You actually do not have two gerunds in a row in that case. "I am considering" is actually a present progressive tense of the verb "to consider." "Setting up a cyber cafe" is the direct object of that sentence, started off with the gerund form of "to set."
The present progressive is visible if you look at how the sentence would appear in other tenses, in particular the past tense:
"I considered setting up a cyber cafe."
I don't entirely understand why English requires the direct object clause to start with a gerund, but I think it might become more clear when the direct object is a one-word verb, rather than a full clause
"I am considering sitting."
"I considered sitting."
In these cases, it is clear that a gerund is needed so that "to sit" can function as a noun. This also shows why English speakers will not use an infinitive -- because it is not a noun so cannot function as a direct object:
"XX I am considering to sit. XX (improper)"
I think that all -ing words except "am enjoying" in Ben's "I’m enjoying imagining finishing writing this answer" are gerunds, each one acting as the direct object of the previous one. However, it may be as simple as "it sounds better to our ears, so we say it that way."
1You may be interested in the topic doubl-ing constraint. Though, it doesn't seem to apply to your example with its use of "considering". Consider the acceptable example in CGEL page 1243 [57.iii.b]: "We are considering buying one." – F.E. – 2014-12-27T17:20:19.797
The doubl-ing constraint applies clearest to aspectual verbs (begin, cease, continue, start, stop, etc.) and concealed passives. (CGEL page 1243-4, [57]) – F.E. – 2014-12-27T17:54:17.763
Thank you but i don't have CGEL. Do you mean we can't apply double-ing rule with each gerund verb? @F.E. – starun008 – 2014-12-27T18:52:31.453
1That doubl-ing constraint applies to only a small set of verbs. That's a grammatical constraint. But there is also a matter of "sound", when often a double -ing sequence can sound awkward or not so pleasant (even though it might be grammatically acceptable), and the given answer posts in your thread have addressed that issue. :) – F.E. – 2014-12-27T18:57:49.367
Regarding whether the first -ing word is a gerund, I just did some googling and was pleased to discover that it’s now more popular to call it a present participle than a gerund, contrary to the way I was taught. Calling it a gerund never made sense to me except by analogy with (some) Romance languages, e.g. in Italian where you say sto considerando, not sto considerante —though I think it would make even more sense to not have two separate terms. So now I'm wondering if there's a better way to title this question and how or whether I should revise my answer.… – Ben Kovitz – 2014-12-29T03:25:06.207
…I don’t think it’s our place to make a ruling about the terminology. The fact is, many people call it a present participle, many people call it a gerund, some people just talk about “present progressive” or “present continuous” and avoid giving a name to the word that ends in -ing, and in nearly every conversation, someone says that someone else is calling it by the wrong name. Any ideas, then, for what wording makes this question easiest to find for people who would benefit from reading the answers? – Ben Kovitz – 2014-12-29T03:26:22.613
@Ben Kovitz: Its a good question. I believe the reason why people (including myself) are picky about terminology is because this is ELL, and often the confusion between languages has already been codified years ago and given "correct" terms. That being said, I can see your argument: natural language did not grow up around such terms... it simply does what it does. I struggle with how helpful of an answer I can give without specifying the terminology. Is "It's natural to have two -ing words in a row" helpful? I don't think there's an easy answer to that question. – Cort Ammon – 2014-12-29T03:56:03.363
@CortAmmon I've been thinking about this ever since you posted your answer, and am now feeling little hope that any one of these terminologies can reasonably prevail over the others. I just posted details at an open question about this on ELL. If this topic has been nailed down years ago, I'd love to hear more about it.
– Ben Kovitz – 2014-12-29T06:18:54.367