Open World p 20. Gerunds and Infinitives.

Grammar
The infinitive with to is used:
• to express purpose: E.g. I went out to get some fresh air.
• after some adjectives: E.g. It's not easy to find work these days. I was happy to help.
• after the verb to be, to give orders or to express an arrangement: E.g. You are to stay here
until I get back. The President is to visit Poland next week.
• after would hate/like/love/prefer, with or without an object: E.g. Would you like me to do it
now?
• after the following verbs: agree, appear, arrange, ask, attempt, choose, decide, demand,
deserve, expect, fail, help, hesitate, hope, learn, manage, need, offer, prepare, pretend,
promise, refuse, seem, threaten, want, wish. E.g. If you need any help, don't hesitate to
contact me. They hoped to negotiate a better deal.
• after the following verbs + object: advise, allow, ask, cause, challenge, enable, encourage,
expect, forbid, force, get, help, intend, invite, order, persuade, recommend, remind, teach,
tell, urge (advise, persuade), warn. E.g. My family encouraged me to go to university. The
police asked everyone to remain calm. If advise and recommend are used without an
object, the gerund is used. E.g. I recommend her to apply to King's College. I recommend
applying to King's College.
• after the following nouns: ability, attempt, capacity, chance, decision, desire, determination,
effort, failure, intention, need, opportunity, permission, plan, proposal, refusal, right,
tendency, it's time, way, willingness. E.g. It was the director's refusal to accept his proposal
that led to his decision to resign.
The bare infinitive (without to) is used:
• after modal verbs: E.g. I shouldn't eat this really, but I can't resist it.
• after the following verbs: help, had better, let, make, would rather/sooner. E.g. We'd better
go home now- it's very late. Can you help me tidy up, please? In the passive, make is
followed by the infinitive with to. E.g. We were made to do all the dirty jobs.
• The verbs feel, hear, see, notice, overhear and watch can be followed by an object + the
bare infinitive when we are describing a single action or the complete action. E.g. We saw a
young mother slap her child in the supermarket ( = she slapped once) I saw Martha cross
the road (= I saw all of it, the whole action from start to finish). These verbs are followed by
an object + -ing when the action is repeated or you only witness part of the action. E.g. I
saw a young mother slapping her child ( = she slapped him several times) I saw Martha
crossing the road (I saw part of it).
The gerund is used:
• as the subject, object or complement of a clause or sentence: E.g. Playing golf helps me
relax but I find watching it on television rather boring. Smoking is bad for you.
• after prepositions. E.g. We thought about going to France this year. Are you still interested
in buying the property?
• after the following expressions: have difficulty (in)/problems/trouble, there's no/little point
(in), there's no use, it's no good/use, it's (not) worth. E.g. It's no use asking him- he won't
know the answer.
• after the following verbs: admit, adore, advise, appreciate, anticipate, avoid, can't help, can't
stand, consider, delay, deny, detest, dislike, dread (be afraid of), enjoy, feel like, give up,
imagine, involve, keep, (don't) mind, miss, postpone, put off, practise, prevent, propose,
recommend, resent (feel bitter or angry), risk, suggest. E.g. I resent /rɪˈzent/ having to do all
 the housework myself. Nothing would prevent him/his speaking out against injustice.
appreciate doing something I don't appreciate being treated like a second-class citizen.
• after the following verbs+ the preposition to: adapt/adjust to, admit to, confess to, get round
to, get used to, look forward to, object to. E.g. She confessed to being surprised by her
success.
• Where the subject of the main verb and the gerund are different, an object (pronoun) or
possessive adjective is used. E.g. appreciate somebody doing something We would
appreciate you/your letting us know of any problems. I really appreciate you/your helping
me like this. We appreciate you/ your coming to tell us so quickly. Dislike
somebody/something doing something He disliked her staying away from home. Resent
somebody doing something She resented him/his making all the decisions. Imagine
somebody/something doing something I can just imagine him/his saying that! I couldn't
imagine him/his eating something like this.
The following verbs can be followed by the gerund or the infinitive with to with no change in
meaning: begin, can't bear, continue, intend, start, hate, like, love, prefer. E.g. She suddenly
started singing/to sing. The infinitive is common for specific situations: I hate to say this, but your
breath smells. I hate getting up early every morning.

The following verbs can be followed by the gerund or the infinitive with to, but with a change in
meaning:
• The infinitive is used with remember, forget, regret, go on and stop when the act of
remembering, etc comes first. The gerund is used when it comes second. E.g. I must
remember to post this letter later. I distinctly remember posting the letter yesterday. Her car
broke down and no one stopped to help her. I've stopped eating chocolate. When regret is
followed by the infinitive with to, it is normally used with verbs such as say, tell and inform.
This use is formal. E.g. We regret to inform you that your application has been
unsuccessful.
When followed by gerund, go on means to continue with the same activity. With an
infinitive, it means to change to a different activity. Go on doing something He went on
working well after normal retirement age. Go on to do something: to do something after
completing something else. E.g. The book goes on to describe his experiences in the army.
After her early teaching career she went on to become a doctor. After outlining the
problems, she went on to offer some solutions.
• Try+infinitive with to means attempt. Try+gerund means experiment with. E.g. Please be
quiet- I'm trying to sleep. If you can't sleep, try using earplugs.
• mean+ infinitive with to means intend. Mean + gerund means involve. E.g. I've been
meaning to write to you for ages. Changing jobs also meant changing house.
Passive infinitive or -ing form are used to describe actions which are done to the subject. E.g. I
hate being told what to do. It is expected to be finished soon.

Perfect infinitive or ing form are used to emphasise when one action happened before another.
E.g. She mentioned having seen him leave. They seem to have solved the problem.

Negative infinitive or -ing form are formed with not. E.g. It's quite common not to understand at
first. Not understanding is quite common.