Gerunds and Infinitives

I. A GERUND is a noun made from a verb by adding -ing:

To sing (verb) – singing (gerund)
To write (verb) – writing (gerund)

A gerund can be used as a:

 Subject of a verb:
Smoking is bad for your health.
 Object of a verb:
Do you like cooking?
 The complement of to be:
His favourite activity is watching television.
It is also used after:
 Prepositions:
She is very good at listening to people.
 Determiners (a, the, this, some, a lot of):
The bombing of civilians horrified everyone.
 Possessive adjectives, object pronouns or nouns:
I hope you don’t mind him coming here.
 Adjectives:
Regular swimming is very good for you.
It was awful working here.

We also use gerund in certain expressions:

It’s no use trying to help her.
Is this for peeling vegetables?
How about going out for a meal tonight?
There are some chores I hate, like washing and ironing the clothes.
We usually go fishing at the weekend.
No smoking.
 Remember!

 Gerunds can take objects and can be qualified by adverbs:

I enjoy reading new books (object)

You should stop working so hard! (adverb)

 The negative form is not + gerund:

It’s nice not being at work.

II. AN INFINITIVE is the basic (dictionary) form of a verb (with

or without to):
To sing – infinitive.
Write – infinitive.

An infinitive can be used after:

 Certain verbs:
They agreed to come.
 Certain verbs with an object (person)
I asked her to come.
 To be
My first thought was to phone you.
 To be + adjective (+ of + noun/pronoun)
It was nice to see you.
It’s kind of you to help me.
She’s very keen to do the course.
 The first/second/last/only/best (and other superlative adjectives) +
noun/pronoun ‘one’
He was the only one to die.
She was the first one to complete the task.
 A noun/pronoun.
There’s a lot of work to do.
 Verbs of knowing and believing
I know him to be an honest man.
We consider it to be our duty.
 Verb + question word
I don’t know what to do.
 Too + adjective or Adjective + enough
He’s too ill to come.
The garden isn’t big enough to play games in.
 Is/Are to describe a future event
He is to become Mayor next month.

Remember!

 Infinitives can take objects and can be qualified by adverbs:

He expects to win the race (object) easily (adverb).

 The negative form is not + infinitive:

He agreed not to tell anyone.