B2 Gerunds and Infinitives Student’s Copy

EXERCISE 1. Complete the sentences with the gerund or infinitive forms of the verbs.

1. ______________ (cycle) helps you to keep fit.

2. When Fiona was a young girl, she was interested in _____________ (paint) and she had a special
talent for it; however, her parents did not help her ___________ (achieve) her goal and
_____________ (become) a painter.
3. In the class yesterday, we had long discussions about the dangers of ___________ (smoke).
4. Jeremy wants ____________ (go) to a safari in Africa; however, his father plans ____________
(send) him to a language school in Paris.
5. My friend suggested ___________ (take) antibiotics for my cold.
6. You should avoid ____________ (chat) with strangers on the Internet because it can be dangerous.
7. Some people are against _____________ (use) animals in experiments or tests.
8. Jackie’s students asked her ______________ (explain) the topic again and she happily did it.
9. Steven read the instructions on the new photocopy machine, and he learned ___________ (use) it.
10. Although the company offered him a very good salary, Jimmy refused _____________ (work)
there for personal reasons.

EXERCISE 2. Rewrite the sentences according to the given prompts. Use the gerund or the infinitive
form.
1. Rachel lost the race. She was very angry.
Rachel was angry about _______________________________________.
2. Don’t disturb other people while they are studying. I don’t like it.
I don’t like (your) _______________________________________.
3. We didn’t go to the cinema; we watched a video at home.
Instead of _______________________________________.
4. Ivan passed his driving test because he practiced every weekend.
By _______________________________________.
5. It is useful to know how to drive a car.
__________________________________________.
6. Gillian read the newspaper then she phoned her friend.
Before _______________________________________.
7. They left the disco and went for a coffee.
After _______________________________________.
8. Jake has split up with his girlfriend. He’s upset.
Jake is upset about _______________________________________.
B2 Gerunds and Infinitives Student’s Copy

EXERCISE 3. Order the following to make meaningful sentences.

e.g. curry/difficult/make? Is curry difficult to make?

1. meet/pleased/I/you _____________________________________

2. easy/English/understand? _____________________________________

3. pleasure/it’s/work/a/her/with/to _____________________________________

4. do/not/difficult/this/exercise _____________________________________

5. your/news/hear/I/ surprised _____________________________________

6. all/words/learn/it/the/ impossible _____________________________________

7. work / he’s / with / nice / to _____________________________________

8. should/change/job/she/her/consider _____________________________________

9. Anna / night /see/ lovely /last/it _____________________________________

EXERCISE 4. Choose the infinitive or the -ing form.

1. Would you like to go / going horse riding with me?

2. Thank you for to take / taking me windsurfing and I promise to take / taking you to a football
match one day. I hope to have / having great fun there.
3. You can’t expect to be / being good at a sport the very first time you try it.
4. I’m quite good at to waterski / waterskiing, so I can teach you how to do / doing it.
5. I think to drink / drinking too much is his biggest problem.
6. He agreed to buy / buying the motorbike for £2,000.
7. It’s cold today. You shouldn’t go out without wearing / to wear your coat.
8. My father promised to give up to smoke / smoking.
9. My sister went on to talk /talking about the other matter.
10. She was a very good student, but she decided to leave / leaving the school.
11. It is not worth to argue /arguing with him, he is so rude.
12. I refused to allow / allowing my daughter staying out late.
B2 Gerunds and Infinitives Student’s Copy

EXERCISE 5. Fill in the blanks in the following text by using the appropriate forms of the words in
brackets. Be careful about gerunds and infinitive forms.

Dear Tom,
It’s nearly midnight- a bit late to start 1) to write / writing (write) letters, but I can’t stop
2)_____________ (think) about you. I know I promised 3)_____________ (phone) you every day. I
really wanted 4)_____________ (talk) to you yesterday evening, but my parents decided
5)_____________ (not go out), so it was impossible. I don’t usually mind 6) _____________ (go) on
holiday with my family, but it’s not the same this year. We’ve only been here three days and already
I’m looking forward to 7) _____________ (come) home and 8) _____________ (see) you again.
The problem is I don’t feel like 9)_____________ (do) anything. Yesterday when I couldn’t
speak to you on the phone, I kept 10)_____________ (wonder) what you were doing. I kept 11)
_____________ (watch) TV, but I couldn’t concentrate. I decided 12) _____________ (go) to bed
early, but of course I couldn’t sleep.
Tomorrow Mum and Dad want me 13) _____________ (go) sightseeing with them. I’d quite
like 14)_____________ (see) Buckingham Palace and The Tower of London, so I may go. On the other
hand, I could pretend 15) _____________ (be) ill and refuse 16) _____________ (go).
Please write soon. I can’t wait 17) _____________ (hear) from you.
Love, Susan

EXERCISE 6. Choose the best one.

1. I tried _______ a ticket, but they had all sold out.
a) to get b) getting
2. I tried _______ to her personally, but I couldn't persuade her.
a) to speak b) speaking
3. Jon, I have some bad news- I regret _______ that your application has been unsuccessful.
a) to say b) saying
4. She stopped _______ when she got married.
a) to smoke b) smoking
5. I regret _______ so rude last night.
a) to be b) being
6. Remember _______ her at lunchtime.
a) to call b) calling
7. I don't remember ________ the cooker off before I left.
a) to turn b) turning
8. We can't go on _______ like this- we must find a better way.
a) to work b) working