A gerund is the “-ing” form of a verb when it functions grammatically as a noun in

a sentence. Gerunds are identical in appearance to present participles, but they

are not used to form tenses of the verb or provide adjectival information.
Gerunds can either stand alone, or they can take a noun (the object of the gerund)
and/or modifier(s) to form a gerund phrase.

They act like nouns, gerunds can be used as the subject of a sentence, the
subject complement of the linking verb be, the object of a preposition, or the object
of a verb. They can also be used to form compound nouns.

Just like a normal noun, a gerund or gerund phrase can be the subject of a
sentence.
For example:
Swimming is an excellent form of exercise. (gerund only)
Eating vegetables gives you a lot of extra energy. (gerund + adverbs)
Studying
Reading romantic literature proves to be an unpopular pastime in among
academic. (gerund+ adjective + noun)
Gerunds can also act as the direct object of some verbs.
Here a few examples:
1. Do you mind watching my seat for me while I go to the bathroom?
2. I really love hiking in the mountains.
3. I enjoy eating at restaurants, but Mercedes prefers cooking at home.
4. They couldn’t help feeling sorry for Bob.

A gerund often follows certain verbs as the object of the verb (enjoy, mind,
suggested, avoid, dislike etc.)
We say:
1. I enjoy reading. (not I enjoy to read)
2. Would you mind closing the door? (not mind to close)
3. Alfonso suggested going to the cinema (not suggested to go)
Some more verbs that are followed by- ing
Stop, finish, recommend, consider, admit, deny, avoid, risk, imagine, fancy
Gerunds are used as the objects of prepositions to describe an action that modifies
another action, thus creating adverbial prepositional phrases. These can occur
at the beginning, middle, or end of the sentence.
For example:
After sneezing, I always get the hiccups.
I’m going to improve my health by running six miles every night.”

An infinitive is the most basic form of a verb. It is “unmarked” (which means

that it is not conjugated for tense or person), and it is preceded by the particle to.

Infinitives are used to express an action as a concept, rather than what is being
done or performed by the subject of a clause. In this way, they can function as
nouns, adjectives, or adverbs—that is, nearly any role in a sentence except that
of a main verb, also
they can be the subject of a clause, the direct object of a verb, or a predicate
noun.
After these verbs you can use to… (infinitive)
Offer, agree, refuse, decide, plan, arrange, hope, forget, manage, fail, promise,
learn, want.
1, Marlon was in a difficult situation, so I agreed to help him.
2. It was a long way to walk, so we decided to take a taxi home.
3, I want to tell you.
We can used infinitives in negative sentence;
1. We decided not to go out because of the weather.
2. I promised not to be late.

Cristina was angry to find virus- like activity on his computer.

1. I am watching it.

Certain verbs can take either gerunds or infinitives as direct objects. In some
cases, this results in no difference in meaning. For example:
Infinitive Gerund
Like to hike on the weekend I like hiking on the weekend
She loves to read. She loves reading.
They hate to get bad news They hate getting bad news.