Gerund or Continuous Form
Is it a Gerund or a Continuous Form?
Even though both forms end in -ing, it is easy to find out whether it is a Gerund or a Continuous form.
1. Continuous Tenses
These tenses are formed with to be and the infinitive + –ing.
| Sentence | Tense |
|---|---|
| She is watching television. | Present Continuous |
| She was watching television. | Past Continuous |
| She has been watching television for two hours. | Present Perfect Continuous |
| She had been watching television before Jane came in. | Past Perfect Continuous |
| She will be watching television when I get home. | will-future Continuous |
| She will have been watching television. | Future Perfect Continuous |
| She would be watching television if she had time. | Conditional Continuous |
| She would have been watching television if she had had time. | Conditional Perfect Continuous |
2. Gerund
The Gerund is formed only with infinitive + –ing.
| Sentence |
|---|
| Watching television is great fun. |
| She likes watching television. |
| She is looking forward to watching television tonight. |
| She keeps on watching television. |
| How about watching television? |
| She is crazy about watching television. |
| After watching television, he went to bed. |