Improve Your Grammar: 4 ways to use -ING words in English

Words that end in "ing" can be verbs, nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Understanding the function of a word will help you decide whether it should end in -ing or not. In this lesson, I will teach you about the different uses of -ing words, and about their functions within sentences. By the end of the video, you will have a much better understanding of -ing words and will be able to form proper sentences with them. After watching, try my quiz at http://www.engvid.com/4-ways-to-use-ing-words-in-english/ to make sure you've understood everything.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi again. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's lesson we're going to look at some grammar points that is very, very important, mostly because it's very confusing to a lot of people. We're going to look at the four different uses of "ing" words. Now, I don't want to say "ing" verb because that makes it a little confusing as well because the "ing"... Words that end in "ing" could be used as nouns, as verbs, as adjectives, and as adverbs. Okay? So we're going to look at how they are used in each way.

So first we are going to look at them as they are used as nouns. Now, technically, in whatever situation you're seeing an "ing" word, it's always a verb. But it could be used as a noun, in which case it is called a gerund. Now, this is a grammar word. You're never going to use this word outside of your grammar class, but in case I refer to it again: A "gerund" is an "ing" word being used as a noun.

So if we're looking at this sentence: "Wearing loose pants while riding a bicycle is dangerous." So here is your gerund. So the subject of this sentence is "wearing". The verb is "is". Okay? "Wearing is dangerous", "Wearing loose pants is dangerous", and then everything else I'll talk about in a second. Now, a gerund "ing" is basically the activity of the verb. So, "to wear" means, like, to have clothes on. Wearing a blue shirt makes me look taller, maybe. Or shorter. Because I'm on camera you can't tell. Right? Okay. "Wearing" is the activity. Smoking is the activity, running is the activity. "To run" is the idea of the action. Okay. Now, here, this word is actually not a gerund and it's not really a verb either. It's... It has the verb idea, but it is actually a participle, which we're going to talk about in a minute. Okay? So this is a participle, this is a gerund, just the activity itself. Now... So we're going to call it a noun for now.

Then we have the verb, the everyday verb in the continuous tense; past, present, future continuous. Always with a "be" verb. Okay? If you don't see an "ing" verb connected to a "be" verb then it's not a verb, it's one of the other uses. Okay? There's always going to be a "be" verb when you're using it as an actual verb, as an action. "The man is riding a bike." Right now this is what he is doing, he is riding a bicycle. Oh, sorry. I'm running still. I forgot it... The verb. Okay. So "be" verb, continuous verb, easy. That's the one everybody's the most comfortable with.

Now, we can also use it as an adjective. "Wearing a blue, backless dress, the actress created quite a stir at the party." Now, "wearing" is your participle, your active participle. We also have past participle which is in... Used in the passive form, but we're going to talk about that in a different lesson. "Wearing" here, I'm describing the actress. Okay? So if I want to open it up, if I want to write it in a different way, the actress who was wearing... Because I'm in the past, so I have "was". "The actress who was wearing a blue, backless dress created quite a stir." So the participle is just a reduced adjective clause. Okay? What I do is I take out the conjunction, the pronoun and subject, I take out the "be" verb, all I am left with is the participle. Now, because I'm... I have only the participle phrase, it's no... It's not a clause anymore, there's no subject and verb anymore, there's just a phrase - I can put it at the beginning of the sentence as long as the subject of the participle is the same as the subject of the independent clause. Okay? Now, if you're not sure what I'm talking about, you can watch the video about adjective clauses, you can watch the video about independent clauses, you'll get a better idea of what these are. Okay? So, adjective.

Now, where it gets confusing is I can do the exact same thing, but I can use it as an adverb. Okay? "Not wanting to miss our flight, we arrived at the airport 3 hrs early." This is three hours, sorry, I had to reduce a little bit. So, here. Now, you've probably heard never to use the word "want" with an "ing". That is true in this case. Never use "want", "wanting" as a verb, but you can use it as a participle.

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