20230904 動名詞 Gerunds (89)

動名詞
Gerunds
The gerund has the same function as a noun. We form a gerund by adding "-ing" to a verb. For example, in this video, the speaker said, "Ari started learning long before he was even born." Here, "learning" is a gerund formed by adding "-ing" to verbs "learn" and used as a noun. The verb "start" can be followed by either a gerund or a to-infinitive. When a verb comes right after a preposition, we must use a gerund. This is illustrated in the other example sentence, "That's just a grown-up way of saying 'connect, talk, and play with us." When we use a verb like "say" right after a preposition like "of", we should use the gerund "saying".

動名詞有和名詞相同的功能，我們在動詞的後方加上 ing 來形成動名詞，例如影片講者說 Ari started learning long before he was even born.（阿里早在出生之前就開始學習了。）這裡 learning 是動名詞，由動詞 learn 加上 ing 形成，作為名詞使用。

動詞 start 後方接動名詞或是 to 不定詞文法上皆正確。如果動詞緊接在介係詞之後，就要用動名詞，例如講者說 That's just a grown-up way of saying "connect, talk, and play with us".（這只是一種成年人的說法， 就是與我們連結、交談和玩耍。）這裡我們要在介係詞 of 後方接上一個動詞 say，這時動詞就要加 ing，所以要接 saying。

例句
I hate getting up early in winter.

我好討厭冬天要早起。

Wash your hands before eating.

吃東西前要洗手。

All the studying makes me dizzy.

讀書讓我頭好暈。