Question

Creating fear in us, the tour guide turned out the lights in the passage.

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is not gerund, but letter B) Participial.

Explanation:

A gerund is a noun created by adding -ing to a verb root. In other words, it is a present participle used as a noun. A gerund phrase, thus, has a gerund and any modifiers or objects related to it. A gerund phrase also functions as a noun, which means it can be the subject, the object, or the predicate nominative.

The problem is, participial phrases are gerund phrases look very much alike precisely because they use the present participle. What will differentiate them is how they function in the sentence. If we analyze the underlined phrase in the sentence, "creating fear in us", we'll see it is not acting as a noun, meaning it does not function as a subject, object, or predicate nominative:

- subject: the tour guide

- verb: turned out

- object: the lights

- adverb phrase of place: in the passage

"Creating fear in us", being a participial phrase, modifies the action expressed by the verb "turned out", giving us further information about it.

Answer 2

"Creating fear in us" is a gerund verbal phrase. Option A is correct.

A gerund phrase always begin with a gerund,(an ing word), and may include other modifiers and/or objects. Gerund phrases always function as nouns, so they will be subjects, subject complements, or objects in the sentence. So, to put it simply, a gerund is a noun formed with a verb ending in ing. In this particular case the gerung in the sentence is the verb "creating;"(create+ing).