What is the difference between gerund, participle, and infinitive?

Gerund, Infinitive, and Participles?

• In English we are studying verbals right now. I think I understand it, but I would like someone to check these 5 sentences to make sure I can correctly distinguish between gerunds, infinitives, and participles. Thanks! 1. I choose not to run your errands. -To Run is an infinitive 2. By asking questions, he was enabled to track them. -Asking is a gerund, used as an object of a preposition 3. Being disturbed now, it scampered away. -Disturbed (or would it be Being Disturbed?) is a participle 4. John, standing with his cousin behind the men, could feel his mother and sisters stir uneasily. -Standing is a participle 5. We began to eat the water-cress sandwiches. -To Eat is an infinitive Thank you so much!

• Answer:

  Yes, you are right about them all. #3: Both "being" and "disturbed" are participles in that they derive from verbs and are used as adjectives. "Being" is a present participle, and those are the ones that get confused with gerunds since they end in -ing. "Disturbed" is a past participle adjective.