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Gerund and Infinitive

The confusing issues are as follows:

1)                  Many English verbs require gerund form to follow while other verbs require infinitive form to follow;

2)                  Some verbs can be followed either by gerund form or by infinitive form, with the same meaning expressed;

3)                  Other verbs can also be followed either by gerund form or by infinitive form, but to express different meanings.

4)                  Some verbs are followed by infinitive form with "to", other verbs are followed by infinitive without "to"[1].

Now we'll use three sections to address the four issues above.

Gerund:

OK, we all know that the gerund is a noun formed from a base form of a verb plus "-ing".  Example:  Finding a hotel is often difficult during Summer holiday season.  Also, a gerund is allowed to have its negative form, just like an infinitive form can have its own negative form:  Now the young girl started to regret not being with her brother.  Note, whenever the term “gerund” is used, we mean the gerund as well as the whole gerund phrase (usually we need to take the gerund phrase as the whole unit of gerund).

The word "gerund" is from the Latin word "gerundium".  Its primitive meaning is "bearing" and "carrying on".  Now in English "gerund" assumes the meaning of "generalized" action or "uncompleted" but still "going on" action.  In the grammatical terms, it's called "verbal" noun.  Now let's look at its usages in details.

1.         Gerund can be used as the subject of a sentence:

            paying all bills in time is important.

2.         Gerund as the object or part of the object of a sentence after certain verbs (these certain verbs are the ones we need to pay a special attention to):

            The thief admitted stealing the money. (= admitted the larceny of money)

            The manager couldn't face going bankrupt. (= face bankruptcy).

Usually we use nouns or pronouns as objects of verbs.  In the parentheses above, we use nouns to substitute gerund phrases to show this point.

Common verbs that are followed by such gerund phrases are (#2 above, list not exhaustive):

            admit                           escape                          leave off

            appreciate                    excuse                          mention

            avoid                            fancy                            mind

            can't face                      feel like                        miss

            can;t help                     finish                             postpone

            can't bear                     forgive                          practice

            can't stand                    give up                         put off

            carry on                        imagine                        quit

            confess                         involve                         resent

            consider                       involve                          resist

            delay                            it's (not) worth              risk

            deny                             it's no good                  save

            detest                           it's no use                     suggest

            dislike                           justify                           there's no

            dread                            keep (continue)            tolerate

            enjoy                            keep on                        understand

            like (= enjoy)                look forward to            omit

            anticipate                      defend                          discuss

            pardon                         prevent                         recall

            recollect                       resume                        

3.         gerund used after prepositions:

            We succeeded in selling all the goods.

            His father objects to being treated like that.

            (compare: his father refuses to be treated like that).

Special attentions should be paid to usage #2.  Try to read, feel, and even remember the most of those (if not all of them) verbs that need a gerund verbal to follow (as an object or as part of an object).

This verb + gerund verbal pattern can also be called verb combination[2].  So let's go over more examples:

            We delayed launching the product because of technical problems.

            I look forward to meeting her next day.

            I don't mind working for her without compensation in any kind.

            I can imagine I'll enjoy traveling with her around the world.

            I can't help laughing hard every time I listen to that comedian.

            We can't stand losing one more game.

            He denied beating and abusing his girl friend.

            I detested doing these boring math problems.

            I sincerely hope that she'll consider taking my suggestion.

            She likes singing[3]; he enjoys listening to her singing.

            Junk food is definitely not good to your health, so leave off eating junk food.

            She dreads watching horror movies[4].

            She never admitted doing anything wrong on that matter.

            I can appreciate her spending her precious time and effort on teaching her son.

Note that, in the expression look forward to, the word "to" is a preposition, not an infinitive article "to".  You need to build up your feeling and/or understanding to make such a distinction.  Prepositions are always followed by gerund rather than infinitive.

In addition, expressions below are followed by the gerund verbal form:

            It's a waste of time/money...

            There is no point (in)...

            It's no use...

            It's no good...

            It's (not) worth...

Examples:

             He tried literally everything possible in his physical capacity as well as his mental intelligence, but nothing worked.  So he decides that it was not worth repairing the relationship with her any more.  He gave up.

             She is such a stubborn old lady that I firmly believe it's a waste of time trying to convince and win her.

             That is definitely a bad investment and it's a pure waste of money buying any more of that stock.

             The boy wanted to buy that sports car as his first car, but his dad said "dream on" and told the boy that he wouldn't get that sports car whatsoever.  The boy eventually realized that it was no use trying to bug his dad any more.

              If she can't get what she wanted, she always cried out loud.  Realizing that she uses her crying as her weapon, her parents told her that it was no good crying like that.[5]

Finally, we often hear "It's worth trying", "it's worth it", or "it's worth the money", or "it's not worth working out this idea any more"[6]. 

Now we hope you will say: "English grammar is well worth studying".  "It's worth the time you have spent."

In the following examples sentences are provided for most of the verbs listed above for #2.  Study them including all the footnotes and try to get a feeling for each of these verbs.  It'll be much better if you can come up with your own example sentences:

1.                  He feels proud of and appreciates becoming an American citizen[7].

2.                  He suffers from her bad temper and wants to stay away and avoid having anything to do with her.

3.                  Even though that's going to cost more money, yet the team believes that this project is so important to them and they decide to carry on working it out. 

4.         He confessed being addictive to playing video games and wasting tons of hours on them.

5.         I must find a way to escape facing her and dealing her problems on daily basis.

6.         Please excuse my being late for this important meeting[8].

7.         He often fancies winning her attentions.

8.         I don't feel like sleeping[9].

9.         She eventually finished writing her book.

10.       He figured that he had to forgive his son having teenage problems.

11.       Although she likes it and tries so hard, others believe she is not the material and should give up her singing.

12.       Their math club's success involves every member's working hard and contributing to the team[10].

13.       She can always come up with various reasons to justify her undertaking.

14.       Let's keep practicing piano two hours a day.

15.       Let's continue practicing pianos two hours a day[11].

16.       Keep on working!  Or Keep on singing!...

17.       You'd better leave off using those curse words in your conversation with anyone.

18.       She mentioned encountering that ugly yet smart old man five times in three minutes of conversation.

19.       I don't mind repeating the story.

20.       She missed her footing yesterday when played tennis.

21.       I missed her smiling.

22.       He often postpones dealing with her problems.

23.       She put off meeting him yesterday because she didn't want see him.

24.       If you wanted to be helped by others, you must put off having doubts and fears.

25.       She practices dancing three times a week.

26.       Quit smoking.

27.       He resents listening to her sing[12].

28.       He tries so hard to resist being attracted to her.

29.       He risked losing all he has to win her love and he did not succeed.

30.       Please save your being smart around!  I'm not even sure anyone would need you.

31.       He really wanted to be left alone and to save having troubles with her.

32.       The thought of summer suggests swimming.

33.       Reading her writing suggests her smiling to him[13].

34.       His skills suggested his being trained long = His skills suggested long training.

35.       Her pale face suggests her suffering from bad health.

36.       There's no point negotiating between him and her.

37.       There's no point begging her to pay attention to him[14].

38.       He tolerates her often having emotional fits.

39.       He understands her having demands, needs, and problems that she must handle.

40.       Mary omitted making her bed this morning.