The difference between the gerund and the present participle
Since the simple gerund and the present participle have the same form (verb-ing), sometimes it can be difficult to decide whether an -ing form is a gerund or a present participle.
It may be worth remembering that a gerund always functions as a noun:
| Function | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Subject | Hiking can be a relaxing and rewarding activity. |
| Complement | What I really like is travelling to other countries. |
| Object of a verb | Jill suggested going for a drink. |
| Object of a preposition | He rushed out of the room without saying a word. |
| Object of a prepositional verb | Could you give up smoking? |
| Part of a compound noun | We had no drinking water left. |
The present participle has the following functions:
| Function | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Continuous aspect | I wasn't listening. What have you been doing? You must be joking. I happened to be passing your house. |
| Adjective | The survey revealed some worrying results. The results of the survey were/seemed worrying. |
| Participle clauses | The man driving the car was not injured. Tom lost his keys (while) walking through the park. Opening the envelope, I found two concert tickets. Having nothing left to do, Paula went home. |
Sometimes it is a matter of interpretation whether an -ing form is a gerund or a present participle:
Hunting lions can be dangerous.
Hunting as a present participle functions as an adjective and describes lions. The sentence means:
Lions that hunt can be dangerous.
If hunting is a gerund, lions is its object and the sentence means:
It can be dangerous to hunt lions.
