Gerunds and Infinitives

Gerunds and Infinitives

1. Gerunds and Infinitives with verbs

   • No difference in meaning
     • Gerund: Verb + -ing
       • They do not allow smoking here.
     • Infinitive: Verb + Person (as object) + infinitive with to
       • They do not allow us to smoke here.
   • Difference in meaning
     • My brother quit working for that company.
     • My brother quit to work for that company.

2. GERUNDS

   • Subjetc
     • Smoking cigarettes is bad for you.
     • Subject (gerund)+verb+C
   • Object
     • Subject+verb+Object (Gerund)+object
     • I enjoy working as a volunteer during summer.
   • After Preposition
     • “Be”verb+ preposition+ gerund
     • Ingrid is good at dancing. She practices every weekend, and she has even won a few awards.
   • After phrasal verbs
     • Verb+preposition or adverb
     • She always puts off going to the dentist.
   • Certain Verbs
     • We can use the gerund after certain verbs. These verbs include:
       • Enjoy, hate, like, love, start, stop, give up, suggest, finish, miss, prefer, begin, continue, remember.
     • I usually finish working at 5:00 pm.

3. Bare Infinitives

   • It is an infinitive verb form that is not preceded by the particle to.
   • For example: The infinitive of the verb "eat" would be "to eat" and the bare infinitive "eat".
   • It is used after the verbs of perception for example (see, feel, hear), many auxiliary verbs such as (can, should, should), the verbs to do and to leave, and expressions.

4. Negative Sentences

   • Gerunds
     • Gerunds may be affirmative or negative. Negatives are formed by putting not before the -ing form.
       • I'm not talking with mom.
   • Infinitives
     • The negative form of the infinitive is constructed by adding the particle "not" in front of the infinitive, with or without "to".
       • I decided not to go to London.

5. INFINITIVES

   • After adjectives
     • Infinitives are often used after adjectives which express people's reactions and feelings. Common examples are: pleased, glad, surprised, happy, anxious, shocked, afraid.
       • It is nice to talk to you.
   • After certain verbs
     • Some verbs are followed by a noun (or pronoun) and the infinitive with 'to'. They take the pattern: verb + noun + infinitive
       • She asked Charlie to write to his grandmother.
   • Exceptions
     • An infinitive will lose its to when it follows these verbs: feel, hear, help, let, make, see, and watch. Between the verb and the infinitive, you will find a direct object.
       • Although Professor Ribley spent an extra class period helping us understand logarithms, we still bombed the test. Helping = special verb; us = direct object; understand = infinitive minus the to.
     • Special Verb + Direct Object + Infinitive - To
   • Reason
     • We can use to + infinitive to say why we do something. It tells the other person the reason. We need to have a normal verb as well.
       • I went on holiday (this is what I did) to relax (this is why I did it).