The gerund

Ttansitive verbs have four forms of the gerund:

Indefinite Passive

writing being written

Perfect Perfect Passive

having written having been written

Intransitive verbs have no passive forms:

Indefinite Passive

standing ----------

Perfect Perfect Passive

having stood ----------

* She is tired of asking questions.

* She is tired of having asked too many questions.

* She is tired of being asked many questions.

* She is tired of having been asked too many questions.

The Indefinite form expresses simultaneous or posterior actions with regard to the finite form of the verb.

* He tells

told me of his writing a report.

will tell

The Perfect form expresses prior actions which took place in the past.

* I am surprized at his having put so much weight.

However a prior action is not always expressed by the perfect form of the Gerund, in some cases we find the indefinite form of the Gerund instead of the perfect form though the action refers to the past.

It occurs after the verbs:

To remember, to excuse, to forgive, to thank

after the prepositions:

On, upon, after, without

* I don`t remember hearing this story before.

* You must exuse my not answering your letter.

* I thank you for helping me yesterday.

* On leaving the house we directed our steps to the post - office.

* After walking about ten yards he found his hat.

* She went away without saying good -bye.

It is to be observed that after the verbs:

to want, to deserve, to require, to need and

the adjective worth the Gerund is used in the active form though it is passive in its meaning.

* His room needed painting.

* The child deserves punishing.

* They were not worth saving.

* The car wants repairing.

The Gerund the same as the Infinitive combines the characteristics of the verb with those of the noun.

Verbal features: tense and voice forms, can take a direct object, can be modified by an adverb.

Nominal features: can be used with a preposition (after writing, by writing, before writing). Most of the syntactical functions strongly remind us of the noun because the gerund can be the subject and the object of the sentence. Can be modified by a possessive pronoun or a noun in the possessive case.The relations in this case are predicative. Compare: His reading (the verbal noun) has improved. His reading (the gerund) this letter was a mistake.

FUNCTIONS OF THE GERUND IN THE SENTENCE