Tricks for Telling a Gerund From a Participle

Gerund: Look at the Appearance and Location

• A gerund ends in "-ing" and functions as a noun. Do not assume because a word ends in "-ing" it is a gerund. A gerund acts as a noun, so it will be in a noun position, such as the subject, direct object, predicate word or object of a preposition. It can be the subject; in "Running is Janie's passion," "Running" is the subject. It can be the direct object; in "James enjoys racing late at night," "racing" is the direct object. It can be the predicate word; in "Jackson's best sport is cycling," "cycling" is the predicate word. It can be the object of a preposition; in "Jason won a medal for swimming," "swimming" is objective of the preposition "for." Look for gerunds in these positions.

Participle: Look at the Appearance and Location

• A participle almost always ends in "-ed" or "-ing" and always functions as an adjective. A present participle ends in "-ing" and a past participle ends in "-ed," and sometimes "-en," "-d," "-t," "-n," or "-ne." An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun, so look for a participle to be around one. For instance, in the sentence "The broken vase upset my mom," "broken" is the past participle modifying the noun "vase." In the sentence, "The working motorcycle elated my father," "working" is the present participle modifying the noun "motorcycle."

Gerund: Look at the Phrase

• A gerund phrase includes the gerund and its modifiers, complements and objects. The gerund phrase then serves as a noun, and will hold the positions of a noun. In the sentence,

  "Running for city council made Randy tired," "Running for city council" is a gerund phrase acting as the subject. Note that gerund phrases rarely have punctuation with them.

Participle: Look at the Phrase

• If a word ends in "-ed" or "-ing," look at the words that comprise its phrase, or its modifiers, complements and objects. A participial phrase will not be in the location of a gerund. Instead, it is often at the start of the sentence and followed by a comma. In the sentence, "Scared by the loud noise, Tom jumped from his chair," "Scared by the loud noise" is a participial phrase modifying the noun "Tom." A comma also follows it. Sometimes commas surround the entire participial phrase: "Bonnie, tired from swimming all day, fell asleep on the couch."