Gerund or Participle? Which one is correct? [duplicate]

What do you think of these sentences? I found them on the Net. I mean, should they function here as a gerund or a participle? Are both of them possible? 1 Smoking cigarettes are dangerous 2 Smoking cigarettes is dangerous


2 is correct, as "smoking cigarettes" is a gerund phrase, acting as a noun/subject in the sentence. However, 1 can also be correct if what you mean is that cigarettes that are burning (having smoke coming out of them) are dangerous things. :)