Questions: Gerunds and Infinitives

Question 1

What is the difference in meaning between 'She remembered locking the door' and 'She remembered to lock the door'?

• A. None — both sentences mean she locked the door and has a memory of doing so
• B. The first means she has a memory of having already locked it (backward-looking); the second means she didn't forget to lock it — she carried out the intended action (forward-looking)
• C. The first is grammatically incorrect; only infinitives follow 'remember'
• D. The first refers to a habitual past action; the second refers to a one-time future action

Answer: (B)

This is the clearest example of gerunds and infinitives changing meaning rather than being interchangeable. Gerunds tend to be backward-looking — referring to completed or habitual actions (she has a memory of the event). Infinitives tend to be forward-looking — referring to intended, potential, or prospective actions (she accomplished the intended task). Once you internalize this prospective/retrospective distinction, the pattern of which verbs prefer which form becomes principled rather than arbitrary.

Question 2

In the sentence 'Swimming is her favorite activity,' what grammatical function does 'swimming' serve?

• A. A present participle functioning as an adjective modifying 'activity'
• B. A gerund functioning as the subject of the sentence
• C. Part of a progressive verb phrase (she is swimming)
• D. An infinitive with the 'to' dropped for brevity

Answer: (B)

A gerund is the -ing form used as a noun. Here 'swimming' fills the subject slot — you could replace it with a noun like 'Tennis is her favorite activity.' It is NOT a present participle, which would modify a noun ('the swimming pool') or complete a progressive verb ('she was swimming'). The -ing form is identical in both cases; the function (noun vs. adjective/verb) depends on its role in the sentence.

Question 3

The same -ing verb form can function as either a gerund (noun) or a present participle (adjective or part of a verb); its grammatical function is determined by its role in the sentence, not by its form alone.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

Form and function are independent here. 'Running' in 'Running is good exercise' is a gerund (subject noun). 'Running' in 'She was running' is a present participle completing a progressive verb. 'Running' in 'the running water' is a present participle functioning as an adjective. The word looks identical in all three — only its syntactic position and role in the sentence tells you which it is. This is why the category 'verbal' is more precise than just '-ing word.'

Question 4

Gerunds and infinitives are freely interchangeable as complements of English verbs — any verb that accepts one will accept the other with the same meaning.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This is the central misconception about verbals. Many verbs are selectionally specific: 'I enjoy swimming' is correct but 'I enjoy to swim' is ungrammatical. 'I want to swim' is correct but 'I want swimming' is ungrammatical. And some verbs (stop, remember, try, forget) accept both forms but with a change in meaning, as the 'remembered' example shows. The choice between gerund and infinitive is often not interchangeable — it's constrained by the governing verb.

Question 5

How can you tell whether an -ing verb form is functioning as a gerund or a present participle, and why does the distinction matter?

Model answer: Test the function by its role in the sentence. If the -ing form fills a noun slot (subject, object, or complement of a preposition), it's a gerund — you can substitute a noun and the sentence still works. If it modifies a noun or completes a progressive verb, it's a present participle. The distinction matters because it changes how we analyze sentence structure, understand meaning, and correct grammatical errors — and because it underlies the choice of which verbal to use with specific verbs.

The substitution test is the most reliable diagnostic: replace the -ing form with an unambiguous noun. 'Swimming is fun' → 'Tennis is fun' — works, so 'swimming' is a noun (gerund). 'The swimming child' → 'The happy child' — works, so 'swimming' is an adjective (present participle). 'She was swimming' → 'She was tennis' — doesn't work, confirming it's part of a verb phrase. Form doesn't determine function; position and role do.