Gerund

  

Rule 1: Gerunds can be used as a subject of a sentence.

Take a look at some examples.

Walking is good for your health.

Making friends has become more difficult since I moved to a new city.

Becoming a millionaire is a dream of many young people today.

Here, the gerunds (in bold) are part of the sentence subjects (“walking,” “making friends,” “becoming a millionaire”). All three sentences sound like normal, everyday English.

Now read these two sentences:

“To be or not to be—that is the question.”

“To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on.”

(Both sentences are quotes from William Shakespeare’s works.)

They sound formal, don’t they? They are poetic, aren’t they? Shakespeare is one of the greatest authors of all time, but his English is famously difficult to understand. And that’s because it is literature. It is formal and it is art.

In those two quotes, the infinitives “to be” and “to mourn” are used as the sentence subjects.

So, it is possible to use both infinitives and gerunds as subjects, but gerunds are much more commonly used as subjects. Just pay attention to how the choice reflects on the tone and meaning of your sentences.

Rule 2: Both gerunds and infinitives can be used as objects of a sentence.

You may say:

“I enjoy drawing.”

You may also say:

“Yesterday, I decided to draw.”

Both sentences are correct, but one has an infinitive as the object and the other has a gerund as the object.

Rule 3: Infinitives should be used after many adjectives.

Here are three sample sentences that will help to illustrate this rule:

It is not easy to graduate from university.

It is necessary to speak English  to work in a hotel.

Rule 4: Only infinitives are used after sentence objects that are nouns or pronouns referring to a person.

“We asked her not to go.”

In this sentence, “we” is the subject, “asked” is the verb and “her” is the objective form of the pronoun “she.” You must use an infinitive (“to go”), never a gerund, after direct and indirect objects referring to people.

To remember this rule, you will have to study verbs that take an object and an infinitive.

Start with these examples. The objects (nouns and pronouns) are underlined. Notice how the underlined objects are all followed by infinitives.

• ask: Can I ask you to help me with something?

• expect: I never expected him to become famous.

• hire (give a job to someone): Did the company hire you just to sit in your office?

• invite: I invited a friend to attend the ceremony.

Rule 5: Only gerunds are used after prepositions (with one exception).

Consider this sentence:

I talked him out of taking that job.

 

Common verbs followed by the gerund:
enjoy	I enjoyed living in France.
fancy	I fancy seeing a film tonight.
discuss	We discussed going on holiday together.
dislike	I dislike waiting for buses.
finish	We've finished preparing for the meeting.
mind	I don't mind coming early.
suggest	He suggested staying at the Grand Hotel.
recommend	They recommended meeting earlier.
keep	He kept working, although he felt ill.
avoid	She avoided talking to her boss.
miss	She misses living near the beach.
appreciate	I appreciated her helping me.
delay	He delayed doing his taxes.
postpone	He postponed returning to Paris.
practise	She practised singing the song.
consider	She considered moving to New York.
can't stand	He can't stand her smoking in the office.
can't help	He can't help talking so loudly.
risk	He risked being caught.
admit	He admitted cheating on the test.
deny	He denied committing the crime.
mention	He mentioned going to that college.
imagine	He imagines working there one day.
tolerate	I tolerated her talking.
understand	I understand his quitting.
involve	The job involves travelling to Japan once a month.
complete	He completed renovating the house.
report	He reported her stealing the money.
anticipate	I anticipated arriving late.
recall	Tom recalled using his credit card at the store.

 

 

Common verbs followed by to + infinitive:
agree	She agreed to give a presentation at the meeting
ask*	I asked to leave early / I asked him to leave early
decide	We decided to go out for dinner
help*	He helped to clean the kitchen / he helped his flatmate to clean the kitchen
plan	She plans to buy a new flat next year
hope	I hope to pass the exam
learn	They are learning to sing
want*	I want to come to the party / I want him to come to the party
would like*	I would like to see her tonight / I would like you to see her tonight
promise	We promised not to be late
can afford	We can’t afford to go on holiday.
manage	He managed to open the door without the key.
prepare*	They prepared to take the test /the teachers prepared the students to take the test.
demand	He demanded to speak to Mr. Harris.
choose	I chose to help.
offer	Frank offered to drive us to the supermarket.
wait	She waited to buy a movie ticket.
would hate*	I’d hate to be late / I’d hate you to be late.
would love*	I’d love to come / I’d love him to come.
seem	Nancy seemed to be disappointed.
expect*	They expect to arrive early / they expect Julie to arrive early
intend	We intend to visit you next spring.
pretend	The child pretended to be a monster.
refuse	The guard refused to let them enter the building.
tend	He tends to be a little shy.
would prefer*	I’d prefer to do it / I’d prefer him to do it.
deserve	He deserves to go to jail.
appear	His health appeared to be better.
arrange	Naomi arranged to stay with her cousin in Miami.
claim	She claimed to be a princess.

 

*We can use an object before the infinitive with these verbs.

 

(Note that ‘help’ can also be followed by the infinitive without ‘to’ with no difference in meaning: ‘I helped to carry it’ = ‘I helped carry it’.)

Practice: https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/037_01.htm

Verbs followed by a gerund or infinitive with little to no change in meaning: 

EXAMPLES: 

“It started to rain.” ~OR~ “It started raining.” 
begin 
can’t bear 
can’t stand 
continue 
hate 
like 
love 
prefer 
propose 
start 

Verbs followed by a gerund or infinitive with a change in meaning: 

forget    I forgot to meet him. (I didn’t meet him because I forgot to do it.) 
            I forgot meeting him. (I don’t have the memory of meeting him before.) 
go on     He went on to learn English and French. (He ended one period of time before this.) 
            He went on learning English and French. (He continued learning the languages.) 
quit        She quit to work here. (She quit another job in order to work here.) 
            She quit working here. (She quit her job here. She doesn’t work here anymore.) 
regret     I regret promising to help you. (I’m sorry that I made the promise.) 
                I regret to tell you that we can’t hire you. (I’m telling you now, and I’m sorry.) 
remember     She remembered to visit her grandmother. (She didn’t forget to visit.) 
                    She remembered visiting her grandmother. (She had memories of this time.) 
stop         I stopped to call you. (I interrupted another action in order to call you.) 
                I stopped calling you. (I stopped this activity. Maybe we had a fight.) 
try         I tried to open the window. (I attempted this action but didn’t succeed.) 

            I tried opening the window. (This was one option I sampled. Maybe the room was hot.)