INFINITIVE

OR

GERUND

THE GERUND

 * The gerund( also called verbal noun ) refers to the usage of a verb (in its

-ing

form ) as a noun.

THE INFINITIVE

 The infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle “to”:

therefore, “do” and “to do” , “go” and “to go” , …

1/ SOME VERBS ARE NORMALLY FOLLOWED BY THE GERUND:

acknowledge , admit , adore , anticipate , appreciate , avoid , celebrate, confess , contemplate , delay, deny, describe, detest, discuss , dislike , dread , endure , enjoy , fancy , finish, imagine , involve , keep, justify , mention, mind , miss , omit, postpone , practise , quit , recall ,report , resent , resume , risk , suggest , tolerate , understand , feel like, …

For example:

* Peter

adores

playing computer games, but he

detests

watching TV.

* I

enjoy

going out with my parents.

* The thief

admitted

car.

having stolen the * My Mom

dislikes

eating fast food.

2/ SOME VERBS ARE NORMALLY FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE :

 afford , agree , appear , arrange , ask , attempt , care , choose , claim , come, consent , dare, decide, demand, deserve, determine, elect, endeavour, expect, fail, get, guarantee, hate, hesitate, hope, hurry, incline, intend, learn, long, manage, mean, need, offer, plan, prepare, pretend, promise, refuse, resolve, say, seem, tend, threaten, want, wish …

For example:

* I can’t

afford

to buy this laptop.

* The two countries

agreed

their conflict peacefully.

to settle * Don’t

hesitate

to ask for help if you have any problem.

* I

failed

to do the task by myself.

3/ SOME VERBS CAN BE FOLLOWED BY EITHER THE GERUND OR THE INFINITIVE:

A/With little or no change in meaning: begin, continue, hate, like, love, neglect, prefer, start, recommend, …

For example:

* I

like

playing / to play chess.

* Our teacher

hates

being / to be asked silly questions.

B/With a change in meaning :

forget, remember, stop, try, regret, go on, mean …

For example:

1/ *I *I

stopped stopped

to talk to him. activity in order to do something else) talking to him. ( interrupt an ( finish an action in progress )

2

/ * * I I

remember

closing the door. ( I closed it and now I remember)

remembered

to close it, so I did ) to close the door. ( I had

3/ *I

regret

telling you the bad news. ( I told you and now I’m sorry about it ) *I

regret

to tell you the bad news. ( I am sorry that I have to tell you the bad news)

4

/ * He stopped for a while and then

went on

* talking. ( continued with the same thing) The students finished reading the text and then

went on

to answer the questions . ( started doing something new)

4/ Expressions followed by the gerund:

_ The gerund is used after prepositions.

I look forward to

hearing from you..

Are you

thinking of

attending the maths evening classes.

_ It’s no use

pretending you didn’t see me.

_ It’s no good

insisting.

He won’t accept.

_ It’s (not) worth

watching this movie.

_ There’s no point

in shouting at her. She is deaf.

_ Go

climb

ing

/ swimm

ing

/ ski

ing

/ fish

ing

/ sail

ing

/ shopp

ing

...

5/ Expressions followed by the infinitive :

_

After WH words

: I didn’t know

what

to do . / I didn’t know

where

to go.

_

After superlatives

: London is

the best place

to visit abroad.

_

After too + adjectives

: Tom is

too short

to play basketball.

_

After adjective + enough

: She is not

old enough

to vote.

_ After every/some/any/no + body/where/thing

: There was

nowhere

to park. / I felt bored because I had

nothing

to do.

_

Purpose :

He went to the airport to see his father off

PRACTICE ACTIVITY

Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form (gerund or infinitive):

1/ Suddenly everybody stopped …………………… ( talk ). There was silence. 2/ It isn't cold enough ………………..……. ( wear ) a jacket. 3/ You can improve your English by ……………….……… ( read ) more. 4/ I live only a short walk from here. It isn't worth …………….………. ( take ) a taxi. 5/ It was late, so we decided …………………. ( take ) a taxi. 6/ When I'm tired, I enjoy ………………..…… ( watch ) TV.

7/ There is an interesting article on the paper today. It's worth ………………........... ( read) 8/ David was in a difficult situation, so I decided ……...……… ( lend ) him some money. 9/ Peter adores ………………...… ( play ) cards with his friends. 10/ I left the door open. I didn't remember ………………..…….( close ) it. 11/ I ran 10km without …………………..….. ( stop ). 12/ Sandra has got a good camera but she doesn't know how ………………..……….. ( use ) it.

      1/ talking 2/ to wear 3/ reading 4/ taking 5/ to take 6/ watching

ANSWERS

      7/ reading 8/ to lend 9/ playing 10/ to close 11/ stopping 12/ to use

THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK