Gerund adalah kata benda yang berasal dari kata kerja ditambah –ing, misalnyaswimming, eating, fishing, shopping, dancing, dan singing. Bila diperhatikan, gerundmempunyai bentuk yang sama dengan present participle, bedanya gerund berfungsi sebagai kata benda, sedangkan present participle sebagai kata sifat yang menerangkan kata benda.

Dalam kalimat, gerund berfungsi sebagai:
a. subjek (subject)
b. pelengkap subjek (subjective complement)
c. objek langsung (direct object)
d. objek preposisi (object of preposition)
e. aposisi (appositive)

"The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear.

Learning the names of the traditional parts of speech probably won't make you witty, wealthy, or wise. In fact, learning just the names of the parts of speech won't even make you a better writer. But you will gain a basic understanding of the English language, which will help you follow the other lessons here at About.com Grammar and Composition. And those lessons will help you to improve your writing.

As you study the table at the bottom of the page, keep in mind that only interjections ("Yes!") have a habit of standing alone (or alongside complete sentences). The three articles (now often identified as a type of determiner rather than a distinct word class) appear before nouns. However, the other parts of speech--nouns,pronouns, verbs, adjectives adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions--come in many varieties and may appear just about anywhere in a sentence. To know for sure what part of speech a word is, we have to look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.