Gerunds comprise a special class of non-finite forms present in the English language. They can be used to perform a variety of syntactic functions ...

Gerunds comprise a special class of non-finite forms present in the English language. They can be used to perform a variety of syntactic functions depending on the type of transitivity a verb presents. Sometimes they are required as part of more complex structures. Bearing this information in mind, read the sentence below: "University students nowadays give exploring social networking sites most of their time instead of focusing on the materials they are supposed to read." The gerund form in the sentence above functions as: A prepositional complement B subject C subject complement D indirect object E direct object