USES OF INFINITIVE AND GERUND

VERBS FOLLOWED BY AN INFINITIVE

A.Infinitive with “to”

1.-After some verbs: decide, hope, learn, plan, promise, refuse, try, want, expect, invite,
advise, teach, persuade, tell...
for inst. He refused to talk about his private life.
She persuaded me to join the meeting.

2.-After some adjectives: busy, ready, happy, tired…

for inst. I am too tired to see a film tonight.
We are ready to go.

B.Infinitive without “to”

After the verbs “make” and “let”
for inst. The police didn’t let him approach the crime scene.

VERBS FOLLOWED BY A GERUND

1.-As a subject
for inst. Being a sports star is not easy.

2.-After prepositions
for inst. We talked about hiring a lifeguard.

3.-After certain verbs: look forward to, would mind, can’t stand
for inst. I wouldn’t mind being famous.

VERBS FOLLOWED BY AN INFINITIVE AND A GERUND

A.The meaning doesn’t vary.

After the following verbs: start, begin
for inst. I started to act / acting two years ago.

B.The meaning varies.

1.-After preference verbs such as love, like, hate, prefer

for inst. To express general preference: I love watching television.
To express a preference when speaking: I hate to tell you a lie. I’d love to go to
celebrity parties. (today, this afternoon, this coming weekend…)

2.-After forget, remember, regret, stop:

Forget: I forgot to ask her about her son.
I’ll never forget meeting her.
Remember: Remember to take a picture of the monument.
I remember giving them the tickets.
Regret: I regret to tell you that the tickets are sold out.
He regrets marrying his wife.
Stop: Can we stop to have a coffee?
He stopped working when he got tired.