There are two basic types of nouns in English: proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are the names of specific individuals, places, and things; common nouns are the names of classes of persons, places, and things. | Gerunds and Infinitives 83 it Don t you just love taking a couple of days off work it I enjoy working with my hands. Object of a preposition it I got my job by working as an intern for six months. it Before doing anything you have to strip all the old paint off the wall. it We finally quit around seven after finishing the proposal. it My main concern was getting started so late. it The problem with the job is having to commute so far to work. it Right now our goal is finishing the job on time within the budget. Since gerunds are derived from verbs adverbs that originally modified the verb underlying the gerund can also modify the gerund derived from that verb. For example consider the following sentence She stressed the importance of always meeting our commitments on time. The adverb always modifies the gerund meeting. Exercise Underline the gerund phrases in the following sentences. Confirm your answers by replacing the gerund phrase with it. it They feared taking on such a big task. 1. Putting the schedule on the website really made it much easier to plan our meetings. 2. I vaguely recall hearing some discussion about that. 84 Noun Phrases 3. We need to talk about solving the quality control problems. 4. His weakness was trying to please everybody. 5. The consultants recommended cutting back on a few of our less important projects. 6. Working such long hours put a terrible strain on all of us. 7. Getting it right the first time is the best approach. 8. They are not happy about having to take such a late flight. 9. The problem is getting enough time to do everything. 10. We barely avoided sliding into the ditch. 11. Arriving at the airport a couple of hours early turned out to be a really good thing. 12. We all voted for ordering in pizza. 13. He always insists on doing the whole thing by himself. 14. Acting so quickly saved us a lot of trouble. 15. The problem was attaching such a big file to the e-mail. 16. Forget about leaving early. 17. Knowing the right .
