Please, explain: why people say HE IS SITTING but not HE IS SAT or SIT? What is a GERUND? How to?

Question

explain that to the sts? Could you please give me some clear examples? Thanks

Answer 1

Uh, because sitting indicates that he sat and is continuing to do so. So to say that he sits, does not necessarily mean that he is doing it now, it means that this is something he does, and, you already know sat is in the past tense, so he's probably doing something else now.

Answer 2

"He is sitting" is not an example of a gerund. It is a sentence in the present continuous (also called the present progressive) and it describes an action in progress.

Gerunds use the same "ing" form, but actually function as nouns. They are often the subject of the sentence. For example, "Sitting hurts my bum."

In the first example, "he" is the subject and "sit" is the verb.
In the second example, "sitting" is the subject and "hurt" is the verb.

Answer 3

"Is sitting" is the present tense of the verb "to sit." "Is" is the helping verb for the action verb in the immediate present. "He sits" is the continuous present tense. To change the tense of a verb, you either change the congugation of the verb or add a helping or linking verb. "Sat" is the preterite past ense of "to sit." That means the action is done and over with. Does this make sense?

Gerund: Main Entry: ger·und
Pronunciation: 'jer-&nd, 'je-r&nd
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin gerundium, from Latin gerundus, gerundive of gerere to bear, carry on
1 : a verbal noun in Latin that expresses generalized or uncompleted action
2 : any of several linguistic forms analogous to the Latin gerund in languages other than Latin; especially : the English verbal noun ending in -ing that has the function of a substantive and at the same time shows the verbal features of tense, voice, and capacity to take adverbial qualifiers and to govern objects

Answer 4

He is sitting because he is still in the process of sitting. If he stood up, it would be he sat. I have no idea what a gerund is, look it up in an online dictionary if you don't have the book form.

Answer 5

A gerund is an "ing" verb that acts like a noun. Examples:

"EATING is my favorite thing to do!"
"I can't take any more of this YELLING and SHOUTING."

Answer 6

Questions of this nature should be posted in the category of "Words and Wordplay". The "teaching" category is for teachers or prospective teachers to ask questions of other teachers about teaching.