You've read the gerund rule before. Maybe five times.
You can write it from memory: "A gerund is a verb ending in -ing used as a noun." You know the definition. You can explain it to someone else. You might even feel confident about it — right up until the moment the question appears on your SSC CGL or IBPS PO paper.
Then something goes wrong. The sentence is longer than your practice examples. The options all look plausible. Time is running. You pick one — half-hoping it's right — and move on.
This happens to thousands of aspirants every exam cycle. And the frustrating part? It has nothing to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with how this topic is usually taught.
Most grammar books explain gerunds, infinitives, and participles. Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions by Balu Kandekar builds the skill of recognising them — automatically, under pressure, without having to recall a list.
In this post, you'll see exactly how. The 4-step chapter structure, the reasoning behind it, real exam examples from SSC CGL and IBPS PO papers, and why students who've worked through this book stop guessing and start knowing.
Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions by Balu Kandekar uses a 4-step chapter system: (1) state the rule in one sentence, (2) explain the logic behind it, (3) show worked examples from real SSC CGL and IBPS PO papers (2019–2024), then (4) drill with 40–50 graded MCQs per chapter. This builds automatic pattern recognition — not just rule knowledge — which is the skill that determines performance under exam pressure.
- Why Most Grammar Books Fail You at the Exam Stage
- 4 Mistakes Students Keep Making — And Why
- How This Book Teaches Gerunds, Infinitives & Participles Differently
- One Student's Story: From 7 to 20 in the English Section
- Expert Tips From 15 Years of Teaching Competitive English
- Conclusion: The Difference Between Knowing and Owning a Rule
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Most Grammar Books Fail You at the Exam Stage
Here's something nobody says out loud: most grammar books are written to explain the language — not to prepare you for an exam. And those are two very different goals.
When you open a standard grammar textbook, here's the typical structure:
- A rule stated in one or two sentences
- One or two clean, fictional examples ("She enjoys swimming.")
- A short exercise with five easy fill-in-the-blanks
- Move on to the next topic
That works fine if you're learning English for daily conversation. But in SSC CGL, IBPS PO, or RRB NTPC — where you have roughly 45 seconds per question and every English section mark counts — that structure quietly fails you.
Here's what actually happens in the exam hall:
A fill-in-the-blank appears. You try to recall the rule. Under time pressure, recall is slow. You think you remember something about gerunds after prepositions — but is this word a preposition? And is it definitely a gerund, or could it be a participle? You pick an option and move on.
I've watched this pattern for 15 years across hundreds of students. And in almost every case, the problem is identical: they know the rule — they just can't apply it automatically.
That gap — between knowing a rule and applying it under pressure — is exactly what most grammar books never close. They teach knowledge. They don't build the reflex.
But here's what most people get wrong: they think the solution is reading more rules. It isn't. The solution is practising the exact question pattern — at exam difficulty — until recognition is faster than recall. That requires a completely different kind of book.
4 Mistakes Students Keep Making — And Why
Studying Gerunds, Infinitives, and Participles as Three Separate Topics
Most students study one form at a time — one chapter on gerunds, one on infinitives, one on participles — and never learn to distinguish between them when all three appear together. That's exactly how SSC and IBPS questions are designed: not "what is a gerund?" but "which of these four options is correct?" — where each option uses a different verbal form.
Studying in isolation means you're prepared for a test that doesn't exist. The real exam needs comparison skills, not category knowledge.
Treating "-ing = Gerund" as a Reliable Shortcut
This is the most dangerous shortcut in competitive English. Not every word ending in "-ing" is a gerund. "Running water" — that's a present participle modifying "water." "The running of the bulls" — that's a gerund. "She is running" — that's part of a progressive tense. Three different -ing words. Three different grammar forms. One question type that tests all three.
"The children enjoyed to play in the park after school."
Error: "to play" — "enjoy" always takes a gerund. Correct: enjoyed playing.
Students who relied on the "-ing shortcut" missed this because the error was an infinitive, not a wrong -ing word.
Chapter 2 of Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions covers exactly this — verbs that always take gerunds (enjoy, avoid, mind, suggest, deny, keep, finish, practise) with 40 practice questions. Once you've drilled this chapter, you don't need to think. You recognise it. See the book on Amazon →
Memorising the "What" Without Understanding the "Why"
"Avoid, enjoy, mind, suggest — these take gerunds." That's the rule. Most students memorise the list and move on. But why do these verbs take gerunds? Because they describe activities, states, and ongoing processes — not goals or intentions.
When you know the logic, you can handle a verb you've never memorised before. When you only know the list, one unfamiliar verb breaks you. The logic is more powerful than the list — always.
Only Practising at "Easy" Difficulty — Then Facing Exam-Level Questions Unprepared
Standard exercises give you clean, short sentences: "She enjoys ___." In the actual SSC CGL or IBPS PO question, the sentence is longer, more complex, and sometimes includes deliberate misdirection in another clause. Students who only practised easy questions are unprepared for this — even if they know the rule perfectly.
"The manager insisted on ___ (hold / holding / to hold / held) the meeting despite the holiday."
Rule: After preposition "on" → gerund. Answer: holding.
Easy-level practice tells you the rule. Only exam-level practice trains you to identify "on" as the preposition in a longer sentence — under time pressure.
How This Book Teaches Gerunds, Infinitives & Participles Differently
Here's the 4-step system behind every chapter in the book — and why each step matters.
One Rule Per Chapter — Not Fifteen Rules in One Chapter
Most grammar books group everything: "Chapter 5 — Gerunds." Inside: 15 different rules about gerunds. By the end, you've half-learned all 15 and fully owned none. This book does the opposite. Chapter 1 covers one rule — gerunds after prepositions — and drills it completely with 40 graded practice questions. Then the next chapter. One rule. One chapter. One pattern locked in before the next begins.
The Logic Layer — "Why Does This Rule Exist?"
After stating the rule, each chapter explains the reasoning. Not linguistic theory — exam-practical reasoning. Why do verbs like "want," "wish," "hope," "decide," and "plan" always take an infinitive? Because they express goal or intention — something aimed toward. The infinitive structurally represents direction and purpose. Once you know that, you can reason through unfamiliar verbs without memorising a list.
"She decided ___ (to leave / leaving / leave / left) early to avoid the traffic."
Logic: "decide" = intention/goal → pulls infinitive. Answer: to leave.
Worked Examples — Only From Real SSC and Bank Exam Papers
Generic examples teach you grammar. Real exam examples teach you the exam. Every worked example in this book is drawn from actual SSC CGL, IBPS PO, RRB NTPC, SBI Clerk, or SSC CHSL papers (2019–2024). Each example shows the question as it appeared on the paper, why each wrong option is wrong, and the exact rule behind the correct answer. That's the closest preparation possible to the actual paper — without sitting the actual paper.
Graded Practice — Level 1 (Easy) Through Level 3 (Exam-Level)
Each chapter's practice set runs across three difficulty levels. Level 1: clean, short sentences. Level 2: context-embedded sentences. Level 3: SSC/Bank-style sentences with the same complexity and misdirection as the actual paper. By the time you finish all three levels, you're not practising for an imaginary exam — you're practising for the exact one you'll sit.
"He was punished for to be late to the examination hall three times."
Error: "to be" after preposition "for" → must be gerund. Correct: being.
A Level 3 question. Students who only practised Level 1 miss this under pressure.
Trap Chapters — When Both Forms Could Look Correct
Some of the most penalised questions in competitive English are traps — where an infinitive looks right but a gerund is required, or vice versa. The book has dedicated chapters for these. The most important: "remember," "forget," "stop," and "try" — verbs that change meaning entirely depending on which form follows.
"I remember to lock the door before I left."
Trap: "remember + infinitive" = not forgetting to do something in the future. "Remember + gerund" = recalling a past action. Since the speaker is recalling a past event ("before I left"), the correct form is remember locking.
Most students choose "to lock" — and lose the mark.
This exact trap — "remember / forget / stop / try + gerund vs infinitive" — has its own dedicated chapter with 45 questions to drill the distinction until it's automatic. All 23 exam traps are mapped, explained, and practised in Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions. Get your copy here →
Mixed Practice Sets — Because Exams Don't Label Questions
The final section of each chapter mixes question types without labelling them. No hint that it's a "gerund question" or an "infinitive question." Just: here's a sentence — what's correct? This is exactly what the exam does. And it's the only kind of practice that truly prepares you for it — because it forces your brain to recognise the pattern instead of applying a pre-labelled rule.
One Student's Story: From 7 to 20 in the English Section
Kavya, 24, from Pune, was on her third attempt at IBPS PO. Her English section score had been stuck at 7 out of 25 for two attempts. She knew the grammar rules. She'd read SP Bakshi cover to cover. But in the exam hall, every verbal form question was still a guess.
She worked through Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions chapter by chapter over 38 days — one chapter per session, all three difficulty levels completed before moving on.
Third attempt: 20 out of 25 in English.
You can do the same — and here's how to start.
Expert Tips From 15 Years of Teaching Competitive English
These aren't tips from a textbook. These are observations from watching hundreds of students prepare for SSC and Bank exams — what separates the ones who score 20+ from the ones who stay stuck at 8–10.
Use the "Preposition Test" Before Any Other Rule
Before choosing between a gerund and an infinitive, look at the word immediately before the blank. If it's any preposition — in, on, about, for, without, before, after, of — the answer is a gerund. No exceptions. This test takes two seconds and gives you the correct answer for roughly 30% of all gerund/infinitive questions in SSC and Bank papers. It should be the first thing you check — not the last.
Logic Categories Beat Memorised Lists Under Pressure
Every grammar book has a list: "Verbs followed by gerund: enjoy, avoid, suggest, mind, consider, keep, finish, deny..." Memorising lists is fragile. Under pressure, lists break. The smarter approach: memorise the logic category — "verbs that describe activities or ongoing states" — and use that logic to reason through any verb, even one not on your list. One logic category is worth more than 20 memorised verbs.
Stop, Remember, Forget, and Try Are Exam Traps — Not Just Tricky Words
These four verbs change meaning completely depending on which form follows. "I stopped smoking" (I quit) versus "I stopped to smoke" (I paused in order to smoke). SSC CGL, IBPS PO, and RRB NTPC setters test this distinction specifically — because most students don't know both meanings exist. If you haven't drilled both meanings cold, you will lose marks on these questions. Every time.
"Walking along the beach, the sunset appeared beautiful."
Error: Dangling participle — "walking" logically should modify the subject, but "the sunset" cannot walk. Correct: As we walked along the beach, the sunset appeared beautiful.
Participle Errors Appear in Error-Spotting — Not Fill-in-the-Blanks
Most aspirants focus their practice entirely on fill-in-the-blank questions. But participle errors — especially dangling and misplaced participles — appear almost exclusively in error-spotting. If you've only practised fill-in-the-blanks, you're ready for two question types and unprepared for a third. Chapter 9 of the book is dedicated entirely to participle error-spotting patterns, with 35 exam-modelled questions across all three difficulty levels.
Dangling participle traps, "stop/remember/try" traps, and 21 other exam-specific patterns are mapped and drilled in Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions. Chapter 9 alone — participle error-spotting — has trained more students to recognise dangling participles than any generic grammar chapter. See what's inside →
The Difference Between Knowing and Owning a Rule
Here's the honest summary: the students who score 20+ in the SSC CGL or IBPS PO English section aren't more intelligent, and they didn't read more grammar books. They practised the right question patterns — at exam difficulty — until recognition became faster than recall.
That's the only thing that works under exam pressure. Not more rules. More practised patterns.
By the time your exam arrives, you can be in that group — answering gerund, infinitive, and participle questions with certainty, not guesswork. But only if you start practising the right way now.
Every exam has a version of these questions. The only question is whether you'll answer them — or guess them.
Read Today's Full Blog Post on ebookcharm →
Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions
by Balu Kandekar | ebookcharm
15 Chapters · 10 Shortcut Rules · 23 Exam Traps · 500 MCQs
SSC CGL · IBPS PO · RRB NTPC · SBI Clerk · NDA/CDS
Get Gerunds vs Infinitives vs Participles: 500 Questions
If you're serious about never getting these questions wrong again, this is your shortcut. One focused book. Every pattern that appears on your exam. Drilled until it's automatic.
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