The form of the gerund and the present participle is the same. You cannot tell by looking at word in isolation whether it is a gerund or present participle: only its FUNCTION in the sentence will tell you. 1. Gerunds These are verb forms functioning as nouns. The three commonest uses are: - as a subject e.g. Swimming is good for your health - after certain verbs e.g. I enjoy swimming - after prepositions e.g. I'm fond of swimming If you can replace the -ing word with a noun ( e.g. 'yoga') , it's a gerund. 2. Present participles These are verb forms which form part of the continuous tenses. - sometimes they occur in combination with the verb 'to be' e.g. He was swimming as fast as he could. - sometimes they don't e.g. John came across the lake towards us, swimming as fast as he could. fyi: 99% of native English speakers have no idea about the difference: we know how to use these words, but not why we use them.

A gerund is a verb form ending in ing that acts as a noun in a sentence. Ex. We liked the singing. A participle is a verb form that can act as an adjective and can be used with a helping (auxiliary) verb to indicate tense, aspect or voice. Ex. Turning the corner, I was surprised to see an elephant. - adjective I am going to the store. (present progressive tense with present participle.) I have gone to the store. (present perfect tense with past participle.) She was called to the ministry. passive voice

I'm a native english speaker and I never heard of the word gerund probably because we don't say it in America I don't know

Gerunds function as nouns. For more information, consult your grammar book or use google.