{"id":8371,"date":"2020-10-01T16:14:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T16:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=8371"},"modified":"2023-04-15T23:03:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-15T23:03:58","slug":"comma-before-gerund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-gerund\/","title":{"rendered":"Comma before a Gerund: The Definitive Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:51.470588235294%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-2::before{padding-top:150%; }img#mv-trellis-img-2{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-3::before{padding-top:51.470588235294%; }img#mv-trellis-img-3{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-4::before{padding-top:51.470588235294%; }img#mv-trellis-img-4{display:block;}<\/style><p>A gerund is a verb with &ldquo;ing&rdquo; added to the end of it.<\/p>\n<p>That sounds pretty straightforward, but identifying a gerund is not quite as simple as that because adding &ldquo;ing&rdquo; to a noun does not automatically make it a verb.<\/p>\n<p>Only some verbs ending in &ldquo;ing&rdquo; are gerunds.<\/p>\n<p>We&rsquo;ll discuss more at length how to identify gerund and gerund phrases to help you determine if you need a comma before them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n[toc]\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Do you need a comma before a gerund?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>In most cases, a comma before a gerund is not required. However, because gerunds and gerund phrases act as nouns in sentences, if a comma would come before a noun used in the same way, then a comma should precede the gerund or gerund phrase.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>When is a verb + &ldquo;ing&rdquo; not a gerund?<\/h2>\n<p>A verb that has &ldquo;ing&rdquo; added to the end of it is either a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/owl.purdue.edu\/owl\/general_writing\/mechanics\/gerunds_participles_and_infinitives\/participles.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">present participle<\/a><\/strong> or a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>Present participles can act as verbs or as as adjectives. A gerund always acts as a noun.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that can be frustrating about English is that there are certain points that even experts cannot agree on! Some sources consider a gerund a kind of present participle.<\/p>\n<p>Don&rsquo;t worry too much about this label. It isn&rsquo;t important for understanding how to identify a gerund or whether <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-after-oh\/\">it needs a comma<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Just smile and tell yourself that this makes studying the English language more exciting!<\/p>\n<p>In this article, we&rsquo;ll talk about present participles and gerunds as though they are two separate things.<\/p>\n<p>What is important is identifying whether the &ldquo;ing&rdquo; word is acting as a verb, an adjective, or a noun.<\/p>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s quickly review the different kinds of present participles so that you can make sure that you don&rsquo;t confuse them with gerunds when determining whether or not a comma is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Present participles as verbs<\/h3>\n<p>When used with one or more &ldquo;helping&rdquo; or &ldquo;auxiliary&rdquo; verbs, a present participle is part of the progressive or continuous tenses in English. There are present, past, and future progressive tenses:<\/p>\n<p><i>She is swimming.<\/i><br>\n<i>They were laughing.<\/i><br>\n<i>He will be studying.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>There are also present perfect, past perfect, and future progressive tenses:<\/p>\n<p><i>She has been reading.<\/i><br>\n<i>I had been working.<\/i><br>\n<i>We will have been walking.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Finally, there is the perfect progressive condition tense:<\/p>\n<p><i>If it had been warm, I would have been swimming.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Present participles as adjectives<\/h3>\n<p>A present participle can also be used as an adjective, a word that describes a noun. Sometimes, these are called &ldquo;participle adjectives.&rdquo; Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<p><i>He read an interesting book.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The verb &ldquo;to interest&rdquo; has &ldquo;ing&rdquo; added to make it an adjective describing the book.<\/p>\n<p><i>The sleeping child was not disturbed.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The verb &ldquo;to sleep&rdquo; has &ldquo;ing&rdquo; added to make it an adjective describing the child.<\/p>\n<p><i>We threw water on the burning coals.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The verb &ldquo;to burn&rdquo; has &ldquo;ing&rdquo; added to make it an adjective describing the coals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Identifying gerunds<\/h2>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8402\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds.jpg\" alt=\"Identifying Gerunds\" width=\"680\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds.jpg 680w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-561x289.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-364x187.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-608x313.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8402 eager-load\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20680%20350'%3E%3Crect%20width='680'%20height='350'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"Identifying Gerunds\" width=\"680\" height=\"350\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds.jpg 680w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-561x289.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-364x187.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Identifying-Gerunds-608x313.jpg 608w\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>The examples above show you that just having an &ldquo;ing&rdquo; ending is not enough to identify a word as a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>Now, let&rsquo;s talk about &ldquo;ing&rdquo; words that are used as nouns, or gerunds. In each of the examples below, the gerund in the sentence is the word that ends with &ldquo;ing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>However, notice that the gerund has a different purpose in each sentence.<\/p>\n<p>A gerund is always a noun, but it can function in five different ways in a sentence.<\/p>\n<p>The gerund as subject of the sentence:<\/p>\n<p><i>Cooking is one of my favorite things to do.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Waiting is one of my least favorite things to do.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The gerund as direct object of the verb (&ldquo;love&rdquo; and &ldquo;considered&rdquo;):<\/p>\n<p><i>I love dancing with my friends.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>She considered studying.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The gerund as object of the preposition (&ldquo;about&rdquo; and &ldquo;for&rdquo;):<\/p>\n<p><i>He taught us about sailing.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>She bought the poles for hiking.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The gerund as predicate noun:<\/p>\n<p><i>An activity you may enjoy is skiing.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>She loves singing.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Less commonly, the gerund is occasionally used as the indirect object of the verb.<\/p>\n<p>In the sentence below, the main verb is &ldquo;gave&rdquo; and the gerund &ldquo;running&rdquo; is the indirect object. &ldquo;Her best effort&rdquo; is the direct object.<\/p>\n<p><i>She gave running her best effort.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8791\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds.png\" alt=\"Comma Before Gerunds\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds.png 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-683x1024.png 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-768x1152.png 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-561x842.png 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-364x546.png 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-728x1092.png 728w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-608x912.png 608w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-758x1137.png 758w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds.png\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8791 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds.png\" alt=\"Comma Before Gerunds\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds.png 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-683x1024.png 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-768x1152.png 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-561x842.png 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-364x546.png 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-728x1092.png 728w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-608x912.png 608w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds-758x1137.png 758w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Comma-Before-Gerunds.png\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-2\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Identifying gerund phrases<\/h2>\n<p>In a gerund phrase, a gerund along with several other words act as a noun.<\/p>\n<p>A gerund phrase may serve one of several different different functions in the sentence just as a gerund does.<\/p>\n<p>Below are five sentences in which &ldquo;eating late at night&rdquo; is the gerund phrase.<\/p>\n<p>In this first example, the gerund phrase is the subject of the sentence.<\/p>\n<p><i>Eating late at night gives me a stomach ache.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Here, the gerund phrase is the direct object of the verb hate.<\/p>\n<p><i>I hate eating late at night.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s the gerund phrase as the object of the preposition &ldquo;about.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><i>I talked to my family about eating late at night.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The gerund phrase is a predicate noun here:<\/p>\n<p><i>One thing I dislike a lot is eating late at night.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>And finally, this is the gerund phrase as indirect object. (&ldquo;Another try&rdquo; is the direct object).<\/p>\n<p><i>We will give eating late at night another try.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The gerund phrase versus the present participle phrase<\/h2>\n<p>Make sure that you don&rsquo;t confuse these two! While a gerund phrase is always a noun, a present participle phrase, usually just called a &ldquo;participle phrase,&rdquo; acts as an adjective.<\/p>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s look at some examples.<\/p>\n<p>In the sentence below, the participle phrase, &ldquo;sobbing loudly,&rdquo; is an adjective that describes how she performed the verb, &ldquo;opened.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><i>Sobbing loudly, she opened the letter.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The participle phrase can also come at the end of a sentence. This doesn&rsquo;t change that &ldquo;sobbing loudly&rdquo; is a participle phrase since it is still describing the verb, &ldquo;opened.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><i>She opened the letter, sobbing loudly.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Of course, &ldquo;sobbing loudly&rdquo; can be a gerund phrase instead of a participle phrase, but it needs to change what it does in the sentence from acting as an adjective to acting as a noun.<\/p>\n<p>In the example below, the gerund phrase &ldquo;sobbing loudly in public&rdquo; is the subject of the sentence.<\/p>\n<p><i>Sobbing loudly in public was embarrassing.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>A short rule to help you identify gerunds<\/h2>\n<p>The most important thing to remember when identifying a gerund is that it is a noun.<\/p>\n<p>If you are unsure whether a word ending in &ldquo;ing&rdquo;&mdash;or a phrase that contains a word ending in &ldquo;ing&rdquo;&mdash;is a present participle or a gerund, ask yourself what part of speech the word is.<\/p>\n<p>In some sentences, you might be able to check by replacing the gerund with a noun.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Commas before gerunds in more detail<\/h2>\n<p>We&rsquo;ve spent all this time talking about how to identify a gerund or a gerund phrase because that&rsquo;s the first step in determining whether or not you need a comma before a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>You might have looked over all of the examples above and thought that there were no commas in any of the gerund examples, so it is not necessary to use a comma before a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>However, this is not the case. Those examples are simple sentences to make it easier to identify the gerund.<\/p>\n<p>In more complicated sentences, you may need a comma before a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>If the sentence structure is one in which a regular noun would need a comma before the gerund, then the gerund needs a comma before it as well&mdash;because a gerund is a noun.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>A gerund in a list<\/h3>\n<p>If you have three or more items in a list, each one must be followed by a comma. (The exception is the next-to-the-last word in the sentence, before &ldquo;and.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The comma here is optional although you may have a teacher or an employer who has a preference about whether you use it.)<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s an example. All the &ldquo;ing&rdquo; words in the sentence below are gerunds. They are the object of the preposition &ldquo;about.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><i>He taught us all about sailing, fishing, kayaking and swimming.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s another with the gerunds at the beginning of the sentence:<\/p>\n<p><i>Traveling, shopping and golfing are his favorite activities.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The same is true if the list is one of gerund phrases:<\/p>\n<p><i>Writing a letter, making a phone call or cooking a meal are all ways to show someone that you care about them.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>As you see, gerunds or gerund phrases in the middle of a list will have commas before them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>With an introductory phrase<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8405\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases.jpg\" alt=\"Gerunds in Introductory Phrases\" width=\"680\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases.jpg 680w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-561x289.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-364x187.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-608x313.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8405 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases.jpg\" alt=\"Gerunds in Introductory Phrases\" width=\"680\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases.jpg 680w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-561x289.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-364x187.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases-608x313.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gerunds-in-Introductory-Phrases.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-3\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>When a sentence begins with an introductory phrase, that phrase needs to be followed by a comma.<\/p>\n<p>This remains true if the word that follows is a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, this is another example of when you need a comma before a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<p><i>Unfortunately, cheating helped him get ahead.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>In the morning, cleaning was the first task of the day.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Last but not least, reading improves your vocabulary.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>And of course, this is true of gerund phrases as well:<\/p>\n<p><i>Sadly, quitting her job was the only option.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Consequently, finishing the task became more difficult.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Unfortunately, bathing the cat was not a fun activity.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>When phrases are inserted before a direct object<\/h3>\n<p>There are sentences in which a gerund is the direct object of the verb and additional words may be inserted before the gerund, often for emphasis.<\/p>\n<p>Those additional words must be set apart from the rest of the sentence by commas.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, in those sentences, there will be a comma before the gerund.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some examples. The first has a gerund and the next two have gerund phrases.<\/p>\n<p><i>I hate, more than anything, cleaning.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>She understands, to be clear, worrying about money.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>I love, most of all, gazing at the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/the-spiritual-meaning-of-stars\/\">stars<\/a><\/strong> at night.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>This is a somewhat informal way of writing, but there are a few reasons you might choose to put the phrase before the gerund in this way.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to adding emphasis, if you have a poetic mind and care about the rhythm of sentences, there may be times when putting the phrase in the middle of the sentence like this sounds better.<\/p>\n<p>However, it would be more common to write these sentences in ways that would not require a comma before the gerund:<\/p>\n<p><i>I hate cleaning more than anything.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>To be clear, she understands worrying about money.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Most of all, I love gazing at the stars at night.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Compound and complex sentences<\/h3>\n<p>As sentences become more complicated than the examples above, you might start to feel confused about how to identify the gerund and whether it needs a comma.<\/p>\n<p>However, no matter how long and complicated the sentence is, the same rules apply. The gerund only needs a comma before it if a noun would also take a comma before it.<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s an example:<\/p>\n<p><i>Most of the time, swimming is a safe activity, but under the circumstances, staying on the beach is probably a better idea.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>This is a compound sentence, meaning it is two<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/clauses-vs-phrases\/\"> independent clauses<\/a><\/strong>, or complete sentences, joined by a conjunction. In this case, the conjunction is &ldquo;but.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The first part has a gerund, &ldquo;swimming.&rdquo; The second part has a gerund phrase, &ldquo;staying on the beach.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In both cases, they are the subject of the independent clause. A comma comes before them because there is an introductory phrase at the beginning of each independent clause.<\/p>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s look at one more sentence:<\/p>\n<p><i>Because she was stressed, reading did not take her mind off her worries, and unfortunately, sobbing hysterically did not help either.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>This may look complicated, but it really isn&rsquo;t so difficult when you break it down.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Reading&rdquo; is a gerund and &ldquo;sobbing hysterically&rdquo; is a gerund phrase.<\/p>\n<p>There are two independent clauses, or complete sentences joined with &ldquo;and.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Commas are necessary before the gerunds because there are introductory phrases at the start of each independent clause.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, one way to check for sure if a word or phrase ending in &ldquo;ing&rdquo; is a gerund is to see if it could be replaced by a regular noun. As you see, it is possible in this sentence:<\/p>\n<p><i>Because she was stressed, the dog did not take her mind off her worries, and unfortunately, the cat did not help either.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8407\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds.jpg\" alt=\"Commas &amp; Gerunds\" width=\"680\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds.jpg 680w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-561x289.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-364x187.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-608x313.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8407 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds.jpg\" alt=\"Commas &amp; Gerunds\" width=\"680\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds.jpg 680w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-561x289.jpg 561w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-364x187.jpg 364w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds-608x313.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Commas-Gerunds.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-4\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>This might seem like a lot of information for making sure you use commas correctly with gerunds, but there are really just a few simple rules to remember.<\/p>\n<p>All gerunds end in &ldquo;ing,&rdquo; but not every word that ends in &ldquo;ing&rdquo; is a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to understand the difference in a present participle and a gerund.<\/p>\n<p>However, identifying whether or not you need a comma before a gerund is also about what the gerund and other words and phrases are doing in the sentence.<\/p>\n<p>When a comma comes before a gerund, it is because a regular noun in the same position would also need a comma before it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A gerund is a verb with &ldquo;ing&rdquo; added to the end of it. That sounds pretty straightforward, but identifying a gerund is not quite as simple as that because adding &ldquo;ing&rdquo; to a noun does not automatically make it a verb. Only some verbs ending in &ldquo;ing&rdquo; are gerunds. We&rsquo;ll discuss more at length how &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,1119,1116],"tags":[80,128,103,119,127],"class_list":["post-8371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-comma-rules","category-grammar","tag-comma","tag-comma-gerund","tag-comma-usage","tag-commas","tag-commas-before-gerunds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8371"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25189,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8371\/revisions\/25189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}