which word in the sentence is a gerund
Sometimes a word or phrase appears to be a verb when, in fact, itâs something else. Itâs important to look at the function that a word or phrase plays in a sentence before determining its part of speech. A gerund is a verb form that ends in -ing. A gerund phrase includes the gerund, plus any modifiers and complements. Gerunds and gerund phrases always function as nouns. They can act as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nominatives, or objects of a preposition in a sentence. To determine whether a word or phrase is functioning as a gerund versus a present participle, try replacing it with the word something. If something works in the sentence, then the word or phrase is a gerund. Climbing is not as easy as it looks. (Climbing is the gerund. It acts as a subject in the sentence.)