Using gerunds in business. Gerunds are used in business situations very often. You will see them in reading, hear them in listening situations, and use them in speaking and writing. Just what are gerunds? Well, gerunds are the ing forms of the verbs that are used as nouns. This means they can function as subjects, objects of prepositions, and objects of verbs. First, we'll talk about gerunds as subjects. This is, I think the easiest use of gerunds. You have probably seen or heard some sentences like these before. Building a business takes a lot of time. Here, notice that building is the subject and takes is the verb. Developing the most effective device is our aim. Developing that ing word is the subject and is is the verb. Manufacturing quality products helps us earn money. Manufacturing is the subject and helps is the verb. Delivering raw materials on time requires organization. Delivering is the subject and requires is the verb. Did you notice that all of these gerunds subjects are actions? They're not verbs, but they are actions. Now, on the next slide, we're going to look at the memo from Moksen Knits that we used previously in this module. Please notice the underlined ing words. These are gerunds. Please also notice the types of words that they follow. Some of them come after prepositions and some come after verbs. I'm not expecting you to read all of this. You've already had this in a handout, but notice the bolded words. They're bolded and underlined. This is the memo, and I know it's small. That's why you're not going to read it here, but let's try to look at some of the underlined and bolded words. These are the ing words and they're called gerunds. In that 1st paragraph, you see the words being, supporting, participating, sponsoring. Then we see producing, and then in the 3rd paragraph we see contacting, and then chatting and sharing and hearing. Notice that most of these have a preposition in front of them. Let me point out some of those. In the 1st paragraph, we have to being, then we have by supporting, then we see participating and sponsoring. Notice that these are a series of items in a series, and actually people understand that word by. It's by supporting community youth sports programs, by participating in park rejuvenation, and by sponsoring fundraising. The by doesn't have to be repeated two times because it's understood from the 1st time, but it does imply that preposition. In the 2nd paragraph, we have of in front of producing. In the 3rd paragraph, it's something a little different because there's no preposition. This one, contacting comes after a verb, and we'll talk more about that later. In the next paragraph, we have of chatting, and then to in front of sharing, and finally, in the last paragraph we have to hearing. We'll be talking more about these as we continue. First, let's look at an example with a regular noun, not a gerund, but a regular noun as the object of a preposition. We have this sentence, we look forward to our vacation every year. Of course, we is the subject, look is the verb, and then vacation is the object of the preposition. The preposition is to. We look forward to, to is the preposition. We've already mentioned that gerunds function as nouns. Now, let's look at an example with a gerund as an object of a preposition in the same situation, we look forward to working with you. Again, we is the subject, look is the verb, just like the one above, and then, after to, we have working. Working is a gerund and it is the object of the preposition, just like vacation was the object of the preposition in the previous sentence. In the box below, you can see the gerunds again from the Moksen Knits memo. They are underlined. In most of the cases, the gerunds come after a preposition as we've already mentioned. That means the gerunds are objects of prepositions. Let's look at the examples committed to being more involved by supporting community youth sports programs, participating in park rejuvenation and sponsoring fundraising events for children. This is where we had that situation with by. Can you see this by is the preposition that introduces all three of these gerunds, as they're all connected by commas and the word and. We have here, by supporting community youth sports programs, by participating in park rejuvenation, and by sponsoring fundraising events for children. Then we have of producing our wonderful woolen knit sweaters and socks. The next one, Phyllis suggests contacting her early. This is the one that was a little bit different. Here this gerund comes after a verb, so it is the object of a verb. The last four all come after prepositions again for some brainstorming instead of chatting, get used to sharing, and look forward to hearing. Now, please notice this last one, look forward to hearing. This expression we're going to see more of. Look forward to is one of the most common expressions with a preposition that is used in business communications. Look at some examples. You have probably heard or read some of these. We look forward to meeting you, I look forward to doing business together, she looks forward to using your new products. Notice that the verbs look, they can change, we had look and look, and then we have looks because it comes after she. But the gerunds, meeting, doing, using, they're all with the -ing because they are being used as objects of the preposition. Now, this next one is a progressive. He is looking forward to completing your project. Some people feel a little uncomfortable having that -ing a couple of times, but it's okay. He is looking forward to completing, it's fine. Don't worry about that. The last one also is progressive. They are looking forward to coming to your open house. Of course there are many other expressions which are commonly followed by gerunds. These are just some examples and let's look at the next slide and we will see a few more. Here are some other expressions with prepositions that are often used in business contexts. He objects to working on a holiday, I am sorry for being late to the meeting, they are committed to respecting the rights of each employee, we took responsibility for damaging the equipment, she is interested in helping the children's soccer team get a new field. You notice that the verbs we had objects, am, are, took, and is. The verbs are all underlined for you to see and they're with an expression. They have an expression and then a preposition. Then the -ing words are the gerunds functioning as objects of the prepositions and those gerunds; working, being, respecting, damaging, and helping. Now, of course people often use these expressions incorrectly, they make mistakes, that's normal. We'll review these sentences that are incorrect or parts of sentences and then we'll see the corrected forms again. He objects to works on a holiday is not correct. It should be, he objects to working. I am sorry for to be late, no, we don't need that. I am sorry for being late. They are committed to respect, no, that's not right. We need, they are committed to respecting. We need that gerund. We take responsibility for damaged, past-tense, no. We took responsibility for damaging, so the verb take, took in this case is in the past form but the gerund stays with an -ing. The last one, she is interested in helps. No, she is interested in helping. Now we can look at that other sentence from the Moksen Knits Memo that did not have a preposition. It had a verb. Let's read this part. There are also many verbs that are followed by gerunds. In the Moksen Knits Memo example we saw one of these : Phyllis suggests contacting her early. Phyllis is the subject, the verb is suggests, and it's followed by the gerund contacting which is the object of the verb. Let's look at some other examples like this. We stopped having meetings at 7:00 am, stopped is the verb, having the gerund is the object of the verb. He suggested arriving early. Suggested is the verb and arriving is the gerund object of the verb. This involves informing staff, involves is the verb and the informing is the gerund object of the verb. I appreciate your taking the time. Appreciate is the verb and taking is the gerund object of the verb. Well, this is the end of our review of gerunds in business. We hope this review has been helpful to you and that you will use gerunds more confidently as you communicate in English. There is an activity for you to do to practice gerunds. Gerunds can be a little tricky but after this lesson, you should feel more comfortable about understanding and using gerunds.
