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An -ing form is termed gerund when it behaves as a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object); but the resulting clause as a whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) functions as a noun within the larger sentence. For example, consider the sentence "Eating this cake is easy."
A gerund is a verb form that appears in positions that are usually reserved for nouns. In English, a gerund has the same form as a progressive active participle and so ends in -ing . Gerunds typically appear as subject or object noun phrases or even as the object of a preposition:
These are not gerund forms; the -um form of the gerund is used only after prepositions. The plural forms without nouns such as agenda 'things to be done' are also adjectival gerundives; the gerund has no plural form. For details of the formation and usage of the Latin gerundive, see Latin conjugation § Gerundive and Latin syntax § The gerundive.
More examples can be found at Verb patterns with the gerund. English has a number of ergative verbs: verbs which can be used either intransitively or transitively, where in the intransitive use it is the subject that is receiving the action, and in the transitive use the direct object is receiving the action while the subject is causing it.
Many uses of gerunds are thus similar to noun uses of the infinitive. Uses of gerunds and gerund phrases are illustrated below: As subject or predicative expression: Solving problems is satisfying. My favorite activity is spotting butterflies. As object of certain verbs that admit such constructions: I like solving problems. We tried restarting ...
An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The sacking of the city was an epochal event" (wherein sacking is a gerund form of the verb sack). A verbal noun, as a type of nonfinite verb form, is a term that some grammarians still use when referring to gerunds, gerundives, supines, and nominal forms of infinitives.