I hadn't heard about gerunds the first 5 years of learning English. I think I first found out about them only when I enrolled in university.

What the hell is "gerund"?, I thought.

Because, you know, this part of speech doesn't exist in my native language.

So here's what helped me understand gerunds when I was learning English:

1. Not every verb with "-ing" is a gerund.
2. For me, a gerund as a hybrid between a noun and a verb. A weird child that is neither of them, but is a bit like each of them.
3. I got a grip on how it works only after doing lots of exercises focused on gerunds (not on theory). BTW, have you noticed a gerund in this sentence?
4. Using gerunds made my speaking and writing much easier. Gerunds save time on saying something longer and more complicated in a simpler way.

If you're keen on diving deeper into gerunds, join my short course. I'll help you figure gerunds out so you can use them with ease as well.

Best,

Tania

PS: BTW, have you noticed gerunds in this email? There are 6 of them (if you count "learning" only once). Go ahead, write me back with the list of gerunds you found