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Section 11.3.6.2

Gerunds

A gerund is a nonfinite verb form used as a noun. It consists of the presentparticiple of the verb and functions in the waysother nouns function:

  • As the object of a verb or a preposition

    • A variety of experiments were loadedonto the Viking spacecraft in the hopes of detecting thetelltale signs of microbial life: growth, food consumption, and wasteproduction.

    --Kai Wu, "Artificial Life," SciTech Magazine (modified)

  • As the subject of a sentence

    • Giving machines the ability to replicate and mutateallowed for further complexity and would unleash the powerful and unpredictableforces of evolution.

    --Kai Wu, "Artificial Life," SciTech Magazine

Use the possessive case form for a noun or personal pronoun that modifies a gerund.

Modern society's altering the hydrology of theEverglades has profoundly affected the ecology of the region.

--Norman Boucher, "Back To the Everglades," Technology Review(modified)

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