need your help with 'Gerund phrases'

Question

Dear members of the forum,

I was doing an exercise on gerunds in which we had to identify the gerunds or gerund phrases and tell how they function in the given sentences. I tried to do that first, but I'm not sure if I did that correctly.

Here are the sentences, teachers:

1) Swimming keeps me in shape.
[Here, we have no 'gerund phrases', but we do have a gerund 'swimming'. It's being used as a subject, preceding the verb 'keep', in the sentence. Am I right here, teachers?]

2) Swimming in your pool is always fun.
[Here, the gerund phrase is 'swimming in your pool'. It's doing the job of a noun, i.e. it's being used as a subject before the verb of being 'is'.]

[Swimming in your pool] = a gerund phrase
[swimming] = a gerund
[in your pool] = Is it a prepositional phrase as an object of the gerund 'swimming'? Or Should I call it something else, teachers?

3) Her most important achievement was winning the national championship.
[Here, 'winning the national championship' is the gerund phrase. It functions as a noun and it's a subjective complement, following the verb of being 'is', in our sentence.]

I am confused especially about the words associated with the gerund 'winning'. I mean, in the gerund phrase(winning the national championship), 'winning' is a gerund. Right, teachers? But what should I call the rest of the words in this phrase, please?

[winning the national championship] = a gerund phrase which fucntions as a noun by being a subjective complement after the verb of being 'was'. It equals the subject. Thus, 'her most important achievement' = 'winning the national championship'. (is what have been said above right, teachers?)
[winning] = a gerund
[the national championship] = ?

4) The college recommends sending applications early.

[sending applications early] = a gerund phrase which is the object of the verb 'recommends'.
[sending] = a gerund
[applications] = ?
[early] = ?

5) Fighting for a losing cause made them depressed.

Teachers, how many gerund phrases do we have in this sentence, please? Could you please highlight them?

Here is another and last one:

6) Going to work today took all my energy.

[going to work today] = a gerund phrase
[going] = a gerund
[to work today] = ?

Thank you all.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

2. Yes, "in your pool" is a prepositional phrase, but it functions as an adverbial modifier, not an object.

3. You may ask the same question about the remaining words in the gerund phrases in each of these examples.
The gerund is derived from a verb, and as such may take an object.
In "winning the national championship," "the national championship" is direct object of the verb "to win," or "winning."

5. "Fighting for a losing cause" is the only gerund phrase. "Losing" is simply an adjective here.

6. "To work" is a prepositional phrase which modifies "going" adverbially. "Today" has the same function.

The others are fine.

- A.

Laborious · Answer

First of all, thanks a lot to you, Anonymous, for your replies.

Anonymous2. Yes, "in your pool" is a prepositional phrase, but it functions as an adverbial modifier, not an object.

Isn't or can't we call it (in your pool) an object of the gerund "swimming" in the gerund phrase "swimming in your pool"?

I would like to know if, in a gerund phrase, the gerund can have/take something as an object of it.

In my fifth sentence (fighting for a losing cause made them depressed), the gerund phrase is 'fighting for a losing cause' which is the subject in my sentence. But how about 'for a losing cause'? What should I call it? 'a prepositional phrase' modifying the gerund (fighting) or 'an object of the gerund (fighting)'?

For my last example sentence which was 'Going to work today took all my energy', you said "to work" is a prepositional phrase which modifies the gerund "going" and "today" functions the same way. So, it's an adverb here?
If we put "To work" and "today" together, they become "to work today". But, would it still be correct to call it a prepositional phrase?

Thank you again.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Laborious[in your pool] = Is it a prepositional phrase as an object of the gerund 'swimming'? Or Should I call it something else, teachers?

A prepositional phrase never does the job of a noun. It is always a modifier - of a noun (adjectival function), a verb or sentence (adverbial function)

Adverbs answer questions such as when, where, how, how much, how long, and why (for what purpose).

swimming where?
swimming (in the pool)

swimming why?
swimming (for some exercise)

swimming when?
swimming (in the early morning)

swimming how?
swimming (with a flotation device)
swimming (at top speed)
(also a simple adverb)
swimming (very fast)

Laborious3) Her most important achievement was winning the national championship. [Here, 'winning the national championship' is the gerund phrase. It functions as a noun and it's a subjective complement, following the verb of being 'is', in our sentence.] I am confused especially about the words associated with the gerund 'winning'. I mean, in the gerund phrase(winning the national championship), 'winning' is a gerund. Right, teachers? But what should I call the rest of the words in this phrase, please?

Objects answer the question "what?"
If the verb is finite, the object can be switched between the subject position and the object position. The "voice" of the verb needs to be changed from active to passive:

Tom won the national championship. (What did Tom win?)
The national championship was won by Tom.

This pattern is carried on to gerunds. As a verb form, they can have objects.

"winning the national championship" (Finite verb = (he was) winning ...)

Sometimes they have subject, but the subject is in the possessive case.

Tom's winning the national championship for the team was a great honor.

I think you can figure out the others.

Laborious · Answer

Thank you very much, dear Alphecca stars, for your clear and helpful explanation.

So, gerunds can have 'subjects' as well as 'objects'.
In the "winning the national championship", the phrase "the national championship" functions as an object of the gernd "winning". And in our "Tom's winning the national championship for the team"...

[Tom's] = subject for the gerund 'winning'?
[winning] = gerund.
[the national championship] = object for the gerund 'winning'?
[for the team] = a prepositional phrase, playing the role of an adverb?

need your help with 'Gerund phrases'

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