動名詞
動名詞跟現在分詞看起來完全一樣，但如果去理解兩者之間的差別，會很有幫助。動名詞雖然看起來像動詞，但作用上跟名詞是一樣的。動名詞的一些用法都會在本頁上說明，您也可以參考另一頁：接動名詞的動詞。
用作主詞的動名詞
例句
- Eating people is wrong.
- Hunting tigers is dangerous.
- Flying makes me nervous.
- Brushing your teeth is important.
- Smoking causes lung cancer.
動名詞用作 Be 動詞的補語
舉例
- One of his duties is attending meetings.
- The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.
- One of life's pleasures is having breakfast in bed.
動名詞接在介系詞後
當動詞接在介系詞後，就必須用動名詞。對於某些以介系詞結尾的片語也是如此，例如 in spite of 和 there's no point in 之類的片語。
舉例
- Can you sneeze without opening your mouth?
- She is good at painting.
- She avoided him by walking on the opposite side of the road.
- We arrived in Madrid after driving all night.
- My father decided against postponing his trip to Hungary.
- There's no point in waiting.
- In spite of missing the train, we arrived on time.
動名詞用在片語動詞後
片語動詞是由一個動詞 + 介系詞或副詞組成。
舉例
- When will you give up smoking?
- She always puts off going to the dentist.
- He kept on asking for money.
- Jim ended up buying a new TV after his old one broke.
有些動詞片語會包含介系詞 to，例如 to look forward to、to take to、to be accustomed to、to get around to 和 to be used to。在這些情況下，務必要分辨「to」是介系詞還是不定詞，因為這會決定後面是否要接動名詞。您可以先查查看 to 是介系詞還是不定詞的一部分。如果可以把代名詞 it 放在 to 後，可以構成有意義的句子，那麼 to 這個字就是介系詞，而且後面必須接動名詞。
舉例
- I look forward to hearing from you soon.
- I look forward to it.
- I am used to waiting for buses.
- I am used to it.
- She didn't really take to studying English.
- She didn't really take to it.
- When will you get around to mowing the grass?
- When will you get around to it?
複合名詞中的動名詞
在使用動名詞的複合名詞中，很顯然就是名詞的意思，而不是持續性動詞。例如，「swimming pool」這個字指的是一個可以游泳的池子，而非「游泳中的池子」。
舉例
- I am giving Sally a driving lesson.
- They have a swimming pool in their back yard.
- I bought some new running shoes.
動名詞接在某些詞語後
在 can't help、can't stand、to be worth 和 it's no use 等詞語後，必須接動名詞。
舉例
- She couldn't help falling in love with him.
- I can't stand being stuck in traffic jams.
- It's no use trying to escape.
- It might be worth phoning the station to check the time of the train.