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I believe you are correct.
The gerund in the first sentence you posted is the object of the preposition "than". That prepositional phrase can be removed and the sentence would still be correct:
Asking questions is easier.
You can do the exact same thing to the second sentence:
He prefers playing football.
A gerund used as a complement is usually ...
2
1) The best way to destroy your enemy is to make him a friend.
2) The best way to destroy your enemy is by making him a friend.
The first sentence sets up a relationship between the first and second part.
The best way to do something = make x something.
The "to" is a function word that allows the two parts to relate to each other. It connects the two ...
2
"Decide" does not take a gerund as its direct object. It can take a "to infinitive".
The first example you give is simple error in the quoted source. The original has "decided on going into the garden". Unlike "decide", the phrasal verb "decide on" can be followed by a gerund.
The second may be an error (of the author, publisher or printer). It could be ...
1
I believe both are correct. Perhaps your book provides more context enabling us to choose between the two options. "A" is reporting an event. "B" describes experiencing the event. "A" is past tense - "something happened." "B" is more continuous - it's describing the event as it was happening at the time.
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At least in American English, only the -ing version is natural in this particular expression.
What do you mean by after a noun?
Mary loves cake
has an inflected verb, not an infinitive, after a noun.
1
Quite means "to a considerable extent or degree."
This is quite interesting.
Much can also mean "to a great extent or degree," and far can mean "much," but you can't always just replace one word with another.
We do not use "much" or "far" before adjectives in their positive forms (interesting, quick...) but only before their comparative forms (more ...
1
The form:
The only way to X is to ensure that Y and Z are stopped.
(To X is an infinitive verb phrase that serves as the subject of the sentence.)
is perfectly proper and quite natural. One cannot substitute "being stopped" or "to be stopped" without significantly recasting the sentence.
One could write:
To X we must ensure that Y and Z are ...
1
Words ending in -ing can be
gerunds - a verb used as if it were a noun. Gerunds take adverbs and can have a complement (object).
present participles
or
nouns formed from verbs (verbal nouns). Nouns take adjectives and cannot have a complement (object).
Learning English - learning is a verb, English is a noun
English Learning - English is an adjective, ...
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