Prepositions and gerunds team up to convey nuanced meanings in sentences. The gerund (-ing form) is used when a verb comes after a preposition. Some common prepositions frequently partner with gerunds:-
about | after | at | by | in | of | on | without
For example:
- I am against smoking in public places.
- She is good at speaking English.
- I went home after leaving the party.
- You can improve your English by using the Internet.
- We need to keep on going.
- You should tell the truth instead of lying all the time.
- We can talk about going home.
- I'm tired of hearing excuses.
- You can't learn English without making mistakes.
More examples:
- She is fond of singing.
Here, "of" is the preposition, and "singing" is the gerund acting as the object of the preposition. It shows her fondness for the activity of singing. - He succeeded in passing the exam.
In this case, "in" is the preposition, and "passing" is the gerund. It signifies the successful accomplishment of the action of passing the exam. - You are interested in learning English.
"In" serves as the preposition, and "learning" is the gerund, indicating your interest in the process of improving your English. - She's skilled at playing the piano.
Here, "at" functions as the preposition, and "playing" is the gerund, denoting her proficiency in the skill of playing the piano. - They are afraid of speaking in public.
In this example, "afraid of" is a phrase consisting of the adjective "afraid" and the preposition "of". Here "of" acts as the preposition, and "speaking" is the gerund, expressing their fear of the activity of speaking in front of an audience.