Gerund vs Participle Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which sentence uses an -ing form as part of a progressive verb phrase rather than as a gerund?
The lamp is flickering beside the sofa.
The reading lamp is beside the sofa.
The flickering lamp needs a new bulb.
Flickering can indicate a loose connection.
2. In “Baking in the hot kitchen, Luis opened a window,” what does the opening phrase do?
It acts as a gerund phrase and names the sentence’s subject
It acts as a participial phrase modifying “Luis”
It serves as the direct object of “opened”
It forms a progressive verb with “opened”
3. In “The barking dog woke the baby,” how is “barking” used?
As a gerund naming an activity that woke the baby
As the sentence’s finite main verb
As a present participle modifying “dog”
As a gerund functioning as the object of “woke”
4. In “The children swimming in the lake waved to us,” how is “swimming” used?
As a gerund naming the children’s activity
As a gerund functioning as the direct object
As the sentence’s finite main verb
As a present participle modifying “children”
5. In “Maya enjoys solving difficult puzzles,” what is the function of “solving difficult puzzles”?
A gerund phrase functioning as the direct object of “enjoys”
Part of the present progressive verb “enjoys solving”
A participial phrase modifying “Maya”
A participial phrase modifying “puzzles”
6. In “I saw Elena crossing the street,” how is “crossing the street” best analyzed in traditional grammar?
As a gerund phrase serving as the subject of “saw”
As the progressive main verb of the sentence
As a participial phrase describing Elena during the action
As a gerund phrase serving as the object of the preposition “street”
7. In “She improved her pronunciation by practicing daily,” what makes “practicing” a gerund?
It modifies the subject “she” while she improves
It combines with “improved” to create a progressive verb
It modifies the noun “pronunciation”
It heads a phrase functioning as the object of the preposition “by”
8. In “His favorite activity is baking bread,” what role does “baking bread” play?
A participial phrase modifying “activity”
A gerund phrase functioning as a subject complement
A progressive verb showing what the activity is doing
A participial phrase modifying “bread”
9. In “They talked about moving to a smaller apartment,” why is “moving” a gerund?
It modifies the pronoun “they”
It combines with “talked” to form a progressive tense
It modifies “apartment” by describing its movement
It heads a phrase serving as the object of the preposition “about”
10. In “Swimming every morning improves Leo’s mood,” what is the role of “swimming”?
A present participle modifying “morning”
A gerund functioning as the subject
Part of a progressive verb phrase
A participle introducing a modifier of “Leo”
11. Which revision correctly makes the opening participial phrase modify the person who was walking?
The flowers, walking through the park, seemed unusually bright.
Walking through the park, the flowers seemed unusually bright.
Walking through the park, I noticed the flowers opening.
Walking through the park, there were unusually bright flowers.
12. In “The documents lying on the desk need signatures,” what is the function of “lying on the desk”?
A gerund phrase functioning as the subject
A gerund phrase functioning as the object of “need”
A participial phrase modifying “documents”
A progressive verb phrase whose auxiliary has been omitted
13. Which sentence uses a gerund phrase as its subject?
Reading before bed, she lost track of time.
The student reading before bed fell asleep.
She is reading before bed tonight.
Reading before bed helps me relax.
14. In “The train is approaching the station,” how is “approaching” classified in traditional grammar?
A present participle used with “is” to form the progressive verb phrase
A gerund functioning as an object
An adjective modifying “train” outside the verb phrase
A gerund functioning as the subject
15. In “Having finished the report, Noor sent it to the client,” why is “having finished” called a perfect participial construction?
It names report-writing as the subject of the sentence
It modifies Noor and presents the finishing as earlier than the sending
It acts as a noun object of “sent”
It forms the finite past perfect verb of the sentence
16. In “There is no point in arguing about it now,” what is the role of “arguing”?
A gerund serving as the object of the preposition “in”
Part of the progressive verb “is arguing”
A participle modifying “point”
A participle modifying the implied person being addressed