Sometimes it is a matter of interpretation whether an -ing form is a gerund or a present participle.

Example of gerund and present participle. Dancing is a good exercise. Waiting present participle I dont like waiting. Gerunds are verbal nouns.

You must go to dancing at the club tonight. In the above examples running is working as an action verb. Here the ing form waiting is the object of the verb like and hence it acts like a noun.

So we came to know that there is a difference in the definition of both gerunds and infinitives and of course their usage will also be different. For example the sentence Gardening in the summertime I built up a resistance to hot weather contains a present participle phrase which includes a participle a verb functioning as an adjective or an adverb. Swimming is a great sport.

You have been running quite fast. It is denoted by v1 ing. Playing soccer is a lot of fun.

Consider how the -ing words are used in this quotation variously attributed to Confucius Ralph Waldo Emerson Vince Lombardi and American Idol veteran Clay Aiken. Present participles and gerunds are both ing forms. Playing present participle Playing is good for health.

The gerund looks exactly the same as a present participle because both have the same form ie. If a sentence resembling one of these statements includes a comma its likely to contain a present participle phrase not a gerund phrase. Pinki plays with her dancing doll.