Gerund phrases begin with a gerund, an ing-word and may include other modifies and/or objects. A gerund phrase always functions as a noun and may act as: a subject, a subject complement, an object (direct and indirect), an object of a preposition or appositive.
A gerund phrase looks exactly as a present participle phrase, but the two phrases play different roles in a sentence. A gerund will behave as a noun whereas a present participle as an adjective.
I like reading a good book. A gerund phrase, I like what? - reading, a noun - is a direct object of liking, and a book is an indirect object.
Reading a book, Peter forgot about the chicken in the oven. In this sentence a phrase 'reading a book' modifies Peter and therefore acts as an adjective.
Reading a good book is the best pastime in the winter. Here the same phrase functions as a noun, the subject of a sentence.
He had only one desire, leaving for home. A gerund phrase acts here as an appositive (renaming the desire).
A very important skill for passing GCSE is being a master of PEED; it surely helps to organise thoughts and write in proper English.
Albeit the structure seems very easy, putting it into practise needs some time and attempts in writing using this model. English teachers love PEED and expect us to use this during exams and assessments; also this is their favourite paragraph structure with a slight difference that the last point - development should lead to the next idea, explained in the next paragraph. Therefore, a 'Develop' step should incorporate some words or structures showing the transition from one idea to another.
I think that during the pressure of the exam it would be useful to note down the ideas in the PEED order and then create interesting sentences, using structures like 'one reason', 'I think', 'because' etc. I will prepare a separate post to gather some of these words.
My English teacher advised us to read at least one article a day and t…
Do you like movies? Which word should we use? To see or to watch?
Generally to watch is a now activity:
Watch the movie! (Pay attention to the movie now!)I am watching a movie.I was watching the movie when my phone rang. And to see is less time-specific:
I saw a movie.Have you seen that movie?Let's go see the movie. Note also that the use of cinema or (movie) theater depends on where you are. In the US people go to the movies, but in other places they go to the cinema.
Thus,
If you live in England you might say, "I went to the cinema to watch a movie."If you live in the US, you will say, "I went to the movies to make out with my girlfriend."
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