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You are here: Home / Lessons / Gerunds and infinitives as subjects

Gerunds and infinitives as subjects

October 7, 2014 - pdf

The subject of a sentence is usually a noun or a pronoun. But sometimes, to-infinitives and –ing forms are also used as subjects.

Study the examples given below.

  • Swimming is a good exercise.

Here the –ing form ‘swimming’ acts as the subject of the verb ‘is’.

More examples are given below.

  • Smoking is injurious to health.
  • Singing gives me great pleasure.
  • Telling lies can get you into deep trouble.
  • Collecting stamps is his hobby.
  • Driving very fast on a busy road may lead to an accident.

In each of the following sentences, the subject is an –ing form.

A to-infinitive can also act as the subject of a verb.

Study the example sentences given below.

  • To err is human.
  • To give advice is easy.
  • To follow this advice may be difficult.
  • To swim in that sea may be dangerous.
  • To drive very fast here is not advisable.

Now study the examples given below. They show another kind of subject a sentence can have.

  • What you say is not true.
  • Where the police have taken him is not known.
  • Why even good people suffer in this world is a great mystery.

As you can see, the subject in each of these sentences is not a word or a phrase, but a group of words which itself looks like a sentence. A group of words of this kind is called a clause. Here the clause functions as a noun and therefore it is called a noun clause.

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