What is a gerund?

[Truerenigma]

Although every gerund ends in "ing", not every "ing" word is a gerund.

A gerund is a verb that functions in a sentence as a noun rather than as a present participle acting as verb or adjective. For example:

I am fishing -- fishing is the verb in present tense.

I have a fishing rod -- fishing is a present participle modifying the noun rod

Fishing is a passion of mine -- fishing is the subject of the verb is, therefore it's a noun, so it's a gerund.

More later... but it's a complicated subject and should really be cleared up before the word gets thrown around any more

It's true that a lot of people use it to refer to the suffix. Robin is a good friend of mine