Infinitives or Gerunds? Notes on Usage and Meaning

           

[Infinitives/Gerunds]

Adapted from English Grammar Online 4U.

There are certain words in English that are usually followed by an infinitive or gerund. If you are not sure whether to use the infinitive or gerund, check out our lists or look the words up in a dictionary.

Infinitives or Gerunds?

Certain words are followed by either an infinitive or gerund form, but the meaning of the word often changes accordingly.

- Same meaning.

• After these verbs: attempt, begin, bother, cannot bear, cease, continue, hate, intend, love, prefer, start.
• I started to read. / I started reading.

- Same meaning but different use.

• Special cases: advise, allow/permit, forbid.
• Infinitive + object: She allowed him to take the car.
• Gerund, no object: She allowed taking the car.

- Different meaning.

Verb                   Infinitive meaning         Gerund meaning

forget / remember	with regard to the future Remember to switch off the lights.	with regard to the past Do you remember switching off the lights?
go on	start something new Go on to read.	continue with the same action Go on reading.
regret	with regard to the future I regret to say that.	with regard to the past I regret saying that.
stop	interrupt another action I stopped to smoke.	terminate, give up I stopped smoking.
try	do something complicated Try to solve this riddle.	do it and see what happens Try talking to him.

- Infinitive (without to) or gerund.

• Special cases: feel, hear see.
• Infinitive meaning: to emphasize that the action is completed. I saw him go up the stairs.
• Gerund meaning: the action may or may not be completed.  I saw him going up the stairs. I saw him as he was doing this.

•  Special cases: go, come.
• Infinitive meaning: to express a purpose. She is coming to show us the pictures.
• Gerund meaning: in connection with activities. Let's go shopping, dancing ....

Gerunds - Notes on Usage

           

[Infinitives/Gerunds]

Adapted from English Grammar Online 4U.

There are certain words in English that are usually followed by an infinitive or gerund. If you are not sure whether to use the infinitive or gerund, check out our lists or look the words up in a dictionary.

Gerunds

Certain words are followed by an ing form of a verb.

- As the subject of a clause.

• Cycling is great for your health.

- After certain adjectives.

• After these adjectives afraid of, angry about / at, bad at, busy, clever at, crazy about, disappointed about, excited about, famous for, fond of, glad about, good at, impressed by, interested in, keen on, like, near, proud of, sick of , sorry about, ired of, worried about, worth.
• He's afraid of traveling by plane.

- After certain prepositions.

• After about (in 'how/what about'), after, apart from, because of, before, by, in, in spite of, instead of, on, without.
• How about watching a movie later tonight?

- After certain verbs.

• After the verbs admit, advise, allow, appreciate, avoid, can't help, can't stand, consider, delay, deny, dislike, enjoy, escape, fancy, finish, go (in go swimming), imagine, involve, keep, mention, mind, miss, permit, postpone, practice, reject, resist, risk, stop, suggest, understand, waste time / money.
• I really enjoy cooking.

- After certain verbs with prepositions.

• After accuse of, adjust to, agree with, apologize for, approve of, ask about, ask for, begin by, believe in, be, used to, blame for, care for, carry on, complain about, concentrate on, congratulate on, consist of, cope with, decide against, decide for, depend on, die of, dream about / of, escape from, feel like, forgive for, give up, insist on, keep on, look forward to, object to, pay for, prevent sb. from, protect from, put off, rely on, spend money on, spend time on, succeed in, suspect of, take part in, talk about / of, thank for, think of, use for, warn against, worry about.
• We're really looking forward to going on vacation next month.

- After certain nouns.

• After these nouns: advantage of, alternative of, chance of, choice between, danger of, difficulty in, doubt about, experience in, fun, hope of, idea of, interest in, opportunity of, place for, pleasure in, point in, possibility of, problem, reason, for, trouble, trouble in, use, way of, waste of money, waste of time.
• We had problems finding our way back home.

           

Infinitives - Notes on Usage

            

[Infinitives/Gerunds]

Adapted from English Grammar Online 4U.

There are certain words in English that are usually followed by an infinitive or gerund. If you are not sure whether to use the infinitive or gerund, check out our lists or look the words up in a dictionary.

Infinitives

Certain words are followed by an infinite verb with or without to.

- As the subject of a clause.

• Followed by the verbs be, seem or appear.
• To know you is to love you.

- After certain expressions (without to).

• After had better, would rather, would sooner, why not, why should I/you/... not.
• "Why not go to the cinema?" "I think I would rather stay home tonight."

- After certain verbs (without to).

• can, do, let, may, must, should, will, help.
• I can swim.

- After certain verbs (with to).

• With verbs such as afford, agree, aim, appear, arrange, attempt, be determined, beg, care, choose, claim, condescend, consent, decide, demand, deserve, determine, expect, fail, guarantee, happen, have, help, hope, manage, need, offer, plan, pretend, promise, refuse, seem, stop, want, would hate, would like.
• She wants to see you before you leave the office.

- After certain verbs with interrogatives (infinitive constructions).

• After the verbs ask, advise (+ Object), consider, decide, explain, find out, forget, know, learn, remember, see, show, teach, tell (+ object), understand wonder.
• They don't know how to swim.

 - After certain verbs with objects (without to).

• After make and let.
• He made her finish the lesson before she could leave.

- After certain verbs with objects (with to),

• After the verbs advise, allow, ask, beg, cause, enable, encourage, expect, forbid, force, get, help, invite, mean, order, permit, persuade, recommend, remind, teach, tell, want, warn, would hate, would like, would love, would prefer.
• They wanted us to stay, but it was already too late.

 - After certain adjectives and their comparison.

• After these adjectives: amazed, amazing, angry, astonished, astonishing, awkward, brave, careless, clever, cowardly, crazy, , delighted, difficult, disappointed, disgusted, easy, extraordinary, funny, generous, glad, happy, hard, honest, horrified, impossible, kind, nice, odd, pointless, relieved, ridiculous, rude, sad, selfish, silly, sorry, strange, stupid, surprised, wicked, wise.
• It was impossible to go back.

 - After nouns deriving from the verbs mentioned above.

• After the nouns effort, agreement, aim, appearance, arrangement, attempt, choice, claim, decision, determination, expectation, failure, guarantee, hesitation, hope, longing, need, neglect, offer, plan, preparation, procedure, promise, refusal, resolution, tendency, threat, trouble, try
•  We couldn't turn down the offer to stay at his beach house that weekend.