Postagens
The present participle is not a tense, but a form of the verb. For example, just the word “running” is the present-participle form of the verb “to run”, which is here in a non-finite form.
A verb in a finite form has the mood, tense, and person clearly defined. For example, in the sentence “I am running”, the verb is conjugated in the indicative mood, present (continuous) tense and first person singular. OTOH, a non-finite form of a verb is independent of mood, tense and person.
Finally, a gerund is a noun formed by using the present-participle form of a verb. For example, in “the running was done by me”, the word “running” is a gerund.
Both forms end in -ing. Nevertheless it is easy to find out whether it is a Gerund or a Progressive form.
Progressive tenses
These tenses are formed with von to be and the infinitive + - ing.
| sentences | tense |
|---|---|
| He is reading a book. | Present Progressive |
| He was reading a book. | Past Progressive |
| He has been reading a book for three hours. | Present Perfect Progressive |
| He had been reading a book before Mary came in. | Past Perfect Progressive |
| He will be reading a book when I get home. | will-future Progressive |
| He will have been reading a book. | Future Perfect Progressive |
| He would be reading a book if he had time. | Conditional Progressive |
| He would have been reading a book if he had had time. | Conditional Perfect Progressive |
| A book is being read. | Present Progressive - Passive |
| A book was being read. | Past Progressive - Passive |
Gerund
The Gerund is formed only with infinitive + - ing.
| sentence |
|---|
| Reading books is great fun. |
| He likes reading books. |
| He is looking forward to reading books at the weekend. |
| He is keen on reading books. |
| He is used to reading books. |
| What about reading books? |
| He likes the idea of reading books. |
| After reading the book, he went to bed. |
| I remember having read this book. - Passive |
