Gerund /participle

Gerund /participle
Message from khaiminh posted on 16-12-2014 at 00:55:46 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Can you help me please?
Thans for any reply.
The present participle may replace the adjective clause, as in "A student hoping to finish college in three years must work very hard",but in the sentence "The class working collaboratively was somebody else's idea".
An English teacher told that the word "working" is a gerund. As for me I find those two uses -ing form the same.
How can we distinguish them, participle and gerund?

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Edited by lucile83 on 16-12-2014 07:52

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Re: Gerund /participle from gerondif, posted on 16-12-2014 at 19:12:42 (D | E)
Hello,

a present participle is a part of a verb in front of which you could put the verb to be:
"A student (who is) hoping to finish college in three years must work very hard",
It is the same as: I saw a man (who was) smoking a cigarette:
Here, you are talking about a man or a student who is doing something. You attribute an action to him.


A gerund is a verb transformed into a noun thanks to ing, it can then be the subject or the object of a verb.
Reading is good for you! I love reading (the action of reading)

Look at these examples:
I like Picasso's pictures (normal noun)
I like Picasso's painting (gerund, it means his way of painting, it is an action, the gerund is close to the verb of action)
I like Picasso's modern painting (gerund, nominalm form of a verb which can then accept the adjective modern and the possessive form Picasso's)
I like his modern painting: (same thing, gerund)
I like Picasso's paintings (oh here it is in the plural so it is 100% a noun, it is the result of the action) (few gerunds accept the plural form, though)

in the sentence "The class working collaboratively (is a concept, an action, an idea)/ was somebody else's idea".
The complete collaboration between students was somebody else's idea!

Sometimes, you can play with both!

I don't like tobacco!(noun)
I don't like smoke! (noun)
I don't like smoking (gerund, it means the action of smoking)
I don't like your smoking ! (gerund, because there is a possessive adjective in front of it, and this adjective applies to a noun normally (I don't like your bad habit) so here, smoking is a gerund)

I don't like you smoking (ah here it is a present participle because you is a subject pronoun, followed by a verb: I don't like you when you are smoking like this!)

I like his writing (gerund, the way he writes, his style)
I like his handwriting (noun, how he actually writes, how he writes the letters on the sheet of paper)
I like him writing (you like him when he is writing (present participle) because then he is then creative and busy)

as regards your former post:
After some verbs such as "go, come...", we use the -ing form of verbs. But no-one indicates whether that -ing form of verb is participle or gerund. Some people say that it's participle, and "go, come" are used as auxiliary-like function.
Please explain which is which.
Many thanks.

Some grammar books say that:
go and come are followed by an ing form only when they refer to an individual sport played outside!
Go swimming, go running, go hiking, go windsurfing, go "shopping" I would consider them as gerunds. I like running / I go running every evening.
For me it means: Go and practise running ( a gerund).
Otherwise you would say:
Come and play football (a team sport played inside an enclosed ground)
Normal pattern:
Go and tidy your room! Come and help me !


(By the way! Sometimes, answering with a little "thank you" shows the corrector that you have read his message, used his help and it encourages him to go on helping people )

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