Grammar skills are tested comprehensively by GMAT Verbal Sentence Correction questions. The way in which to best prepare for the Sentence Correction questions is study grammar extensively.

In this post, we will review gerunds and gerund phrases. We’ll look at some examples of each one, and then go over some example questions, similar to what you might find on the GMAT Verbal exam.

Sound good? Let’s do it!

What is a Gerund?

A gerund may not be a familiar word. You may think you don’t know what a gerund is. They are very common in written and spoken English. As defined, a gerund is an English noun formed from a verb by adding -ing. A gerund can be a subject, direct object, or an object of a prepositional phrase.

To make things simple, every single gerund you ever see will end in –ing. But they aren’t that easy to identify. Not all words that end in –ing are a gerund. Present participles also end in –ing. Since that is the case, it would be helpful to define and identify present participles, so we can tell them apart.

As defined a present participle is a verb form that ends in –ing and that is used with be to refer to an action that is happening at the time of speaking or a time spoken of.

Let’s unpack what those definitions mean, and how to distinguish between a gerund and a present participle by looking at some examples.

Gerund Examples for the GMAT:

Gerund: Studying for the GMAT takes up a great deal of Rob’s free time.

– The word studying is the subject of the sentence.

Present participle: We were studying all night last night.

– Were studying, with were as the past progressive verb, and studying as the present participle.

Gerund: If you want to score above a 700 on the GMAT, you should continue studying.

– Studying is the direct object of continue.

Present participle: It would serve you well to find a studying partner.

– Studying is a present participle that modifies partner.

Gerund: To do well on the GMAT, you must devote a lot of time to studying.

– Swimming is an object of the preposition to.

Does that provide some clarity on what is a gerund and what is a present participle? Just in case you’re still getting comfortable with gerunds, here are some additional examples of gerunds:

More GMAT Gerund Examples:

Cooking is the way in which Miguel relaxes.

– Cooking is the subject of the sentence.

If you don’t want to have knee surgery, you will need to stop running.

– Running is the direct object of stop.

Below is an example of a gerund from literature:

Gerund Example from Literature:

“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.”  ― John Green, Looking for Alaska

– Suffering is an object of the preposition of.

Hopefully, you feel good about understanding what a gerund is from the lesson above. Next we’ll move onto a similar part of speech – the gerund phrase.

What is a Gerund Phrase?

A gerund phrase, firstly, contains a gerund. When you are looking to determine if a sentence has a gerund phrase, the first think you will scan for is a word ending in –ing. A gerund phrase, like a gerund, is used as a noun. One way to determine if you are dealing with a gerund phrase is to replace the phrase with a noun that fits with the sentence. If it makes sense, you are looking at a gerund phrase.

A gerund phrase is a gerund, along with its object and anything that modifies the gerund. A gerund phrase could be based on a direct object, a prepositional phrase, an adverb, or an adverbial phrase.

Let’s move on to some examples so that you are up-to-speed on how you may see these while you are completing your GMAT Verbal Sentence Correction questions.

GMAT Verbal Sentence Correction Examples:

Dropping all of the bags that she was carrying was frustrating for Rose.

– Dropping all of the bags is the subject of the sentence. Also, if you use the method of removing the gerund phrase from the sentence to determine if the phrase is a gerund phrase, and replacing with a noun, the phrase passes the gerund noun test.

Her mom said, “I better find you sleeping in your bed.”

– Sleeping in your bed is the gerund phrase, and is a direct object of find.

The girl thought she was above laughing out loud.

– Laughing out loud is the object of the proposition above.

The children were dancing like nobody is watching.

– The children were dancing is a direct object of is.

Next we’ll look at an example of a question similar to what you might find on the GMAT Verbal Sentence Correction questions.

But first, a note on practice questions, so that you can practice the grammar concepts that you have learned. The best way to begin getting used to the parts of speech tested by GMAT grammar is to practice. You can find lots of practice questions for the GMAT here. It is organized by GMAT Verbal, GMAT Quantitative, and GMAT IR, along with the subcategories within each section. Off to the right, you can easily click on a tag for an area you would like to focus on. In this case, you’ll want to click on Sentence Corrections underneath GMAT Verbal and then hit the Practice button. Or, you can simply follow this link. You’ll find questions here that include the concepts discussed in this post.

On to another GMAT example from Albert.io:

Preparing rigorous lessons, gathering essential materials, as well as to teach in an effective way allowed the teacher to engage students at a high level.

A. as well as to teach in an effective way

B. teaching in an effective way

C. teaching in an affective way

D. besides teaching in an effective way

E. and teaching in an effective way

F. besides teaching in an effective way

The gerund phrases in this sentence are preparing rigorous lessens, gathering essential materials, and teaching in an effective way. These are all direct objects of the word allowed.

Have you come up with the correct answer to the question?

Choice E is the correct choice. Choice E is the choice in which preparing, gathering, and teaching end in the same way for sake of parallelism

Choice A is incorrect because it is not a parallel structure, and is also overly wordy.

Choice B is incorrect because it is the last in a list, and offers no conjunction.

Choice C does not offer a conjunction either, and also uses an incorrect word. Effective is the proper word to use in this situation, whereas affective is the word that was used.

Choice D, with the word besides, makes it appear as if teaching in an effective way is somehow separate or different than the other two items in the list. However, all items in the list should be listed in a similar way.

Since gerund phrases can be tricky, especially distinguishing them from present participle phrases, let’s try one more example:

Another GMAT Example:

In the same way as professional athletes, high school athletes have rigorous schedules which include attending daily practices, participating in games three times a week, lifting weights every day, and they must attend community service projects.

A. attending daily practices, participating in games three times a week, lifting weights every day, and they must attend community service

B. attending daily practices, participate in games three times a week, lift weights every day, and attend community service

C. attending daily practices, participating in games three times a week, lifting weights every day, and attending community service

D. attending daily practices, participating in games three times a week, lifting weights every day, or they must attend community service

E. attend daily practices, participate in games three times a week, lift weights every day, or they must attend community service

The correct choice is Choice C. Choice C incorporates parallelism, as attending, participating, lifting, and attending are all in agreement.

Choices A and B are not parallel, as they must attend disagrees with the other words on the list. In Choice B attending is a gerund, but the rest of the words on the list are not.

Choice D is not parallel, and the conjunction is incorrectly an or versus an and.

Choice E contains an or instead of an and as the conjunction.

Did you find the gerund phrase or phrases in this example? Attending daily practices, participating in games three times a week, lifting weights every day, and attending community service are all gerund phrases.

Why Should We Study Gerunds and Gerund Phrases?

In general, it is a good idea to be familiar with grammar, and these parts of speech fall into that category. However, since this is a GMAT blog, you might be interested in why it is important to understand these grammatical styles as they relate to the GMAT. The GMAT Verbal Sentence Correction questions will assuredly include adjectives, adjectival phrases, and adjectival clauses. The more comfortable you are using these parts of speech, the more successful you will be in understanding the correct answers to these Sentence Correction questions. You will also be able to use in the Analytical Writing Assessment, which will serve you well as you write your argument, and will demonstrate your command of the English language.

You’ve learned a lot about gerunds and gerund phrases today, but you’ve also learned about present participles, subjects, direct objects, and objects of prepositional phrases. It can be tough to determine whether a word is a gerund or a present participle, or if a phrase is a gerund phrase or present participle phrase.

The more comfortable you get with these different types of speech, the better. It will help you answer GMAT Verbal Sentence Correction – without guessing and without spending tons of time on one particular question.

Let’s put everything into practice. Try this GMAT practice question:

Looking for more GMAT practice?

You can find thousands of practice questions on Albert.io. Albert.io lets you customize your learning experience to target practice where you need the most help. We’ll give you challenging practice questions to help you achieve mastery of the GMAT.

Start practicing here.