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A gerund is a verb form that appears in positions that are usually reserved for nouns. In English, a gerund has the same form as a progressive active participle and so ends in -ing. Gerunds typically appear as subject or object noun phrases or even as the object of a preposition:
Gerunds do not normally take determiners except for possessives (as described below). Both deverbal nouns and gerunds can be preceded by possessive determiners to indicate the agent (logical subject) of the action: my taking a bath (see also above under gerund and at fused participle for the possible replacement of my with me); my taking of a ...
An -ing form is termed gerund when it behaves as a verb within a clause (so that it may be modified by an adverb or have an object); but the resulting clause as a whole (sometimes consisting of only one word, the gerund itself) functions as a noun within the larger sentence.
Normal rules for adding suffixes beginning with a vowel apply: If the base form ends in e then only d is added (like → liked); if the base form ends in a consonant followed by y then the y is changed to i before adding the ending (try → tried; an exception is the verb sky (a ball), which can form skied or skyed).
In many cases, such as spell (spelt vs. spelled), learn (learnt vs. learned), and spill (spilt vs. spilled), American English and Canadian English normally use the regular form, while British English, Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English tend to favour the irregular.
a. Jim has to do it. - has to is a modal auxiliary verb. b. Jim refuses to do it. - refuses is a subject control verb. a. Jill would lie and cheat. - would is a modal auxiliary. b. Jill attempted to lie and cheat. - attempted is a subject control verb. The a-sentences contain auxiliary verbs that do not select the subject argument.
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An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The sacking of the city was an epochal event" (wherein sacking is a gerund form of the verb sack). A verbal noun, as a type of nonfinite verb form, is a term that some grammarians still use when referring to gerunds, gerundives, supines, and nominal forms of infinitives.