[Grammar] Gerunds

[marijancad]

I have to teach a class on Gerunds to an early intermediate class. This will be the first time they encounter this topic and infinitives will not be covered until the following week. I am trying hard to find an interesting, uncomplicated way to introduce this topic. Can someone suggest something, please? Thanks.

 

[Heterological]

Have they encountered the progressive tense yet? The most important thing for them to understand is that gerunds are nouns, even though they look just like those progressive/continuous verbs. The easiest way to tell the difference is to look for a form of "to be" before the word ending in -ing. Create a text that contains both gerunds and progressive verbs and ask them to circle or underline only the gerunds.