Question

In this sentence, "While playing the tuba, Orin felt as if his world was perfect," is "playing" a gerund or a participle and why?

Answer 1

See explanation.

Explanation:

Here word playing is a (present) participle because it is a part of a clause describing an action (feeling). If we wanted to ask about this clause we would say :

When did Orin feel as if his word was perfect?

It could be a gerund if it acted as a subject like in a sentence:

Playing the tuba made him feel as if ...

In this fragment word playing acts as a subject so it is a gerund