Grammar: Active and Passive Gerunds

Hey, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on active and passive

gerunds. Those of you who don't know, a gerund is a verb + "ing". And if you'd like to check

out the various uses of gerunds and where a gerund can go in a sentence, you can check

out my previous lesson on the various uses of gerunds. That lesson is very essential

to understanding this one, so please check it out if you haven't already.

In this lesson, we're going to look at how to use a gerund in a passive form and in an

active form. Now, very simply, let's begin with the easiest which is the active simple

which is basically the simple gerund use, just verb "ing". Now, in this situation, this

means you can put the gerund as a subject, as an object, as a subject complement, you

can also put it as the object of a preposition, possessive. All that stuff is explained in

the other lesson.

So, for example, let's look at these sentences: "I like swimming."

"Swimming" is the gerund, it's the object of the sentence. In the present, I enjoy swimming;

I like swimming.

"Smoking is bad for you." As we know and have discussed, a gerund can be the subject of

a sentence, and here, "smoking" is the subject.

"I regret not calling you." "Not calling", "calling" being the gerund

in this situation.

So this is your basic gerund use that most students at the advanced level are familiar

with at some level or another.

Okay, now let's look at the active past. Okay? Not the active simple, but the active past.

If you specifically want to put a gerund into the past, you can do it by using: "having"

+ a past participle. In this structure, "having" is actually considered the gerund.

So, let's look at this.

"I'm proud of having completed university." Now, we call this active past because you

are the one who completed university, you are the one who did the action. Right? And

you are proud of... And again, we use a gerund here because of "of" which is a preposition.

And I'm proud of having completed university, I'm proud now because I completed university

in the past. Okay?

And let's look at another example: "Having gone to college is one of the best

things I've ever done." So here, "having gone" is considered the active

past gerund. Again, "having" is the gerund in this construction. Okay? So having gone

to college is one of the best things I've ever done. So any time you have: "having done",

"having done", "having done" something in the past, you're actually using a gerund.

And in this situation, a passive - sorry - an active past gerund.

Now, let's look over on this side and let's look at how we use passive gerunds. So this

might be new for a lot of students here. Passive simple, basically all you're doing is you

have "being" + p.p. Remember: "passive" means the person is receiving the action. Okay?

So being done... Something is being done to the person.

So, for example: "She hates being told what to do."

"Being" is the gerund in this construction. She is receiving the action of someone telling

her what to do. She hates being told what to do. And, again, if you're wondering, you

know: "Why are you using 'being'? Why not 'to be'? Why are we using 'ing' and not 'to'

plus the base verb in some of these?" Basically, it follows the constructions that I describe

in the previous video about the uses of gerunds. So, again, another reminder to check that

out before this.

Okay, another example: "I'm tired of being insulted!"

And, again, you have "of" which is a preposition, and after a preposition, you have to use a

gerund. So I'm tired of being insulted by other people, or by him, by her, by someone.

Okay? And, finally: "Being robbed is an awful experience."

And here, we're using a gerund as a subject which is possible. Being robbed by someone

- passive construction, you receive the action - is an awful experience. So here, you're

speaking in general; here, you're speaking about the present; here, again, she hates

being told what to do in general, in the present.

Now, let's look at how we can refer to the past with this construction. So for the past...

This is actually the least common form of all of these that we're... That are up here

just because it's such a long construction that there are not many opportunities you

get to actually use it. So: "having been" - pla... Plas? Plus, I meant to say: "plus"

- the past participle.

For example: "I'm still angry about having been fired by

her." So your boss, let's say she fired you. She,

you know, said: "You can't work at this company anymore." And you're still angry about it.

So I'm angry now about something that happened in the past. I received the action of firing,

so I'm still angry about having been fired in the past. Clear? Yeah?

Okay, one more: "Aren't you upset about having been lied to?"

So you were lied to by a person, by someone, they lied to you. You received the action.

"Having been lied to". And again, in this construction, "having been" plus...

Plus past participle, "having" functions as the gerund.

Whoo, okay, so that's a lot. Right? So, as I mentioned, if you want to understand the

various uses of gerunds which is a super complicated, large grammatical topic, and especially for

advanced speakers, you guys should be becoming more familiar with this - check out my previous

video, and then come back, look at this again. And if you have gotten this far, please check

out the quiz down below and test your knowledge. As well, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube

channel. And I'll see you guys next time. See ya.