Verb Patterns: Gerunds and infinitives, C1

1. GERUND vs. TO INFINITIVE
GERUND (-ing form) is used:
- As a noun:
ex: Baking cakes relaxes me.
- After love, like, enjoy, prefer, dislike, hate to express
general preference:
ex: I hate waiting for people.
BUT: for a specific preference we use a to infinitive:
ex: I would like to buy you an ice cream.

2. GERUND vs. TO
INFINITIVE
GERUND (-ing form) is used:
- After almost any preposition:
ex: I am interested in seeing that film.
- After certain verbs: admit, appreciate, avoid, confess,
continue, deny, fancy, go (for activities), imagine, mind,
miss, quit, save, suggest, practise, consider, prevent,
etc.
ex: Imagine winning a million dollars.

3. GERUND vs. TO INFINITIVE
GERUND (-ing form) is used:
- After expressions such as be busy, it's no use, it's (no) good,
it's (not) worth, what's the use of, can't help, there's no
point in, can't stand, have difficulty (in), have trouble , etc.
ex: I'm busy painting my house.
- After spend, waste or lose.
ex: He wasted a lot of time staring at the ceiling.

4. GERUND vs. TO INFINITIVE
GERUND (-ing form) is
used:
- After the preposition to with verbs and expressions such as look
forward to, be used to, in addition to, object to, prefer.
ex: He prefers giving to receiving gifts.
- After the verbs hear, listen to, notice, see, watch and feel
to describe an incomplete action.
ex: I heard you speaking to Miss Logan. (I only heard part of
it)
BUT: we use the infinitive without to to describe the
complete action.
ex: I heard you tell the story . (the whole story)

5. GERUND vs. TO
INFINITIVE
TO-INFINTIVE is used:
- To express purpose:
Ex: Simon has gone to buy the football tickets.
- After certain verbs (agree, appear, decide, expect, hope,
plan, promise, refuse, etc.)
Ex: They appear to be intelligent animals.
- After would like, would prefer, would love , etc. to express a
specific preference.
Ex: I would love to go to my favourite Indian restaurant
tonight.

6. GERUND vs. TO INFINITIVE
TO-INFINTIVE is used:
- After adjectives which describe feelings/emotions, willingness
/unwillingnes, refer to a person's character and the adjectives lucky
and fortunate.
ex: He was very lucky to get a job so quickly.
- After too/enough.
ex: It isn't warm enough to go swimming.
- To talk about an unexpected event, usually with only.
ex: We drove to the resort only to find that it was closed.

7. GERUND vs. TO INFINITIVE
TO-INFINTIVE is used:
- With it + be + adjective/noun .
ex: It was easy to follow the recipe.
- After verbs and expressions such as ask, learn, explain,
decide, find out, want, want to know , etc. when they are
followed by a question word.
ex: My financial advisor explained how to save more money.

8. GERUND vs. TO
INFINITIVE
TO-INFINTIVE is used:
- After be + first/second/next/last , etc.
ex: Andrew was the first person to greet me at the party.
- In the expressions to tell you the truth, to be honest, to
sum up, to begin with , etc.
ex: To tell you the truth, I had expected him to be
different.

9. GERUND vs. TO
INFINITIVE
INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO is
used:
- After modal verbs.
ex: My dog can sit and stay .
- After the verbs let, make, see, hear, and feel.
ex: I made him copy out the sentence 100 times.
- After had better and would rather.
ex: We had better call ahead and reserve a table.
- Help can be followed by either the to-infinitive or the infinitive
without to.
ex: Daniel helped (to) learn my lines.

10. GERUND vs. TO
INFINITIVE
Differences in meaning between
the to-infinitive and the -ing form
- Forget + to infinitive : not remember.
ex: David forgot to lock the car doors.
- Forget + -ing form: not recall.
ex: I'll never forget swimming with the dolphins.
- Remember + to infinitive : not forget.
ex: Did you remember to fax the last report?
- Remember + -ing form : recall.
ex: I remember seeing you for the first time.

11. GERUND vs. TO
INFINITIVE
Differences in meaning between
the to-infinitive and the -ing form
- Mean + to infinitive: intend to
ex: I'm sorry, I never meant to bring up bad memories.
- Mean + -ing form: involve
ex: If I don't get a Christmas bonus, I'm afraid it will mean not
coming home for the holidays.
- Try + to infinitive: do one's best, attempt.
ex: I tried to tell you the truth but you wouldn't listen.
- Try + -ing form: do something as an experiment.
ex: Why don't you try calling again in ten minutes?

12. GERUND vs. TO
INFINITIVE
Differences in meaning between the
to-infinitive and the -ing form
- Regret + to infinitive: be sorry to.
ex: We regret to inform you that your request has been denied.
- Regret + -ing form: feel sorry about.
ex: I regret moving to this part of town.
- Stop + to infinitive : stop temporarily in order to do something
else.
ex: After a couple of hours, we stopped to watch Tv
- Stop + -ing form: finish doing something.
ex: At three o'clock, I stopped studying and went to bed.