Gerunds – English Grammar Exercises for A2
Choose the best answer (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence. The context of this test is writing a review on the App Store for a new English learning application you just downloaded. You are evaluating how easy or difficult it is to use the app.
1 ______ this app every day is very easy and fun.
(a) Using
(b) Use
(c) To using
2 ______ new vocabulary words with pictures helps me remember them quickly.
(a) Learn
(b) Learning
(c) Learned
3 ______ the lessons to study offline is a fantastic feature!
(a) Download
(b) To downloading
(c) Downloading
4 ______ my pronunciation is much easier now with the voice record tool.
(a) Practicing
(b) Practice
(c) To practice
5 ______ unskippable ads every five minutes is really annoying!
(a) Watch
(b) Watching
(c) Watched
6 ______ friends to play word games together makes the app very exciting.
(a) Inviting
(b) Invite
(c) Inviteing
7 ______ through the main menu is a bit confusing for beginners.
(a) Navigate
(b) To navigating
(c) Navigating
8 ______ track of my daily progress keeps me motivated to study.
(a) Keeping
(b) Keep
(c) Kept
9 ______ grammar rules is not boring anymore thanks to these mini-games.
(a) Memorize
(b) Memorizing
(c) Memorizeing
10 ______ to native speakers helps me understand natural English conversations.
(a) Listening
(b) Listen
(c) Listened
11 ______ for the premium version is totally worth the money.
(a) Paying
(b) Pay
(c) To paying
12 ______ customer support is difficult because they never reply to emails.
(a) Contact
(b) Contacting
(c) Contacted
13 ______ the daily quizzes takes only ten minutes of my time.
(a) Completing
(b) Complete
(c) Completeing
14 ______ short stories is definitely my favorite part of this application.
(a) Read
(b) To reading
(c) Reading
15 ______ points to unlock new levels is highly addictive.
(a) Collecting
(b) Collect
(c) Collected
16 ______ a new account took me less than a minute. Very fast!
(a) Creating
(b) Create
(c) Createing
17 ______ my password was super simple when I accidentally forgot it.
(a) Reseting
(b) Resetting
(c) Reset
18 ______ push notifications all day is the only bad thing about this app.
(a) Getting
(b) Geting
(c) Get
19 ______ your own custom study plan makes learning much more flexible.
(a) Designing
(b) Design
(c) Designed
20 ______ mistakes is normal, and this app kindly helps you fix them.
(a) Make
(b) Making
(c) Makeing
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (a)
Explanation: “Using” is the correct answer. When an action is the main subject of the sentence (the thing you are evaluating), it must be in the gerund (V-ing) form to act as a noun. (b) “Use” is a bare verb. (c) “To using” is grammatically incorrect.
2 (b)
Explanation: “Learning” acts as the subject of the sentence (“The act of learning new words”). (a) “Learn” is a bare verb. (c) “Learned” is the past tense.
3 (c)
Explanation: “Downloading” is the required gerund subject. (a) is a bare verb. (b) “To downloading” incorrectly mixes an infinitive marker with a gerund.
4 (a)
Explanation: “Practicing” is the correct gerund form acting as the subject. You must drop the ‘e’ from “practice” to add “-ing”. (b) is a bare verb. (c) “To practice” is an infinitive (while infinitives can sometimes be subjects, gerunds are much more natural for reviewing an ongoing experience).
5 (b)
Explanation: “Watching” functions as the subject here. (a) is a bare infinitive. (c) “Watched” is past tense.
6 (a)
Explanation: “Inviting” is the correct spelling for the subject. Drop the ‘e’ from “invite”. (b) is a bare verb. (c) “Inviteing” is a basic spelling mistake.
7 (c)
Explanation: “Navigating” correctly acts as the subject. Drop the ‘e’ from “navigate”. (a) and (b) are structural errors.
8 (a)
Explanation: “Keeping” is the correct gerund subject. (b) “Keep” cannot be a subject. (c) “Kept” is past tense.
9 (b)
Explanation: “Memorizing” is the correct subject. Drop the ‘e’ from “memorize”. (a) is a bare verb. (c) “Memorizeing” is a spelling error.
10 (a)
Explanation: “Listening” acts as the subject of the sentence. (b) is a bare verb. (c) is grammatically invalid as a subject.
11 (a)
Explanation: “Paying” is correct. Just add “-ing” to the verb “pay” (do not drop the ‘y’). (b) is a bare verb. (c) is a grammatical mistake.
12 (b)
Explanation: “Contacting” is the required gerund subject. (a) is a bare verb. (c) is past tense.
13 (a)
Explanation: “Completing” is the correct gerund subject. Drop the ‘e’ from “complete”. (b) is a bare verb. (c) “Completeing” is a spelling error.
14 (c)
Explanation: “Reading” is the correct gerund form acting as the subject. (a) is a bare verb. (b) is a structural mistake.
15 (a)
Explanation: “Collecting” is the correct subject. (b) and (c) are incorrect verb forms for this position.
16 (a)
Explanation: “Creating” correctly acts as the subject. Drop the ‘e’ from “create”. (b) is a bare verb. (c) “Createing” is a spelling mistake.
17 (b)
Explanation: “Resetting” is the correct spelling. Because “reset” is a verb that ends in a consonant-vowel-consonant (C-V-C) pattern with the stress on the final syllable, you must double the final ‘t’. (a) “Reseting” is a spelling error. (c) is a bare verb.
18 (a)
Explanation: “Getting” is correct. The verb “get” follows the C-V-C rule, so you must double the ‘t’. (b) “Geting” is a spelling error. (c) is a bare verb.
19 (a)
Explanation: “Designing” is the correct gerund subject. (b) is a bare verb. (c) is past tense.
20 (b)
Explanation: “Making” is the correct gerund subject. Drop the ‘e’ from “make”. (a) is a bare verb. (c) “Makeing” is a common spelling mistake.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Evaluating an Experience: When you write a review for an app, a product, or a service, you often need to evaluate how something feels to do. To make an action the topic of your sentence, you must use a Gerund (V-ing) as the subject. It acts just like a noun.
- Example: Using this app is easy. (Think of it as: The act of using this app is easy).
- Incorrect: Use this app is easy.
- The “To V” vs “V-ing” Subject: While it is technically possible in English to use an infinitive as a subject (e.g., To use this app is easy), it sounds very formal, poetic, or unnatural in modern everyday speech. For app reviews, casual opinions, and everyday facts, native speakers almost exclusively use Gerunds.
- Important Spelling Rules for Gerunds:
- Drop the ‘e’: If the verb ends in ‘e’, remove it before adding ‘-ing’ (practice -> practicing, create -> creating, complete -> completing).
- Keep the ‘y’: Never drop the ‘y’ when adding ‘-ing’ (pay -> paying).
- Double the Consonant (C-V-C Rule): If a short verb (or a verb stressed on the last syllable) ends in one vowel and one consonant, double the final consonant (get -> getting, reset -> resetting).