Quick Grammar Question

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I'm confused with the whole gerund vs infinitive thing. Can you clarify whether the words in the parentheses are gerunds or infinitive? Also, can you explain why?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Flaubert attempted to achieve stylistic perfection in his novels (by rewriting) each sentence ten times</p></li>
<li><p>The panelists at the conference are responsible both for presenting original research and (for responding) to questions about its potential applications.</p></li>
<li><p>Artists are not frequently associated with domestic serenity, (making) literary families cells of both inspiration and psychological investigation. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I bought The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar by Erica Meltzer, and it does a poor job of explaining the whole gerund vs infinitive thing. </p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>Gerunds are -ing words, whereas infinitives are “to ____”</p>

<p>Gerunds tend to be used when actions are real, fixed, or completed.</p>

<p>Infinitives tend to be used when actions are unreal, abstract, or future.</p>

3

<p>yep, literatechild hit nail on the head.</p>

<p>infinitive: to swim
gerund: swimming</p>

<p>if you take spanish/french, it is just like what we call the infinitives (and what they mean) in those languages.</p>

4

<p>Oh sorry, I meant to say:</p>

<p>Gerunds vs present participle</p>

5

<p>Anybody? Gerunds vs present participle?</p>

6

<p>It may help to think of gerunds simply as a subgroup of participles.</p>

<p>When a present participle functions as a noun, it is called a gerund. Participles (or participial phrases) function primarily as adjectives.</p>

<p>I am a big fan of Erica’s book, but I admit that this area is skimmed over quickly and that she throws the term “gerund” around a little loosely.</p>

<p>The baby was crying. (Gerund, crying is a noun)</p>

<p>I heard the crying baby. (Participle, crying is an adjective)</p>

<p>I’m not sure how useful this distinction is for the SAT. On the Identifying Sentence Errors questions, the present participle and infinitive verb forms are sometimes used incorrectly in each others place. Spotting errors depends on knowing which is correct idiomatically. in other cases, gerunds are used in place of verbs to create fragments or otherwise suboptimal sentences. </p>

<p>It is not necessary to identify gerund vs participle to get these questions correct.</p>

7

<p>Better example… </p>

<p>I like singing. (singing is a noun-gerund)</p>

<p>I need singing lessons. (singing is an adjective-present participle)</p>

8

<p>Ok, I’m glad that I don’t necessarily need to identify gerund vs participle to get the questions correct.</p>

<p>However, I am still confused about the 3 sentences in my first post. I don’t understand how she makes the distinction between gerund and present participle in those sentences.</p>