GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

Snježana Veselica Majhut, PhD

What is a gerund?

Gerunds end in –ing, but they should not be confused with ing
participles.
Both gerunds and infinitives can act as nouns.
Common functions of gerunds and infinitives:
-the subject of a sentence
- the subject complement of a sentence
- the object of a sentence

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Gerunds and infinitives 1
miss dislike
avoid
resent
mind appreciate

stop

remember continue

postpone allow

suggest mind
admit

deny
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Verbs and expressions followed by
gerunds
COMMON VERBS

LIKES AND dislike, can’t stand, enjoy*, hate, like*, love*,

DISLIKES (not) mind, prefer
IDEAS AND admit, consider, imagine, look forward to,
OPINIONS recommend, suggest, mention, miss, risk,
discuss, tolerate
ACTIONS THAT begin, continue, delay, put off, stop, continue,
START, STOP postpone, finish
AND CONTINUE
OTHERS avoid, can’t help, deny, involve, stand

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Verbs and expressions followed
by to-infinitive
COMMON VERBS

MENTAL STATES OR agree, choose, decide, forget,

ACTIVITY remember, want, wish
FUTURE aim, arrange, expect, hope,
ARRANGEMENTS offer, plan, prepare, promise,
refuse, threaten
APPEARANCE appear, pretend, seem, tend

OTHER attempt, can/can’t afford, ask,

deserve, fail, offer, try

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Verbs followed by a gerund or an
infinitive with little difference in meaning
like, love, hate, prefer

I like going to the dentist.

I like to go to the dentist.

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Verbs followed by either a gerund or
infinitive without a change in meaning
• start They started to march.
They started marching.

• begin He began to walk down the receiving line.

He began walking down the receiving line.

• finish They finished to salute.

They finished saluting.

• continue They continued to stand at attention.

» They continued standing at attention.

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Infinitive or gerund with different
meaning
VERB + ing form + to-infinitive
FORGET/REMEMBER I’ll never forget going to Don’t forget to salute.
the military camp.
GO ON They stopped but we After a slow start she
went on walking. went on to run.
REGRET I regret not studying We regret to inform you
harder last year. that you were not
accepted to our college.
STOP Have you stopped We stopped to salute.
saluting.
TRY Try turning it off. I’ll try do to my best.

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Further guidelines 1

The word "go" + sports or recreational activities usually

takes a gerund.
Examples: "Let's go shopping", "They went skiing".

After a preposition you should use a gerund.

Examples: "I will talk with you before going to lunch", "I am
looking forward to working with you".

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Further guidelines 2

Expressions with the words "have", "spend" and "waste" take a

gerund.
Examples: "She had fun skiing", "He wasted all his time
worrying".

In many cases, the infinitive form is used to show the intention

or purpose.
Examples: "We are here to help", "He left to catch the train".

The infinitive form is also used to show the reason.

Examples: "We were sad to hear about your difficulties", "She
was shocked to learn the truth".
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