What is the difference between a gerund and a participle?

Participles and gerunds both come from verbs but are different in that the participle is a form of verb, and a gerund is a form of noun. However, they both look exactly the same, and this can cause confusion.

This article will examine the difference between the gerund and the particle, identify the root of each form, and what we use them for.

What is a verb?

A verb is a doing word and is the engine of a sentence. Without a verb, the sentence can’t ‘go’. One verb can state the action, but we commonly add more verbs as we try to clarify what we want to say:

I write.

I am writing.

I was going to write something yesterday morning.

We can alter the form of a verb. There are five verb forms: the root verb (write), the third person form (wrote), the singular (writes), the present participle (writing), and the past participle (written).

The different verb forms, or the engines, drive the sentence so it can deliver its meaning effectively.

What is a participle?

A participle is a verb form that describes a continuous action: she is writing. It needs other verbs to help it though (such as is), and these continuous actions can be in the present, past, or future.

Present participles end in ing, but they describe the action rather than the topic.

He is writing. Here, the verb is “is writing”. He is apparently writing continuously and in the present time, so the verb is formed with the present participle writing.

What is a gerund?

A gerund is a verb form, but it functions as a noun. Gerunds also always end in “ing”, but they describe the topic rather than the action.

She likes writing. Here, the topic she likes is writing. The verb in this sentence is “likes”, and the noun is writing.

It is possible to use both forms in the same sentence. Also, note the use of “writing” as an adjective in writing class.

Yesterday, I was writing (P) an essay in writing (A) class, when I realized for the first time that I really like writing (G).

Summary

Gerunds and participles are tricky to distinguish because they both look exactly the same. However, by looking more closely at a sentence, it is possible to locate and identify the true function of each of these forms.

Note that gerunds can have a different meaning when describing languages that are not English.