A. Gerund Forms
1. From verbs
a. In active forms
Examples:
- do becomes doing and having done (do – did – done). The latter is rarely used.
- type becomes typing and having typed (type – typed – typed).
- scan becomes scanning and having scanned (scan – scanned – scanned).
- lie becomes lying and having lain (lie – lay – lain).
- lay becomes laying and having laid (= lay – laid – laid).
b. In passive forms
Examples:
- do becomes being done and having been done.
- download becomes being downloaded and having been downloaded.
2. From non-verbs
a. From adjectives
Examples:
- honest becomes being honest.
- late becomes being late.
b. From noun phrases
Examples:
- a manager becomes being a manager.
- a computer programmer becomes a computer programmer.
3. In negative forms
Examples:
- do becomes not doing.
- come becomes not coming.
- send becomes not sending.
B. Gerund Functions
1. As a subject
Examples:
- Swimming (subject) is John's hobby (predicate). (Swimming is a gerund functioning as the subject of the predicate is John's hobby)
- Making a site about movies is my hobby.
- Finding information on the World Wide Web needs an Internet search engine.
- Managing the computer’s resources is an important function of the operating system.
- Adding more memory lets your computer work faster.
- Being honest at all times is not always easy.
- Learning to use a computer is not as difficult as learning to program.
- Not doing one’s work properly may be worse than not doing it all.
- His rushing to complete the report by the deadline was in vain.
- John’s talking about the problem did not seem to clarify the issue.
2. As a subjective complement
Examples:
- My hobby is making a site about movies.
- His job is fixing computers.
- My task is improving them.
- Another function of the operating system is executing and providing services for application software.
3. As the object of a verb
Examples:
- They like browsing.
- I started / began learning to use a computer when I was six.
- He has just finished downloading music from the Internet.
- I enjoy surfing the Web in my spare / leisure / free time.
- She hates / dislikes chatting in a chat room.
- Why do you put off / postpone sending an e-mail about English lesson to some of your friends?
- We will have to consider using another company if they can’t provide the sofware we need.
- Does your job involve meeting a lot of people?
- They kept (on) asking us questions at that meeting.
- How long will you continue (go on) working?
- He advised / suggested / recommended consulting a computer security expert.
- Would you mind turning the radio down, please?
- She denied stealing (having stolen) any money from the cash register.
- He admitted hacking (having hacked) into a network system.
- Now she regrets not studying harder when she was in college.
- I think people must stop (give up) attempting (trying) to gain unauthorized access to network systems.
- You can avoid being hacked into by installing firewalls.
- I clearly remembered shutting down the system before I left, but I forgot to switch off.
- Do you think this PC needs upgrading (to be upgraded)?
4. As the object of a preposition
Examples:
- Quite a few of them are interested in studying Information Technology.
- Has Tom succeeded in finding a job yet?
- Computers have made radical changes in preparing income tax returns.
- Computers are electronic machines for processing data.
- A password is a mechanism for identifying the computer-user and allowing access.
- The procedure for creating a new file is very simple.
- The main reason for installing more memory is to allow the computer to process data faster.
- Designers can offer good ideas for making your website brighter.
- He apologized for keeping me waiting.
- This morning I apologized to my manager for coming to work late.
- He thanked me for helping him.
- A programmer designs, writes, and tests programs for performing various tasks on a computer.
- Please forgive me for not sending you an e-mail.
- The worker was fired for not coming to work on time.
- I am sorry for being late.
- My student is thinking of / about applying for a government grant to continue his research.
- I am thinking about applying for the post advertised in yesterday’s KR newspaper.
- What are the advantages of having a laptop?
- Computers have a way of communicating with the persons(s) using them.
- The director stressed the importance of keeping the computer access codes among us managers.
- The young man was suspected of hacking (having hacked) into a network system.
- The police suspected the young man of hacking into (having hacked) into a computer system.
- The arrested man was accused of being a hacker.
- I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
- I look forward to inputting data by voice instead of using a keyboard.
- He upgraded his old PC instead of buying a new one.
- Jane prefers doing nothing to working.
- He objected to paying expensive telephone calls for Internet access.
- I am used to / accustomed to typing with ten fingers.
- It took me a long time to get used to wearing contact lenses.
- He can’t get used to logging on with a password.
- You can find information on the Internet by using a search engine.
- By fixing the computers himself, he saved a lot of money.
- Start the search by clicking on their Find button.
- The police tracked down the hacker by talking to his friends and acquaintances.
- Don’t switch off without shutting down your PC.
- He tried to hack into the system without knowing the password.
- Computers can’t do anything without being programmed correctly.
- They can’t carry out their plans without being supported with the fund.
- Soon after talking off, the plane crashed.
- The entire program should be tested after being written.
- After being interviewed for the job, you will be required to take an aptitude test.
- Read the instructions carefully before installing your PC.
- Before coding a program, a programmer should design the program by creating a flowchart or by using another method of program design.
- I am not tired in spite of working hard all day.
- He went to work in spite of feeling sick.
- I couldn’t sleep despite being very tired.
5. In a noun phrase
Examples:
- the writing of a program
- the making of plans
- data processing
- computer programming
- a writing-table (a table for writing)
- a waiting-room (a room for waiting).
Exceptions:
- The needing of … is wrong, but the need(s) of … is right.
- The writing of it is wrong, but the writing of the program is right.
6. After an expression
Examples:
- It is no use (no good) asking her – she doesn’t know anything.
- It is a waste of time playing computer games.
- It is a waste of money buying things you don’t need.
- It isn’t worth fixing such a PC.
- Such a PC isn’t worth fixing.
- Do you think this book is worth reading?