Gerunds — “Doing”

A verb’s ing form that functions like a noun is called a gerund. It is translated as “doing” and becomes the subject, object, or complement of a sentence. It resembles the noun usage of infinitives, but there are differences in how they are used.

Basic Rules

A gerund is simply the ing form of a verb. It functions as the subject, object, or complement of a sentence. The pattern in which it is the object of a verb is especially common.
It is most important to memorize verbs such as enjoy, finish, stop, mind, give up, avoid, practice, and suggest, which take only gerunds as their objects. They take a gerund, as in “I enjoyed playing tennis.”
A gerund must also follow a preposition (a preposition + the base form of a verb is not possible; a preposition + verb-ing is required): “good at swimming” and “Thank you for helping me.”

Points to Note

① Verbs that take only gerunds as their objects (memorization required): enjoy / finish / stop / mind / give up / avoid / practice / suggest / consider / put off. “mind” means “to care,” and is also used in requests, as in Would you mind opening the window?
② Verbs that take only infinitives as their objects: want / hope / decide / try / plan / promise / agree / refuse. “I decided to study abroad.” ← decide takes only an infinitive.
③ Both are possible: like / love / hate / start / begin. “I like swimming. = I like to swim.” Both have the same meaning.
④ The meaning of stop changes: stop to do (stop in order to do) / stop doing (quit doing). “I stopped to smoke.” “I stopped smoking.”

Practice

1. Write “I finished doing my homework” in English (using finish).
2. Write “He is good at studying mathematics” in English (using good at).
3. Correct the error: I enjoyed to play soccer with my friends.