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My friends! Today I will tell you when and how to use the gerund correctly. The gerund is a part of speech combining the features of a noun and a verb. In the direct sense of the word, it is a noun from the front and a verb from behind. It means that we may use some prepositions and possessive pronouns before a gerund, while we use the complements and adverbs before it. A gerund defines a progreesive action. However, it is "more a noun than a verb", if I can say so. A gerund is mostly used as a complement.

Firstly, you should know  some verbs and adjectives/participles followed by the gerund/noun (but not by the infinitive). Here is the list:

to approve of

to give up

to rely on       

to worry about

to insist on     

to succeed in

to count on

to keep on

to go on

to think about

to think of      

to depend on  

to put off       

to object to

to look forward to

to confess to  

to complain of

to dream of

to thank for    

to excuse ( for)

to save from

to stop from

to look like    

to feel like     

to refrain from

to prevent from         

to forgive for

to decide against          

to apologize  for          

to accuse of

to congratulate on           

to warn against           

to suspect of

to enjoy         

to finish         

can't help

to deny        

to detest

to appreciate  

to mind

to avoid

to stop

to  delay

to admit

to want/need (after non-living subject)

to miss

to regret

to risk

to postpone    

to practice

to resent         

to quit

to recall

to resume

to resist

to involve

to start

to learn

to remember

to forget

to be fond of

to be proud of

to be sure of  

to be experienced in  

to be tired of  

to be ashamed of       

to be afraid of

to be good at  

to be bad at    

to be surprised at

to be sorry for

to be grateful for

to be famous for

to be right in

to be accustomed to

to be better off

to be (get) used to

to be intent on

to be interested in

to be capable of

to be successful in.

For example:

I enjoy traveling.

Here, the gerund is a simple complement. As you know, a complement always relates to a subject. However, if we have to say that the action defined by a gerund relates to another person, we should use a complex complement mentioning a person it relates to in a possessive form before a gerund.

For example:

I object to his coming to our place.

Now, a gerund may have two complements and a modifier of action(an adverb). They should follow a gerund in the following order: indirect complement, direct complement, modifier of action.

For example:

I am used to attending classes regularly.

I would appreciate your telling me everything.

Being partly a noun a gerund can be used as a subject. In this case a predicate must be singular, the 3d person:

Walkng is useful.

I will stop here and give you an assignment. I would ask you to write about 5 different sentences with the verbs from the given list using a gerund as a complex compound, preferably followed by complements and a modifier of action (an adverb).

And have a great weekend!