Infinitive or -ing? cas 2.4.2021.

Some verbs can be followed either by -ing and some by the infinitive.

Verbs/phrases followed by -ing: enjoy, like, love, hate, prefer, keep, don't mind, can't help, can't stop, begin, start, finish, continue, etc

Verbs/phrases followed by the infinitive: tell, ask, expect, warn, decide, invite, plan, want, seem, etc.

Verbs followed by the infinitive without to: modal verbs, let, make(somebody do something)

Infinitive

Forming the infinitive

The infinitive is the base form of a verb. In English, when we talk about the infinitive, we usually refer to the present infinitive, which is the most common. There are, however, four other forms of the infinitive: the perfect infinitive, the perfect continuous infinitive, the continuous infinitive, & the passive infinitive.

The present infinitive has two forms:

• the to-infinitive = to + base
• the zero infinitive = base

Gerund verb+ing

The gerund looks exactly the same as a present participle, but it is useful to understand the difference between the two. The gerund has both noun and verb properties. A Gerund may function as:

The gerund as the subject of the sentence

Examples

Eating people is wrong.

Hunting tigers is dangerous.

The gerund as the complement of the verb ‘to be’

Examples

One of his duties is attending meetings.

The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.

One of life's pleasures is having breakfast in bed.

The gerund as the object

Examples

I don't like getting up early.

It began raining while I was on my way home.

John preferred skating to skiing.

The gerund as object of the preposition

He left without saying anything.

She succeeded in passing all her exams.

She thought of going shopping.