[Grammar] when chasing prey

[Oceanlike]

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals and can reach speeds up to 75 miles per hour when chasing prey.

In the above sentence, the word "chasing" looks like a gerund. Is it a gerund? If so, please help me to understand why it is a gerund.

 

[GoesStation]

A gerund functions as a noun. Can you find a noun that can grammatically replace "chasing"?

 

[Oceanlike]

Yes, I know that gerund functions as a noun.

I don't understand your question: Can you find a noun that can grammatically replace "chasing"?

 

[GoesStation]

Can you put a noun in the following blank and make a grammatical sentence?

Cheetahs can reach speeds up to 75 miles per hour when ______ prey.

 

[Tarheel]

Google tells me that cheetahs can run 58 MPH in short bursts. (It's usually rounded up to 60.) Please tell me where you found 75 MPH as top speed for cheetahs.
:?:

 

[jutfrank]

Why do you need to know this, Oceanlike?

Are you trying to understand the sentence? Or are you wondering something about the structure? Tell us why you're asking.

 

[Oceanlike]

Can you put a noun in the following blank and make a grammatical sentence?

Cheetahs can reach speeds up to 75 miles per hour when ______ prey.

No, I'm unable to put a noun there.

 

[Oceanlike]

Google tells me that cheetahs can run 58 MPH in short bursts. (It's usually rounded up to 60.) Please tell me where you found 75 MPH as top speed for cheetahs.
:?:

Ohhhh, I don't remember where

 

[Oceanlike]

Why do you need to know this, Oceanlike?

Are you trying to understand the sentence? Or are you wondering something about the structure? Tell us why you're asking.

I'm trying to understand "gerund" better. Oftentimes, I see it being used and I will ask myself how is this a gerund.

Structures like: "Golfing is my hobby." or "I like golfing" are okay, as in I understand why "golfing" is a gerund, a noun.

In other structures, I tend to wonder how it is a gerund and not a verb.

 

[Rover_KE]

Please tell me where you found 75 MPH as top speed for cheetahs.
:?:

Oh, I don't remember where.

Whenever you see a sentence you want to ask us about, Oceanlike, always make a note of the source, please,

 

[Oceanlike]

Whenever you see a sentence you want to ask us about, Oceanlike, always make a note of the source, please,

Okay. Actually, I wrote this from somewhere some years ago. I was looking through some files and decided to ask.

 

[teechar]

In the above sentence, the word "chasing" looks like a gerund. Is it a gerund?

You're right to suspect that it is not a gerund. It is an -ing participle.

Here's the unshortened sentence.

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals, and they can reach speeds up to 75 miles per hour when they are chasing prey.
The underlined part is an adverbial clause of time.

Take a look at the following links to learn about reducing adverbial clauses.
https://www.thoughtco.com/reduced-adverb-clauses-1211106
https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2020/01/07/reducing-adverbial-time-clauses/

 

[Tarheel]

To put it simply, you omit the words you don't need. (Of course, you have to know what those words are.)