Homework Help..?

Question

What's a gerund phrase?

Answer 1

A gerund is a verb used as a noun. It always includes "-ing" on the end. Here's an example.

Jane hates cleaning.

In this sentence, Jane (a noun) is the subject, hates is the verb, and cleaning is a gerund acting as a direct object. Only nouns can be direct objects: "cleaning", which looks like a verb, is pretending to be a noun. That's what a gerund does. Now let's add a few more words to get a gerund phrase.

Jane hates cleaning the bathroom.

Almost the same, but adding those two words onto the end has created a gerund phrase. Jane does not hate the bathroom itself; she hates "cleaning the bathroom". The whole phrase is the direct object. (If you want to get technical, "the bathroom" is the object of the gerund, but as long as you understand that the whole thing together constitutes a gerund phrase, you're fine.)

You can use a gerund in any noun position in a sentence: as a subject ("Cleaning annoys me"), as a subject complement ("Her favorite thing is cleaning"), as an object of a preposition ("She wrote an essay about cleaning").

Hope this makes sense!

Answer 2

Go to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Writing Center. THey have a list of grammar topics to choose from that are easily read and understood. Here is a hint , a gerund will usually have an ing in it.

Answer 3

First, look up what a gerund is.
Then, look up gerund phrase.

If you know what a verb is, you'll be able to understand what a gerund is, and once you know what a gerund is, you'll be able to understand what a gerund phrase is.

Just use google, hon, or your grammar text book. It's all there in black and white.

Answer 4

a gerund is a word ending in "ing". so a gerend phrase must use words ending in "ing"