Friday 10 February 2017

Identifying -ing forms: gerunds and participles

Words ending in -ing have several functions. They can be:

A. Gerunds, i.e. replace nouns as subjects, nominal complements, objects or objects of prepositions;
B. Present participles in continuous tenses;
C. Present participles in participial clauses (including reduced relative clauses);
D. Present participles used as adjectives.

Look at the categories above and match them with the following examples of -ing forms.

1. Swimming in the cold sea is Dorothy's favourite pastime.
2. Swimming in the cold sea, George seemed very relaxed.
3. The man standing next to John is my new neighbour.
4. When my grandparents were children they had no running water.
5. I was texting my friend when I stumbled on the pavement and fell.
6. Where have you been? I've been waiting for you for ages!
7. Monika Brodka wrote a song about dancing shoes.
8. I always ask people to refrain from smoking in my living room.
9. Fox hunting has been banned, much to the dismay of some aristocrats.
10. Wagging its tail, the dog greeted us and ran to fetch its squeaky toy.
11. Have you seen my reading glasses?
12. This time tomorrow we will be flying to Glasgow.
13. Having done his homework, Dave went outside to play with his friends.
14. Look at these clouds! Isn't Irish summer depressing?
15. Do you enjoy reading fantasy novels?
16. Smoking is strictly forbidden here.
17. I'd been reading my students' essays for two hours when I realised I was late for a meeting.
18. Have you tried pushing the red button to start the machine?
19. The woman living next door introduced Johnny to her daughter.
20. SpongeBob, I am sorry to inform you you have failed your boating exam.

KEY
1A, 2C, 3C, 4D, 5B, 6B, 7D, 8A, D, 9A, 10C, 11D, 12B, 13C, 14D, 15A, 16A, 17B (meeting - a gerund made countable), 18A, 19C, 20D

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