Gerund vs Present Participle: What’s the Difference?

Gerund vs Present Participle: What’s the difference?

Do you sometimes get confused between a gerund and a present participle?

Most people do. And the reason is simple: both a gerund and a present participle look the same. Both a gerund and a present participle are progressive forms of a verb (V1+ing) that work differently.

What is the difference between a gerund and a present participle?

The difference between a gerund and a present participle is simple: a gerund is an ‘ing’ form of a verb that functions as a noun, and a present participle is an ‘ing’ form of a verb that functions as a verb. of action or an adjective.

Just focus on the following two things to figure out the difference between a gerund and a present participle:

• If an ‘ing’ form of a verb (V1+ing) acts as a noun, call it a gerund.
• If an ‘ing’ form of a verb (V1+ing) acts as a verb or an adjective, call it a present participle.

Let’s take the ‘ing’ form of a verb and see how it can be both a gerund (noun) and a present participle (verb or adjective).

TEACHING: it can be a gerund or a present participle.

Examples of ‘teaching‘ as a gerund (noun)

• Teaching is my passion. (subject)
  (The action is teaching is not happening in the sentence; we are just talking about it. Teaching is working as a noun.)
• I love teaching. (object of the verb)
• Everyone is not interested in teaching. (object of the preposition ‘in’)
• Your teaching is amazing. (object of the possessive adjective ‘your’)
• My love is teaching. (subject complement)

In all the above examples, ‘teaching’ is working as a noun.

Examples of ‘teaching‘ as a present participle (adjective or verb):

• It is a teaching job.
  (Teaching is working as an adjective here. It is modifying the noun job, telling us what type of job it is)
• He is teaching school students right now.
  (Here, the action of teaching is happening. Teaching is working as an action verb.)

More examples of present participles:

• Look at the burning train. (burning = adjective, modifying the noun ‘train’)
• The girl dancing on the stage is my sister. (dancing= adjective, modifying the noun ‘girl’)
• This movie is exciting. (dancing= adjective, modifying the noun ‘girl’)
• She is burning her bag. (action verb)
• We were dancing last night. (action verb)

Positions of a gerund and a present participle

Esta es una forma más de averiguar la diferencia entre un gerundio y un participio presente. Mira la posición de una forma progresiva de un verbo para averiguar si es un gerundio o un participio presente.

Gerund positions in a sentence

1. Before a main verb (action or linking).
   (As the subject)
2. After an action verb (transitive).
   (As the object of a verb)
3. After a linking verb.
   (As the subject complement)
4. After a preposition.
   (As the object of a preposition)
5. After a possessive adjective.
   (As the object of a possessive adjective)

Gerund examples:

• Dancing makes me happy. (Before the main verb ‘makes‘)
• I hate dancing. (After the main verb ‘hate‘)
• I am not thinking about dancing. (After the preposition ‘about‘)
• My passion is dancing. (After the linking verb ‘is‘)
• Everyone loves your dancing. (After the possessive adjective your)

Position of a present participle

1. Just before a noun
2. Just after a noun
3. After a linking verb (main verb)

Examples:

• Look at the burning train. (before the noun modified)
• The girl dancingon the stage is my sister. (after the noun modified)
• This movie is exciting. ((after the linking verb)

Note: there is no advice on how to tell the difference between a gerund and a present participle when they are followed by a linking verb. You just need to look at your function in that case. A gerund (noun) will change the noun of the subject and a present participle (adjective) will modify the subject.

• My passion is dancing. (renaming the subject ‘passion‘)
• Ashish is exciting. (modifying the subject)

It can be an action verb too.

• Ashish is dancing. (action verb)

Gerund vs Present participle difference chart

Difference between gerund and present participle

Basic of difference	Gerund	Present participle
Definition	A gerund in English is a progressive form (ing) of a verb that works as a noun in a sentence.	A present participle in English is a verb form that works as an adjective or as a verb in a sentence.
Types	A gerund can play the following roles: 1. The subject 2. The object of a verb 3. The object of a preposition 4. The object of a possessive adjective 5. The subject complement	A present participle does have any types.
Functions	A gerund functions only as a noun. Ex– Teaching is my passion.	A present participle can function either as a verb or as an adjective. Examples: 1. He is teaching English. (verb) 2. I hate teaching jobs. (adjective)
Position	A gerund can take the following places: 1. Before the main verb (linking or action verb) 2. After an action verb (transitive) 3. After a preposition 4. After a possessive adjective 5. After the main verb (linking verb) Examples: 1. Teaching is fun. (before the main verb) 2. I love teaching. (after an action verb) 3. He is passionate about teaching. (after a preposition) 4. Your teaching is amazing. (after a possessive adjective) 5. My passion is dancing. (after the main verb)	A present participle can take the following places: 1. Before a noun 2. After a noun 3. After a main verb (linking verb) Examples: 1. It was a motivating movie. (adjective) 2. Look at the burning train. (adjective) 3. The movie was exciting. (adjective) 4. He is motivating the class. (verb)

 

Another trick to find out the difference between a gerund and a present participle