Infinitive and Gerund

This is the next or final entry on those wicked-ing forms of the verb (the Gerund).

You may have wondered why I made the infinitives red in this table of irregular verbs.  Infinitives are the names of the verbs.  Our word ‘noun’ comes from the Latin word nom, which means ‘name’.  Nouns are the names of people, places, things and IDEAS, ideas such as ‘freedom’, ‘honor’ and ‘beauty’.  The infinitive is the name of the verb that encompasses all of the ideas and tenses of the verb; we use it as a noun.

Infinitive	Simple Present	Simple Past	Past Perfect	Present Progressive
to let	let, lets	let	has let	is letting
to put	put, puts	put	has put	is putting
to know	know, knows	knew	has known	is knowing
to fly	fly, flies	flew	has flown	is flying
to go	go, goes	went	has gone	is going
to take	take, takes	took	has taken	is taking
to give	give, gives	gave	has given	is giving
to have	have, has	had	has had	is having
to be	am, is, are	was, were	has been	is being

A.  The Infinitive as a Noun. 

1.  An infinitive is used as a noun as the subject or subjective complement or object of a verb.  Remember that a verbal will take its own modifiers and objects.  Note also the application of the Rule of Parallelism.

B.  The Gerund as a Noun. 

1.  A gerund is the idea of the action as it is happening.  When you want a picture of an action, you will have better luck googling the image of the gerund than of the infinitive. 

It is used as a noun as the subject or subjective complement or object of a verb.  Remember that a verbal will take its own modifiers and objects.  Note also the application of the Rule of Parallelism.