Hello, Rosie. Gerunds You can use an infinitive as the subject, object, or complement in a sentence. and indirect object, and identifying those within a sentence, but first, I suppose we should figure out what those things are. But a gerund phrase works as a noun whereas a present participle phrase works as an adjective/adverb in a sentence. Is it in some form an adverb which describes the verb gave? Direct link to sophia.moonm's post also can indirect/direct , Posted 9 months ago. Direct link to Johanna's post Every subject, direct obj, Posted 9 months ago. Here is another example: "Painting portraits is my passion." "The Difference Between Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives." direct object, the frisbee. In this sentence, the word 'Running' is the subject. Example 1: Lighting the candles helped the mood. Here is an example: "Exercising is a way to strengthen your heart." Direct link to is's post "Thank you, Rory, for sen, Posted 6 years ago. So, nothing can be in front of the subject? Graduate Scholarships and Fellowships, Frequently Asked Questions What are the relationships between the components of this sentence? object, which is a gift card. WebGerunds function as nouns. A gerund is a word that is formed by addingingat the end of an action verb. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Heres an example of a gerund being used as the object complement: Object complements describe or rename the direct object. However, as subjects or complements, gerunds usually sound more like normal, spoken English, whereas infinitives sound more abstract. Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks. Gerunds as Complements An indirect object is an optional part of a sentence; its the recipient of an action. Direct link to David Alexander's post Your sample sentence, "Ja, Posted 4 years ago. Most students face problems with gerund phrases. But, what if we have the sentence Althea threw me a frisbee? Thus, gerunds will be subjects, subject complements, direct objects , indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Usually, the main verb in the sentence determines whether you use a gerund or an infinitive. McDaniel College Writing Center By the second month of the drought, the river had run dry.