It's been a while since I gave a grammar tip. Hectic times.
As I was thinking about what I wanted to share with you, I decided to focus on a lesser-known concept: the Gerund.
Simply put, a gerund is a -ing verb. For example:
swimming
driving
eating
Gerunds function as nouns and can be used as subjects, direct objects, and objects of prepositions.
Subjects:
Running is my favorite way to exercise.Direct objects:
Singing is her greatest pleasure.
My dogs do not like bathing.Objects of prepositions:
Sharon wants to do more traveling.
Karen wrote a book about cooking.A key when using a gerund is using the possessive form of the noun or pronoun that precedes it. Because the gerund is a noun, your sentence needs to be structured correctly. So, if you wrote a sentence like:
Annie won first prize for acting.
I like your dress, you'd know to use the possessive form of the pronoun, right? Dress is a noun, so you'd use the possessive form of the pronoun. Easy!
However, we often see sentences written like:
Her family loves Karen cooking.Do these look right to you? If so, ask yourself: How are the words cooking and playing functioning in the sentences? Hopefully, you can see they're functioning as nouns; therefore, they're gerunds. Cooking and playing are things (as in "people, places, or things") not actions. So, the sentences should be:
Joe enjoys his sister playing the piano.
My family loves Karen's cooking.Do you see the difference?
Joe enjoys his sister's playing the piano.
Your goal as a writer is to look closely at each sentence you write and make certain you're using the correct structure. So when you find yourself using an -ing verb, ask yourself: Is this word functioning as a verb? Or as a noun? If it's the latter, then make certain you're using the possessive form of the noun or pronoun that precedes it.
If this isn't clear, feel free to comment (and if you're a Liberty student, send me an email via my Liberty email address).
As always, keep pen to paper!
Prof. Rinehart
