2017-09-27 Grammar: gerunds intro

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: p. 100 exercise 12 - Complete these sentences with your own ideas.
1 Most people can be trusted to raise a child.
2 Children should be allowed to give their ideas.
3 All teachers should be encouraged to give more homework.
4 Noisy people should be told to leave the classroom.
5 Teenagers should be warned not to smoke.
6 Students should be expected to get good grades.
7 Guests should be invited to go for dinner.
8 Rich people should be required to help poor people.
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Gerunds = verb(ing) form, used like a noun to talk about the action of doing the verb
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verb(ing) can also be a participle, an adjective, or a regular noun:
gerund: Spelling some words is difficult in English.
participle: I keep spelling this word wrong.
adjective: The teacher is very boring.
noun: There are a few different spellings for this word.
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Handout (Grammar Dimensions 3) p. 108 - Like infinitives, gerunds can be negative, perfect, and passive (Perfect gerunds are uncommon and progressive gerunds don’t really exist.)
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p. 110 exercise 3 - Ask your partner questions to find out this information.
1 She enjoys sleeping on the weekends.
  He enjoys not studying English.
2 She hates cooking. (She hates to cook.)
  He doesn’t mind other people playing with him. She doesn’t mind other people arriving late.
3 She likes giving help to other people. He likes giving his seat to old people on the train.
  She likes other people giving her money.
4 Attending college requires arriving early.
  Attending college in the US requires having taken the TOEFL.
	(It’s more common to just say, “...requires taking the TOEFL,” but we can use a perfect gerund here.)
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I don’t enjoy doing homework on the weekends.
= I sometimes do homework on the weekends, and I don’t enjoy it.
I enjoy not doing homework on the weekends.
= I never do homework on the weekends, and this makes me happy.
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It’s (almost?) never necessary to use a perfect gerund, but sometimes it is with an infinitive, because the meaning is different.
He appears to be in a fight. = He looks like he’s in a fight right now.
He appears to have been in a fight. = He looks like he was in a fight before now.
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Using nouns and pronouns with gerunds:
I hate complaining about other people. = I complain, but I hate it.
I hate his complaining about other people = He complains, and I hate it.
I can’t understand being so serious. = I can’t understand when anyone is so serious.
I can’t understand hisbeing so serious. = He is so serious, and I can’t understand it.
I don’t approve of talking in class. = I don’t approve of anyone talking in class.
I don’t approve of his talking in class. = I don’t approve of it when he talks in class.
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Use possessives before gerunds, not object pronouns.
I’ve seen his driving. I don’t want to be anywhere near him in a car.
	= I’ve seen the driving that he does.
I’ve seen him driving. He must have a license.
	= I’ve seen him while he was driving.
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Homework: exercise 4