Level: Low Intermediate and Up
Pair with the Songs:
“Hello” (Adele, 2015)
“Crazy” (Willie Nelson, 1961)
Recommended Videos:
“Hello”: Adele’s official video
“Crazy”: Willie Nelson’s audio-only video; Patsy Cline’s audio-only video; the informal performance of “Crazy” by Allison Young and Josh Turner (My students all liked the informal performance of “Crazy” best.)

The English language seems uniquely fond of gerunds, using the -ing form of a verb as a noun where other languages might use an infinitive or an entirely different construction. (Consider the English sentence Thank you for helping me and the Spanish sentence Gracias por ayudarme.) In the song “Hello,” Adele repeats the line I’m sorry for breaking your heart three times–a perfect example of using a gerund (breaking) as the object of a preposition (for). The song “Crazy” has many gerunds following the preposition for. The worksheet below gives students practice using gerunds after prepositions. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

preposition + gerund.docx          preposition + gerund.pdf          preposition + gerund (webpage)

For more activities to pair with the song “Hello,” please see the Lesson Plan. The lyrics gap-fill exercise below is for the song “Crazy.”  Lyrics intended for nonprofit educational use only.

Crazy, gerunds.docx          Crazy, gerunds.pdf          Crazy, gerunds (webpage)

Previews:

Prepositions + Gerunds

A gerund is the –ing from of a verb used as a noun. You can use a gerund as the object of a preposition.

A. First, take the quiz below. (It’s just for fun.)

Are you a chocoholic—a person who LOVES chocolate? Do you…

• dream about eating chocolate?
• look forward to having chocolate every day?
• have recipes for baking with chocolate?
• never get tired of thinking about chocolate?
• have to stop yourself from eating too much chocolate?
• sometimes get angry at someone for taking your chocolate?
• worry about gaining weight because you eat a lot of chocolate?

If you answered yes to most of the questions, you are a chocoholic!

B. Read the sentences in the “chocolate quiz” again. The words that are underlined are gerunds. Notice that every gerund follows a preposition.

C. Complete each sentence below with a gerund.

1. We don’t have time to cook tonight. Let’s order a pizza instead of
___________________ dinner.
2. Tomorrow I’m going to see friends I haven’t seen for a long time. I’m looking
forward to ___________________ them.
3. On Saturday he’s going to meet his girlfriend’s parents for the first time. He’s
nervous about ___________________ them.
4. They don’t want to paint the living room. They’re really bad at
___________________.
5. You’ll meet a lot of new people at the party, and you can’t remember all of
their names. So don’t worry about ___________________ every name.
6. I like to learn how to do new things on a computer. I’m interested in
___________________ how to design a web page.
7. He lied about his age on the application. What was his reason for
___________________?
8. He works part-time at a gas station, in addition to ___________________ full-
time at a supermarket.
9. It’s not hard for me to get up at 6 AM. I’m used to ___________________ up
early.
10. Her friends helped her move into her new apartment. She thanked them many
times for ___________________ her move.
11. We were 20 minutes late for the meeting. When we arrived, we apologized for
___________________ late.
12. She broke his heart when she told him she wouldn’t marry him. Many years
later, she told him she was sorry for ___________________ his heart.

Answers:
1. cooking OR making
2. seeing
3. meeting
4. painting
5. remembering
6. learning
7. lying
8. working
9. getting
10. helping
11. being
12. breaking

Worksheet: Copyright © 2016 Sandra Heyer. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.
Photo: Copyright © Okea | Dreamstime. Used by permission.

Lyrics below intended for nonprofit educational use only.

Crazy
Songwriter: Willie Nelson

Listen to the song ”Crazy.” As you listen, fill in the missing gerunds. You will use some words in the list below more than once. Notice that each gerund is the object of the preposition for. Also notice that the singer pronounces the final ing in the gerund in’.

crying    feeling    loving    thinking    trying

Crazy
I’m crazy for ____________________ so lonely
I’m crazy
Crazy for ____________________ so blue
I knew
You’d love me as long as you wanted
And then some day
You’d leave me for somebody new
Worry
Why do I let myself worry?
Wondering
What in the world did I do…
Oh, crazy
For ____________________ that my love could hold you
I’m crazy for ____________________
And crazy for ____________________
And I’m crazy for ____________________ you
Crazy
For ____________________ that my love could hold you
I’m crazy for ____________________
And crazy for ____________________
And I’m crazy for ____________________ you