How to use gerunds and infinitives in English

1. GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

2. Verbs and expressions followed by gerund
COMMON VERBS
LIKES AND
DISLIKES
IDEAS AND
OPINIONS
dislike, can’t stand, enjoy, hate*, like*, love*,
s
(not) mind, prefer*
admit, consider, imagine, look forward to,
recommend, suggest, mention, miss, risk,
discuss,tolerate
ACTIONS THAT begin*, continue*, delay, give up, start*,
START, STOP
stop*, finish, keep, practise, put off, spend,
AND CONTINUE postpone
OTHERS
avoid, can’t help, deny, involve, stand

3. Go+-ing form
We sometimes use go+-ing form to talk
about doing sports and other activities.
We usually use go+-ing where there is a
verb for the activity surf-go surfing

4. Gerunds are used after
prepositions
eg. I’m good at painting.
Gerunds are used as subject or the
object of the sentence
Eg. Smoking is bad for your health.
My job involves doing a lot of hours.

5. Verbs and expressions followed by infinitive
COMMON VERBS
MENTAL STATES OR
ACTIVITIY
agree, choose, decide,
forget*,remember *,want, wish
FUTURE
ARRANGEMENTS
aim, arrange, expect, hope,
offer, plan, prepare, promise,
refuse, threaten
appear, pretend, seem, tend
APPEARANCE
OTHER
*These verbs can also be followed by
attempt,can’t /can afford, ask,
deserve, fail, offer, try*
an –ing form with a difference in meaning

6. Verbs followed by infinitive
• After verbs and expressions such as
ask, learn, find out, wonder, want to
know, decide, explain+ a question word
who, what, how, where,etc

7. Adjectives are commonly
followed by infinitives
He’ll be surprised to know the news.
I was disappointed to hear that you didn’t pass
It isn’t easy to learn a new language

8. Some verbs can be followed by a
gerund or an infinitive with little
difference in meaning.
Like, love, hate, prefer .
The gerund is more common when you are
talking generally, and the infinitive when you
are talking about a specific occasion.
I like going to the dentist.
I like to go to the dentist once a year.

9. VERBS THAT CAN BE FOLLOWED BY
EITHER INFINITIVE OR GERUND
WITHOUT A CHANGE IN MEANING
• Start eg: She started to paint/painting
• Begin eg: I began doing/to do it last night.
• Finish eg: She has already finished to do/doing
the washing up
• Continue eg: the population of poor countries
continues raising/to raise
• Intend eg:The school intends not opening/not to
open the library next year

10. Infinitive or –ing form with different
meanings
VERB
+-ING FORM
+TO+INFINITIVE
Forget
/remember
For an event or situation in the past
I’ll never forget riding my first bike.
Do you remember learning to ride?
For something you should do/should have
done
Don’t forget to phone him.
Remember to do your homework
Go on
Continue an activity
They stopped but we went on walking
Change from one action to another.
After a slow start, she went on to win the race
Regret
Feel sorry about something you
did/didn’t do
I regret not studying harder at school
Say sorry, particularly in formal letters
We regret to inform you that you have not
been called for the interview
stop
Finish an action
Have you stopped doing your
homework?
Finish an action in order to do something else
No, I stopped to have a glass of water
Try
Do something as an experiment
Try turning it off and on again
Attempt to do something difficult
I’m not an electrician, but I’ll try to mend it.

11. Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3