Gerunds and infinitives

Gerund
1. After certain verbs and expressions
  1. Like; love; enjoy; adore; fancy, feel, don´t mind; detest, hate; loathe; can´t stand; dislike; finish; avoid; give up; keep; miss; suggest; consider; imagine
  2. It´s not worth; it´s/there´s no use; there´s no point (in)
2. After all prepositions except "to"
  1. On hearing the news, she burst into tears
  2. Exceptions
    1. To look forward to doing; to object to doing; to get used to doing
3. After adj+prepos combinations
  1. Steven is fantastic at cooking Thai food
  2. Good; wonderful; fantastic; bad; awful; terrible at; happy; pleased; glad; anxious; sad; worried about; afraid; frightened; scared; terrified of; interested in; keen on; capable of; proud of; to have difficulty in
4. After verb+prepos combinations
  1. I don´t approve of people drinking and driving
  2. Insist on; approve of; apologise for; consist of; believe in; succeed in; accuse someone of; congratulate someone on
5. After phrasal verbs
  1. I gave up playing tennis when I hurt my knee
Infinitive
1. After verbs
  1. I learnt to speak Spanish in Valencia
  2. Afford; agree; ask; choose; help; hope; want; intend; pretend; promise; expect; prefer; used
2. After adjetives
  1. I was surprised to see him at the party
  2. Difficult; possible; happy; certain; simple
3. Verb+someone+to do something
  1. I asked her to open the window
  2. Encourage; permit; allow; persuade; teach; force
4. To express purpose
  1. I went to the shops to get some bread
5. Without to
  1. After modals auxiliaries (can, must)
  2. After let, had better, would rather
  3. Make
    1. Active: I made him go to school
    2. Passive: He was made to go to school
Both
1. No change in meaning
  1. Start; begin; continue; attempt; intend; be accustomed to; be committed to; can´t bear
  2. The audience started to clap when the performance finished. The audience started clapping when the performance finished.
2. Slight change in meaning
  1. Prefer; like; hate; love
  2. I like swimming (in general)
  3. I like to swimm in the morning (talking about a habit)
3. Change in meaning
  1. Try
    1. I tried to open the window, but it was struck (I couldn´t do it)
    2. It was hot, so I tried opening the window (an experiment)
  2. Stop
    1. I stopped her to get some petrol (purpose)
    2. I stopped going to that garage when they put their prizes up (I didn´t go there any more)
  3. Regret
    1. I regret to tell you that we have no more rooms (bad news)
    2. I regret no making more friends when I was at school (past event)
  4. Remember / Forget
    1. I remember/never forget going to New York on Concorde when I was a child (in the past)
    2. I must remember/musn´t forget to buy a newspaper while I´m out shopping (still hasn´t happened)
  5. Mean
    1. I mean to work had at university (intention)
    2. It will mean going to the library more often (the result)
  6. Go on
    1. When I finished shopping, I´ll go on to see a film (change of activity)
    2. Please don´t stop, go on showing us your photos (continue)

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Gerunds and infinitives

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	Created by Almudena Alameda over 8 years ago