In English language we need to work on our thought process, fluency is other part, a good speaker always shows his/her fluency of thought and fluency of speech. to be a perfect with spoken English we need to work on our fluency and thought process. Grammar  is somehow secondary in it. Like rules can be learnt but fluency is something which is done by ourselves only.

If the "y" isn't at the beginning of the word or beginning of a syllable, it's functioning as a vowel

Even though "y" is technically a consonant, there are many more instances in which it functions as a vowel. You'll hear it work as a long /e/ sound (as in city or party), short /i/ sound (as in cyst or symbol) or long /i/ sound (as in fly or shy) depending on the word it's in. It can also be part of a vowel team.

A gerund is a word like “swimming” in the sentence “I have always enjoyed swimming.” The term refers to the “-ing” form of a verb when it functions as a noun. A gerund usually refers in a general way to the activity represented by the verb it's derived from