Focus: Gerunds and infinitives

Teacher’s Name:
Date:

 Gerunds are words that are formed with verbs but act as nouns.

They’re very easy to spot, since every gerund is a verb
with “ing” tacked to its tail.

Examples:

 Reading helps you learn English. subject of sentence

 Her favorite hobby is reading. complement of sentence
 I enjoy reading. object of sentence

 An infinitive is the verb form that has “to” at the beginning. For example,
“to do,” “to sleep,” “to love” and “to create.” It is the simplest verb form
that you have to modify to fit into sentences.
Examples:
 He likes to watch horror movies.
 He wants to sleep for two hours.
 Farah needs to learn how to cook.

 Verbs that are normally followed by the gerund form: -

acknowledge / admit / adore / anticipate / appreciate / avoid / celebrate /

confess / contemplate / delay / deny / describe / detest / discuss / dislike /
fancy / finish / imagine / involve / keep / justify / mention / mind / miss /
omit/ postpone / practice / quit / recall / recommend / regret / report /
resent / resume/ risk / suggest / tolerate / understand / dread/ endure |
enjoy 

Example:
 I adore reading your books.
 They anticipated winning the election.
 I detest going to the cinema.
 We postponed making any decisions in the meeting.
 I quit smoking.
 Do you recall seeing someone like that?

 Verbs which are normally followed by the infinitive form :

 afford / agree / appear / arrange / ask / attempt / care / choose / claim /
dare / decide / demand / deserve / determine / elect / endeavor / expect /
fail / get / guarantee / hate / help / hesitate / hope / hurry / incline /
intend/ learn / long / manage / mean / need  / offer / plan / prepare /
pretend / promise / refuse / resolve / say / seem / tend / threaten /
want / wish / 

Example:
 I can't afford to go to the theatre.
 He agreed to practice more.
 You should learn to express yourself.
 They managed to fix the problem.

 Verbs which can be followed by the gerund or infinitive form:

Some verbs can be followed by the gerund or infinitive.

1. with no change in meaning
begin / continue / hate / like / love / neglect / prefer / start / try

For example:
 He began to learn English when he was eight.
 He began learning English when he was eight.
 I hate to leave.
 I hate leaving.

We often use the gerund when we speak about things in general,

and the infinitive for particular situations.  

2. with a change in meaning

forget / remember / stop

Example:
 I forgot to feed the cat. (The cat is hungry - he has not been fed)
 I forgot feeding the cat. (The cat is ok - I fed him and then forgot about it)

Let's Practice:

Add the correct form of the verb in brackets.

  1.  I miss ____________ tennis with him. (play)  

  2.  Jane wants _______________ to Paris in April.  (go)

  3.  Her boss knew that she was pretending _____________ ill.  (be)

  4.  I don't feel like ______________ today.  (cook)

  5.  He managed _______________ the report before he went home.  (finish)

  6.  We agreed _______________ them. (help)

  7.  Good news!  I've given up _________________! (smoke)

  8.  Do you fancy _______________ to the cinema tonight? (go)

  9.  I haven't finished ___________________ the newspaper yet. (read)

  10.  I chose ________________ instead of taking the car. (walk)

  11.  He promised ___________________ me a long letter. (write)

  12.  I'd avoid ________________ the Underground today, if I were you. (take)

  13.  He spent four years __________________ round South America. (travel)

  14. We would love __________________ dinner with you on Saturday. (have)

  15.  We can't risk ___________________ the later flight. (take)

  16. Where did you learn _________________ the violin? (play)

  
  17.  The head teacher threatened ________________ some of the students. (expel)

  18.  We weren't able to have our picnic as it kept _________________all day. (rain)