Monday, July 16, 2007

In English the gerund is identical in form to the present participle and can behave as a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object), but the clause as a whole (sometimes consisting only of one word, the gerund) acts as a noun within the larger sentence. For example:

Editing this article is very easy.

Within the clause "Editing this article", the word "Editing" behaves as a verb; the phrase "this article" is the object of that verb. But the whole clause "Editing this article" acts as a noun within the sentence as a whole; it is the subject of the verb "is".

Labels: Me, Musings