GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES ESO

Grammar

GErunds and infinitives

English for ESO

by Ana Belén Marín

gerunds

It is a verb form which ends in –ing. It works as a noun in the following cases:

• As a subject of a sentence when we refer to actions or general facts: Taking up a new sport is not easy.

"Eating vegetables is very healthy" , " Taking up a new sport is not easy"

• As a direct object with some verbs: Admit, avoid, continue, dislike, enjoy, finish, hate, like, love, mind, miss, prefer, recommend, suggest, etc.

"I enjoy doing sport", " He suggested buying a new laptop for their department"

• After prepositions: "Lucy doesn’t like his style of playing", "He entered without knocking"

• After some expressions such as: Be used to/ get used to, can’t help (no poder evitar), can’t stand (no soportar), don’t mind (no importar, dar igual), feel like (apetecer), it’s no use (es inútil…), look forward to (estar deseando), etc.

"I don’t mind going home on foot", "I feel like having a hot chocolate"

infinitives

It is a verb form preceded by to and it is used in these cases:

• After some verbs such as: advise, agree, appear, choose, decide, expect, hope, learn, need, pretend, promise, refuse, seem, offer, plan, want, wish, etc.

"He promised to study harder", "He decided to try Japanese food"

• After some adjectives: easy, happy, sad, lucky, and hard

"It is very easy to bake cakes"

• To talk about purpose, why somebody does something:

"He invited me to join them", "I'm using your cookery book to try a new recipe"

verbs followed by gerund and infinitive

Verbs such as begin, continue, hate, intend, like, love, prefer or start can be followed by both forms (gerund and infinitive) without a variation in meaning (one may be more usual than the other: "We began to dance/ dancing as soon as we heard the music"

Other verbs as remember, stop, forget, regret, try, learn, teach, etc. do not mean the same if they are followed by a gerund or and infinitive:

"I forgot to water the plants" VS "I forgot watering the plants"

verbs followed by gerund and infinitive

• REGRET + GERUND: Arrepentirse de haber hecho algo en el pasado:

"Julia regretted telling her secret"

• REGRET + INFINITIVE: Lamentar lo que se va a decir a continuación:

"I regret to tell you that this might be a life-threatening disease"

• REMEMBER + GERUND: Recordar algo que se hizo en el pasado:

"I don't remember saying such thing"

• REMEMBER + INFINITIVE: Acordarse de hacer algo en el futuro:

"Remember to take your passport before you leave"

verbs followed by gerund and infinitive

• STOP + GERUND: Dejar un hábito, dejar de hacer algo:

"Leo feels much better since he stopped smoking"

• STOP + INFINITIVE: Dejar de hacer algo para hacer otra cosa:

"We will stop to have a break in an hour"

• FORGET + GERUND: In negative sentences: Indicar la imposibilidad de olvidar algo ocurrido en el pasado:

"I will never forget meeting such an extraordinary woman"

• FORGET + INFINITIVE: Olvidarse de hacer algo:

"David forgot to turn off the lights"

verbs followed by gerund and infinitive

• TRY + GERUND: hacer un esfuerzo:

"She tried to be quiet when she arrived late"

• TRY + INFINITIVE: Experimentar:

"She tried taking an aspirin, but it didn't help"

ViDEO

Thanks for listening!