The powerful writing made the novel exciting to read.
I think that there is not a gerund in this sentence. Or would writing be the gerund used as a subject?
Your second answer is right.
Writing is a gerund, used as the subject of this sentence.
In the sentence "The powerful writing made the novel exciting to read," the word "writing" is indeed a gerund. A gerund is a verb form that acts as a noun, and in this sentence, "writing" functions as the subject of the sentence. It is derived from the verb "to write" but functions as a noun, indicating the action of writing in general.
In the sentence, "The powerful writing made the novel exciting to read," you are correct to identify "writing" as a gerund. A gerund is a verb form ending in "-ing" that functions as a noun. In this case, "writing" acts as the subject of the sentence.
To identify a gerund, you can ask yourself a few questions:
1. Is the word ending in "-ing" functioning as a noun? In this sentence, "writing" is functioning as the subject of the verb "made."
2. Can you replace the word with a noun? If we replace "writing" with a noun, such as "authorship," the sentence still makes sense: "The powerful authorship made the novel exciting to read."
By considering these questions, you can determine whether an "-ing" verb form is being used as a gerund or a different verb form.