds are appearing. This is embarrassing me. Gerunds are attaching to weak verbs, are always making for verbose textualising and as nouns they are unexciting me, since they are carrying so little emotionalising.

Are you thinking as I am, that if I am making every verb a gerundical form as exercising, I will be so tiring of this that I will never, ever be writing gerundishly again?

This is the problem I have when I write my rough drafts -- sentences like:

She went to the door, running down the stairs, hopping over the cat in the hall, and standing, breathing hard when she finally stopped in front of the door.

Ugh. Problem is, I've usually incorportated far too many sentences. My re-write would look like this:

She ran down the stairs and hopped over the cat in the hall. She stopped in front of the door, breathing hard.

Or something like that. (Haven't finished my first cup of coffee yet, so I'm not really awake. lol)

Shadow Paetz said:

She went to the door, running down the stairs, hopping over the cat in the hall, and standing, breathing hard when she finally stopped in front of the door.

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Ah. You're gerunding because you're making verb-lists to qualify the weak initial verb 'went'. To fix it, try stronger verbs sooner -- but also ensure that they do a job: to convey mood, personality, motive, emotion, or situation. If they don't then ditch them.

Other things I noticed: only children run down stairs and along halls. Most grown-ups are careful on stairs, and find most domestic halls too short to run along. For this reason, adults don't normally arrive out of breath at front doors unless they find even mild exercise difficult. Also, it really helps to keep the scene-goal in mind (answer the door) and link to the next action so it flows.

Your alternative worked, but I wouldn't remove all gerunds; I think they serve a purpose. The alternative I came up with was:

She clattered down the stairs and bustled to the door, striding over the cat in the hall. She paused to compose herself before answering it.

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Or if it's a girl, then maybe more like:

She ran down the stairs and turned hard at the bottom and pelted into the hall, hopping over the cat and skidded to a stop at the door, reaching up out of breath to open it.

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The gerunds in these examples are used judiciously to create a brief, false 'present tense' meant to draw the reader's eye to difficult or exciting bits of the action -- e.g. navigating the cat and in the case of the girl, opening the door because that's always exciting to children.

Hope this helps.

Yup. I get it. And you've answered some of my issues with this. Yeah, more child than older person, thus the running down the stairs. And yes, I agree with keeping some gerunds. Just not with littering the prose with them on a consistent basis. Or littering the prose with anything on a consistent basis. Usually, I try to use anything like a gerund for emphasis, rather than the norm.

Funny. I was researching this earlier today. I found this on a similar topic.

Ruv Draba said:

Other things I noticed: only children run down stairs and along halls. Most grown-ups are careful on stairs, and find most domestic halls too short to run along.

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Pffft. I still run down stairs. Walking is far too restrained for my knees to cope with. I normally rush to my door to answer it too (a very short corridor, but I still shuffle even if I don't break out into a run).

Danthia, the writing itself is not passive. From what you wrote, perhaps you mean "The dog was running after the ball" vs "The ball was being chased by the dog". The extra use of the verb to be makes the phrase passive, rather than the verb itself.

Dawnstorm, I'm not sure whether to remain in ignorant bliss or to re-read what you just wrote.

April Hollands said:

Pffft. I still run down stairs. Walking is far too restrained for my knees to cope with. I normally rush to my door to answer it too (a very short corridor, but I still shuffle even if I don't break out into a run).

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Pfft back! I bet you don't run down stairs, unless you're loping down 3 at a time with your arms swinging. Adults usually limit their stride to the next step down -- or sometimes 2 steps if they're really pushing it. 'Running' is what we do to chase a departing bus; descending stairs fast we normally manage with a shuffle or a trot... or sometimes an asymmetric canter thing where we step one, skip one.

Kids though... just fly down stairs and make adults cringe with it.

Ooh, that's hit a new level of pedantry that I'm descending some stairs in a boxercise manner away from. Our definitions of running are clearly very different. I just get down them very quickly and I'd consider it a form of running, but it doesn't really matter.