English Café: Using gerunds in our writing

Advanced Details: Using gerunds in our writing

A gerund is a word that is created with a verb but functions as a noun, always ending in -ing.

Gerunds can be used after certain verbs including enjoy, fancy, discuss, dislike, finish, mind, suggest, recommend, keep, and avoid. They are also used after prepositions of place and time.

• They discussed increasing manpower after lunch.
• She made the manpower decision before leaving EnCo.
• He looked unhappy after seeing his work schedule.

Gerunds are also great words for document titles and email subject lines.