Below are explanations for the two Gerund Phrase Samples:

Gerund Phrases from The Brothers Karamazov

It came to pass that settling permanently in Paris played a key role for when he, too, forgot the child, especially when the Revolution of February broke out, making an impression on his mind that he remembered all the rest of his life.

As the interactive exercise instructs, the first step is to highlight any words that could be a gerund phrase:

settlingIt came to pass that settling permanently in Paris played a key role for when he, too, forgot the child, especially when the Revolution of February broke out, making an impression on his mind that he remembered all the rest of his life.

There appears to be only one gerund phrase in this sentence:

1. SETTLING PERMANENTLY IN PARIS: nominal gerund phrase - subject of nominal that-clause - precedes a main verb phrase (PLAYED)

Challenge Sample from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Looking out the doorway was a common practice for Dorothy, even though she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun has been burning the tops of the long blades for going on ten years, until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere.

Again, the first step is to highlight any words that might be a gerund phrase:

Looking out the doorway was a common practice for Dorothy, even though she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun has been burning the tops of the long blades for going on ten years, until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere.

For this sample, there appears to be two gerund phrases in this passage:

1. LOOKING OUT THE DOORWAY: nominal gerund phrase - subject of the independent clause - precedes a main verb phrase (WAS)
2. GOING ON TEN YEARS: nominal gerund phrase - object of a preposition (FOR)

Tips to Keep in Mind

The KEY MARKER for identifying gerund phrases is the participle inflection [-ing], but of equal importance is your ability to determine if the phrase is serving a noun role (subject, direct object, object of the preposition, most commonly). But, again, you must analyze in context. Make sure that you can tell the difference between a gerund phrase and a present participle phrase. This is the key to analyzing these structures effectively.

If you have questions about these sample analyses, please contact your instructor or start a conversation in your work group.