Gerunds – English Grammar Exercises for A2
Choose the best answer (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence. The context of this exercise is a conversation between you and your roommate (or a family member) complaining about the household chores you absolutely hate doing.
1 I absolutely hate ______ the laundry on weekends.
(a) doing
(b) to do
(c) do
2 My roommate dislikes ______ the dirty dishes after dinner.
(a) wash
(b) washing
(c) to wash
3 I am so tired of ______ the bathroom every single week.
(a) to clean
(b) clean
(c) cleaning
4 Do you hate ______ out the heavy trash bags too?
(a) take
(b) taking
(c) takeing
5 I always avoid ______ my clothes because it takes too much time.
(a) ironing
(b) to iron
(c) iron
6 I am really sick of ______ the floor every single day.
(a) sweep
(b) to sweep
(c) sweeping
7 Can we put off ______ the living room until tomorrow morning?
(a) vacuuming
(b) vacuum
(c) to vacuum
8 I don’t mind ______, but I really hate washing the pots and pans.
(a) cook
(b) cooking
(c) to cook
9 She is fed up with ______ the bed every morning.
(a) making
(b) make
(c) to make
10 I can’t stand ______ the toilet! It is the worst chore.
(a) to scrub
(b) scrubing
(c) scrubbing
11 He always complains about ______ the wet floor.
(a) to mop
(b) mopping
(c) moping
12 I am not very good at ______ the messy closet.
(a) organizing
(b) organizeing
(c) to organize
13 How about ______ the housework this weekend so we both have free time?
(a) share
(b) to share
(c) sharing
14 Thank you for ______ me with the heavy grocery bags.
(a) to help
(b) helping
(c) help
15 I actually prefer ______ the grocery shopping to cleaning the kitchen.
(a) doing
(b) to do
(c) do
16 Instead of ______ about the mess, why don’t you help me tidy up?
(a) to complain
(b) complain
(c) complaining
17 Are you used to ______ with such a messy roommate?
(a) living
(b) live
(c) to live
18 I completely gave up ______ to keep this old apartment tidy.
(a) try
(b) trying
(c) to try
19 I apologize for ______ my dirty socks on the sofa yesterday.
(a) leaving
(b) leaveing
(c) to leave
20 It’s hard to reach, so I hate ______ the dust on the ceiling fans.
(a) wipe
(b) to wipe
(c) wiping
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (a)
Explanation: The verb “hate” is usually followed by a gerund (V-ing) to emphasize the unpleasant experience or the continuous process of the chore. (b) “to do” is a common learner mistake (though “hate to do” exists, V-ing is much more natural when talking about experiences). (c) “do” is a basic structural error.
2 (b)
Explanation: The verb “dislike” MUST be followed by a gerund. (a) is structurally incorrect. (c) “to wash” is a very common error caused by confusing it with verbs like “want”.
3 (c)
Explanation: “Cleaning” is correct because it comes directly after the preposition “of” (tired of). (a) and (b) are grammatically invalid after a preposition.
4 (b)
Explanation: “Taking” is the correct spelling (drop the ‘e’ from “take” and add “-ing”). (a) is a structural error. (c) “takeing” is a common spelling mistake.
5 (a)
Explanation: The verb “avoid” MUST always be followed by a gerund. (b) “to iron” is a common trap for learners. (c) “iron” is a bare infinitive, which is incorrect here.
6 (c)
Explanation: The phrase “sick of” ends with a preposition (“of”), so it must be followed by a gerund. (a) and (b) are structural errors.
7 (a)
Explanation: “Put off” (meaning to delay) is a phrasal verb ending with the preposition “off”, so it requires a gerund. (b) and (c) are incorrect.
8 (b)
Explanation: The phrase “don’t mind” (not bothered by something) is always followed by a gerund. (c) “to cook” is a common thinking error. (a) is structurally invalid.
9 (a)
Explanation: The phrase “fed up with” ends in a preposition (“with”), requiring a gerund. Also, you must drop the ‘e’ from “make” to form “making”. (b) and (c) are grammatically incorrect.
10 (c)
Explanation: “Scrubbing” is the correct answer. The phrase “can’t stand” (to strongly dislike) must be followed by a gerund. Furthermore, because “scrub” is a one-syllable verb ending in a consonant-vowel-consonant, you must double the final ‘b’. (b) “scrubing” is a spelling mistake. (a) is a grammatical error.
11 (b)
Explanation: Because it follows the preposition “about”, we must use a gerund. The verb “mop” must double its final consonant to become “mopping”. (c) “moping” is a completely different word (meaning to feel sad/depressed). (a) is incorrect because we do not use “to V” after prepositions.
12 (a)
Explanation: Following the preposition “at” (good at), we use a gerund. You must drop the ‘e’ from “organize” before adding “-ing”. (b) “organizeing” is a basic spelling mistake. (c) is structurally incorrect.
13 (c)
Explanation: The suggestion phrase “How about…?” ends with a preposition (“about”), so it must take a gerund. (a) and (b) are grammatical errors.
14 (b)
Explanation: The correct structure is “Thank somebody for + V-ing”. (a) “to help” is a common mistake made when learners translate directly from their native language. (c) is a structural error.
15 (a)
Explanation: The structure for stating preferences is “prefer + V-ing + to + V-ing”. Since we have “to cleaning” in the second clause, we must use “doing” in the first clause to maintain parallel structure. (b) and (c) break this structure.
16 (c)
Explanation: Immediately following the preposition “of” in the phrase “Instead of”, we must use a gerund. (a) and (b) are basic grammatical mistakes.
17 (a)
Explanation: THIS IS A TRICKY DISTRACTOR. In the phrase “be used to” (meaning accustomed to), the word “to” acts as a PREPOSITION, not an infinitive marker. Therefore, it must be followed by a gerund. (c) “to live” is a classic learner mistake.
18 (b)
Explanation: The phrasal verb “give up” ends with a preposition (“up”), so it takes a gerund. (c) “to try” is a common mistake. (a) is structurally incorrect.
19 (a)
Explanation: The phrase “apologize for” must be followed by a gerund. Drop the ‘e’ from “leave” to form “leaving”. (b) “leaveing” is a spelling error. (c) is incorrect.
20 (c)
Explanation: The verb “hate” takes a gerund (emphasizing the annoying action). Drop the ‘e’ from “wipe” to form “wiping”. (b) “to wipe” is technically possible but (c) is much more natural in a complaining context; (a) is a complete structural error.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 Verbs of Dislike/Attitude: When you want to complain or express your dislike for a chore, use a gerund (V-ing) after verbs like: hate, dislike, can’t stand, don’t mind. Using the V-ing form emphasizes the actual “experience” or “process” of the activity.
(Example: I can’t stand scrubbing the toilet.)
2 The Preposition Rule: This is a golden rule in English: Whenever a verb immediately follows a preposition (in, on, at, about, of, for, with, up, off…), it MUST be in the gerund (V-ing) form.
- Adjective + Preposition: tired of, sick of, fed up with, good/bad at.
- Phrasal verbs: put off, give up, apologize for.
3 The “To” Trap: In English, the word “to” is usually an infinitive marker (e.g., want to go). However, in some specific phrases, “to” functions as a PREPOSITION. When this happens, it must be followed by a gerund. The most important ones at this level are:
- Be used to + V-ing: Being accustomed to something (Are you used to living here?)
- Prefer + V-ing + to + V-ing: Liking one thing more than another.
4 Spelling Rules:
- For verbs ending in ‘e’ -> Drop the ‘e’ and add ‘-ing’ (make -> making, leave -> leaving).
- For one-syllable verbs ending in a single consonant-vowel-consonant pattern -> Double the final consonant before adding ‘-ing’ (mop -> mopping, scrub -> scrubbing).