Learn Gerunds in English - How to Use Gerunds and Infinitives - Lesson Only

hi everyone welcome to today's live stream so  today we are going to talk about a topic that  

we talked about a little last week in uh one of  our viewers questions about gerunds so today we're  

going to do a whole lesson on that because  it's a difficult topic a kind of a confusing  

grammar point sometimes so we're going to talk  about that today so while you are coming in  

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today's lesson i'm so happy to see you guys here  today so i am going to share my screen and i am  

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okay so let's begin today we are going to  talk about gerunds uh so we're going to  

talk about what they are and how we use them  so maybe you have heard this word before  

or if you watched the live stream last week maybe  you saw a little short section about gerunds but  

it's a big topic with many parts so today let's  go ahead and talk about what they are in detail  

so let's begin so number one what  on earth is a drunt what is that  

this is a word a form that is derived  from so this means comes from derived from  

comes from let's write that there comes from  a verb but functions as a noun so it works in  

this means works in the sentence as a noun so  you might think it's a verb but the way it is  

used in a sentence is like a noun so uh in  english juron's end in ing always every time  

this is one way you can spot a girond and  we'll see some more ways later so for example  

let's take a look at this sentence running is  fun so in this sentence running is a jurund  

okay so why why is running age runt running refers  to an action right it's something we do so you may  

be thinking what is it that a verb isn't running  a verb let's take a look at this sentence again to  

see why running is a noun in this sentence so  here we have our sentence running is fun okay  

and running is our gerund right well another way  we could write this sentence is this action is fun  

and another way we could write that is this thing  is fun and remember a thing is a noun so running  

is our noun in this sentence and as we go through  our lesson today oops we will be i'll say this  

thing right so running is fun this thing  this noun is fun so this is why uh so let's  

get a little deeper and learn more about  gerunds we're going to look at a few more  

simple sentences okay here's a sentence form you  probably use in english pretty often when you  

talk about things you like so for example i like  cooking so here the subject in our sentence is i  

like is our verb and cooking is a noun or in  this case our gerund in the sentence and remember  

even though you might think oh isn't cooking  a verb well in this sentence it's the same  

as saying i like this thing so cooking is a  thing or a noun in this sentence okay let's  

look at one more well two more swimming is my  passion so here our gerund is swimming so it's  

in a different part of the sentence which we'll  talk about more so here's our gerund swimming

is is our verb and then here we have our  object my passion so here again it's the same  

as saying remember this is a noun in this  sentence this thing is my passion swimming  

is my passion so it works as a noun in this  sentence not a verb okay one more i enjoy singing  

so just like we saw with i like cooking i enjoy  singing here singing is our gerund it's a noun  

in this sentence so here i is the subject enjoy is  the verb and singing is a noun i enjoy this thing  

this noun right so what can we notice again we  can see that gerunds always end in ing cooking  

swimming singing and they can come at different  points in the sentence which we'll talk about more  

oh our last one there's four let's go caroling  so caroling is our gerund and if you don't know  

this word this is around christmas time maybe some  people will come to your door and sing christmas  

songs in english we call them christmas carols so  we might say you go caroling and here that is our  

gerund so our subject let's right you and i we  our verb go and caroling let's go do this thing  

right so caroling again here age run and we'll  talk about this more soon we often see jeromes  

after the verb go so here are a few examples and  let's look closer there are many different ways  

to use gerunds and we're going to look at four  right now so we just saw some in those sentences  

first just like the sentence running is  fun a gerund can be the subject of a verb  

running is right swimming is my passion running  is fun so gerunds can be the subject of a verb

number two jurun's can also be the object of  a verb for example uh i enjoy singing he likes  

running so it can also come after the verb in the  sentence sojourns can be the subject of a verb  

or the object of a verb pretty easy  i think and you probably use this  

already very often when you speak  english let's look at two more ways  

so we can use gerunds as the object of a  preposition so prepositions are words like  

of from and on and we typically use geron's  after a preposition i am thinking of running  

so here's our preposition of and then our  gerund running so we'll look at some more  

examples of this on the next slide it can also  be a subject complement so this means it renames  

the subject for example my new hobby is running  just like i could say running is my new hobby can  

be the subject complement which means it renames  the subject so we're going to look a little closer  

at juron's coming after prepositions so juruns  as we saw can be objects of prepositions so let's  

take a look at a few sentences so i'm going to put  them up here so let's take a look at number one  

there is no way of knowing so here are  gerund knowing comes after the preposition  

so this is uh really common in  english there is no way of knowing  

uh next sentence i learned from watching youtube  maybe for example today if you're watching  

on youtube you might tell someone i learned  english today from watching youtube so here  

we have our preposition from and because it's  a preposition after we use our gerund watching  

i learned from watching youtube i learned from  doing this thing right remember to runs are nouns  

and number three he's addicted to playing  computer games oh where'd my mouse go there we go  

okay so here we have two as our preposition  he's addicted to playing computer games okay  

so very often we see gerunds  as objects of prepositions

another thing that we see with gerunds are gerund  phrases so even what we saw back here in this  

last sentence playing computer games this all kind  of works as one phrase right i'm not just talking  

about playing i'm talking about playing computer  games it works as one phrase so we would call this  

a gerund phrase so earlier we saw a sentence  swimming is my passion and in that sentence  

swimming is our gerund is is our verb and my  passion there we have the object of the sentence  

or the subject complement so here it's i could say  swimming is my passion swimming in the ocean is my  

passion uh or swimming is my passion here swimming  in the ocean is a gerund phrase why because it  

goes together and describes one thing right so  it's not just swimming anywhere is my passion  

one phrase swimming in the ocean is my passion so  we use it together this is called a gerund phrase  

next eating a piece of pie quickly  is difficult okay so here are gerund  

can you guess it now our gerund is eating  so i could say eating quickly is difficult  

but maybe i'm really trying to focus on this  one thing this one uh gerund phrase eating a  

piece of pie quickly is difficult so here this is  a gerund phrase i can't separate them right they  

stay together and describe one thing this thing is  difficult in this sentence we also see that like  

a verb gerunds can be modified by adverbs eating  a piece of pie quickly i could do the same thing  

up here swimming in the ocean slowly is my passion  right we can also modify gerunds and run phrases  

with adverbs like you would a normal verb  so it does keep some of those verb qualities  

okay last one james avoided doing his  homework so here james is our subject  

avoid it right oh stay away is our verb and doing  is our jurund right but i don't just want to say  

james avoided doing here doing his homework is  our gerund phrase it needs to stay together and it  

describes or talks about one thing so this is very  very common swimming in the ocean eating a piece  

of pie doing his homework these stay together in  the sentence as a gerund phrase let's take a look  

at a few famous quotes with gerunds and we'll  see how they are used okay so here a quote from  

sir ralph richardson acting is merely the art of  keeping a large group of people from coughing so  

here we actually see three gerunds acting keeping  and coughing so acting is the gerund as a subject  

right just like running is fun acting is the art  of da da da keeping and coughing are the objects  

of prepositions right remember we can use like  of keeping from coughing right uh so here we see  

our gerunds here are the objects of prepositions  so these are all correct ways to use gerunds  

okay let's go ahead generosity is giving more than  you can and pride is taking less than you need so  

here we have two gerons giving and taking  and these work the same way these are subject  

complements so here oh keep losing my mouth sorry  guys there we go so here generosity is giving  

right subject complement it's replacing or another  name for our subject in the sentence generosity is  

pride is so here we use gerunds and last i love  acting it is so much more real than life so here  

this is the direct object of the verb love so we  see uh some simple ways and some more complex ways  

to use gerunds but also in these quotes you  see just how often we use gerunds in english  

okay so next we're going to look at gerunds  versus infinitives this can be a confusing point  

for english learners so today i want to show you  uh what this what these two things are and how  

to know when to use a gerund and when to use  an infinitive now first you might be thinking  

what is an infinitive an infinitive is  the base form of a verb so to and our verb  

and here in the infinitive form the verb does  not change no s no ing nothing like that just  

base form for example to run to walk to see  and so on so how do we know when to use which  

well i'm going to show you some sentences  for the next three slides and you tell me  

or try to figure out which one is correct okay  number one i suggested going to see a movie or  

i suggested to go to see a movie now in number  one we have a gerund i suggested going and in  

number two we have the infinitive i suggested  to go so which one do you think is correct

for this if you guessed number one ding  ding you are correct and why because  

only gerunds come after the verb suggest  i suggest going i suggest taking i suggest  

walking we always use a gerund after the verb  suggest okay let's do two more next one which one  

is correct i want going to school or i want to go  to school so again number one we have the gerund  

going and number two we have the infinitive i  want to go so which one do you think is correct

here number two is the correct answer and  why because only infinitives can come after  

the verb want so here we would never say i want  going i want taking no no no always an infinitive  

comes after the verb want okay last one which one  is correct i like to run or i like running so what  

do you think which one of these is correct i like  to run are infinitive or i like running our toront

well this is a little bit of a trick  question because they are both correct  

because after the verb like you can  use either an infinitive or age runt  

wow so i think this is a little confusing  right some verbs are followed by gerunds  

some verbs are followed by infinitives and  some can be followed by either gerunds or  

infinitives so how can we maybe help ourselves  to figure out which we use oh excuse me

oh i have to sneeze sorry everyone okay tip  number one how to know when to use a gerund  

or an infinitive tip number one you almost always  find a gerund after a preposition so remember our  

sentences there is no way of knowing right of is  a preposition and almost always we find a gerund  

after a preposition so let's take a look at  some examples she is afraid of flying correct  

she is afraid of to fly no right  this would be the infinitive  

form and that's wrong because of is a  preposition so we want to use our gerund

here we have the sentence we saw in our  previous example i learned from watching youtube  

correct i learned from to watch youtube  no and why because from is a preposition  

so we don't want to use the infinitive form we  want to use the gerund so this is tip number one  

we almost always use gerunds after a preposition  okay tip number two when you are talking about an  

activity doing this thing you usually use  a gerund so for example i stopped smoking  

correct i stopped to smoke wrong so here the  infinitive would actually change the meaning  

of the sentence i stopped smoking means i stopped  doing that thing i do not smoke anymore i stopped  

smoking i stopped to smoke totally changes the  meaning of the sentence this means maybe i was  

walking and then i stopped smoked and continued i  stopped to do something no here if we're talking  

about an activity we usually use age around  i stopped smoking i stopped doing this thing  

we can describe many activities by using go  before a gerund like let's go caroling let's go  

shopping right and here's one of our examples  let's go shopping or in the past tense we went  

skiing so we use uh we often use a gerund after  the different forms of go right present tense  

past tense and so on so remember those two  tips we often use a gerund after a preposition  

and we usually use gerunds when talking  about an activity okay guys we're almost  

there so here i have five sentences and i want  you to help me figure out should i use the gerund  

the infinitive form or could i maybe use both okay  here we go number one i planned on blank a car so  

would i say i planned on buying a car or i planned  on to buy a car here in number one i planned on  

buying a car and why oh where's my mouse there  we go because we have a preposition before  

on is a preposition i planned on buying  number two do you want to go blank  

do you want to go running or do you want to go  to run so here the correct answer would be do you  

want to go running remember if we're describing  an action which we often do with go we typically  

or normally use to runs do you want to go running  number three she started blank the piano last year  

so would i say she started playing the piano  or she started to play the piano last year  

uh here we could use playing she started playing  the piano last year so in this we have a gerund  

phrase playing the piano this all stays  together right she started doing this thing  

this noun last year she started playing  the piano last year okay number four  

i like and then our verb read so what  i say i like to read or i like reading  

here we could use either i like to  read or i like reading excuse me

oh sorry guys so i like to read or i like reading  and why because with the verb like we can use the  

infinitive form or the gerund form and both are  okay okay last number five i hope blank to morocco  

and here we're using go so would i say i hope  to go to morocco or i hope going to morocco

here i hope to go just like the verb want we  can only use the infinitive form after the verb  

hope so there's a lot to remember right so we are  going to post this ppt and here is a list of all  

the different ways you can use verb so we have all  the verbs that only gerunds can follow like keep  

keep walking uh have trouble have trouble doing we  have our verbs that either a gerund or infinitive  

can come after and there's no change in meaning  like i like to run or i like running i love  

to play games or i love playing games either a  gerund or an infinitive can follow these verbs  

but it may change the meaning i forget going  or i forgot to go right a little bit different  

next we have verbs uh that are only followed  by infinitives like want i want to go i hope  

to do i've learned to fly and finally a noun  or pronoun and an infinitive can follow these  

verbs so this is here for your reference if  you want to use this list you can find it  

posted on our facebook page after the live  stream okay guys that's it for today so thank  

you for watching i'm gonna stop sharing my  screen let's see if i can do that there we go  

so there we are uh so next for the next maybe five  minutes or so i'm going to take your questions so  

let's see if you guys excuse me my allergies today  let's see if you have any questions or comments

okay let's see

oh you guys were commenting what you  thought the right answer was good job

okay i'm looking through

no no i i you have no i don't  actually i just got my vaccine  

it's just because i uh moved to america and now my  allergies so many flowers and trees it's making me  

very itchy and sneeze a lot nope no coronavirus  i promise okay let's see um ah let's see

well i don't see too many questions  today lots of good mornings um  

and oh i see thank you and i'll look at  the comment after this as well so hello  

the uh so clear and thank you very much i like  to watch the way of your teaching and speaking  

so actually your comment is great here  you use the infinitive i like to watch  

we could also say i like watching right both are  correct okay let's see if we have anything else

let's see um it looks like actually we  we don't really have many questions today  

still looking looking looking thank you  guys for watching uh what is an adverb  

thank you for asking and again maybe in the  future i will do a lesson all about adverbs  

adverbs are words that modify or change  the meaning of other verbs and even other  

adverbs and so on so for example uh let's  think of a sentence like i run okay i run  

now if i add an adverb to that sentence it  changes the meaning for example i run quickly  

right changes the meaning it modifies the verb or  changes the meaning of the verb i could also say  

i run slowly right changes the meaning so  we can use this with many different verbs  

that's where we often see it but we also saw  it in today's lesson with age runt what what  

was it maybe something like oh eating a piece  of pie quickly is difficult doing this thing

not just doing this thing doing this thing quickly  so it can change the meaning of different gerund  

phrases verbs and so on so we'll talk about  adverbs more but one thing to note many adverbs  

end in l y quickly slowly um and so on so not  not all adverbs but often if you see them in  

a sentence you'll notice many have l y and they  change the meaning of that verb so thank you for  

asking juan wants to know which accent do i have  um i think i have a normal american accent i don't  

have uh really any specific place in america just  maybe average american accent okay anything else  

oh when do we use like doing and like to do  i see thank you so much for your question we  

can use them at this we can use them but we would  say interchangeably so we can use them same time  

any time the verb like can be used with a gerund  like i like running i like walking i like singing  

we can also use i like to run i like  to walk i like to sing same meaning  

so like and love and some other verbs that you  can see on the ppt after we post it we can use  

like verb ing and like two verb in its same  meaning so we can use both of them just the same  

one thing is make sure you don't make the mistake  of saying like i like go make sure it's always  

like ing right like in your gerund or i like  to go i like in the infinitive so thank you for  

your question okay guys i think that that's it for  today so thank you very much for tuning in to our  

lesson today on gerunds this is a complex topic  or difficult topic with many different parts so  

i encourage you to go back and watch again or any  parts that were confusing right and you can keep  

posting your comments and questions and that's it  guys so i'll see you next week thank you so much