Question

What's the easiest way to tell the difference between participles and gerund? Besides that one is a adjective and the other one is a noun and the type of questions they ask.

Answer 1

Present participles and gerunds all end in -ing, as you no doubt know.

Participles, since they are adjectives, will be describing someone or something.

Gerunds, since they serve as nouns, will not describe anything, but will be recognizably in one of the primary noun spots in a sentence: the subject, the predicate noun, the direct object, object of a preposition.

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/participle.htm

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/gerund.htm

Answer 2

Participles may end in -ing, but I guess you could look at how the word ends to identify it as a participle or a gerund.

Examples:

The TIRED man slept----> showing a past participle.

SLEEPING relaxes the body----> showing a gerund.

Answer 3

Nouns can be used as subjects, direct objects, and objects of prepositions.

Adjectives always modify a noun or pronoun.

If you understand these parts of speech and their uses in sentences, it should be fairly easy to tell the difference between gerunds and participles.

Answer 4

Thank You Writeacher

Answer 5

You're welcome!