The infinitive and the Gerund

Presentation by: Mohamed

Mohamed Reda
Reda Aoulad
Aoulad Abdelkrim.
Abdelkrim.

INFINITIVE OR GERUND

THE GERUND

* The gerund( also called verbal noun )

refers to the usage of a verb (in its -ing
form) as a noun.

THE INFINITIVE

The infinitive of a verb is its basic form

with or without the particle to:
therefore, do and to do , go and
to go ,

1/ SOME VERBS ARE

NORMALLY FOLLOWED BY
THE GERUND:

acknowledge , admit , adore , anticipate

, appreciate , avoid , celebrate, confess ,
contemplate , delay, deny, describe,
detest, discuss , dislike , dread , endure ,
enjoy , fancy , finish, imagine , involve ,
keep, justify , mention, mind , miss ,
omit, postpone , practise , quit , recall
,report , resent , resume , risk ,
suggest , tolerate , understand , feel like,

For example:
* Peter adores playing computer
games, but he detests watching TV.
* I enjoy going out with my parents.
* The thief admitted having stolen the
car.
* My Mom dislikes eating fast food.

2/ SOME VERBS ARE NORMALLY

FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE :

afford , agree , appear , arrange , ask ,

attempt , care , choose , claim , come,
consent , dare, decide, demand, deserve,
determine, elect, endeavour, expect, fail,
get, guarantee, hate, hesitate, hope,
hurry, incline, intend, learn, long,
manage, mean, need, offer, plan,
prepare, pretend, promise, refuse,
resolve, say, seem, tend, threaten, want,
wish

For example:
* I cant afford to buy this car.
* The two countries agreed to settle
their conflict peacefully.
* Dont hesitate to ask for help if you
have any problem.
* I failed to do the task by myself.

3/ SOME VERBS CAN BE FOLLOWED

BY EITHER THE GERUND OR THE
INFINITIVE:

A/With little or no change in meaning:

begin, continue, hate, like, love, neglect,
prefer, start, recommend,
For example:
* I like playing / to play chess.
* Our teacher hates being / to be asked
silly questions.

B/With a change in meaning :

forget, remember, stop, try, regret, go on,
mean
For example:
1/ *I stopped to talk to him. ( interrupt an
activity in order to do something else)

*I stopped talking to him. ( finish an

action in progress )
2/ *I remember closing the door. ( I closed it
and now I remember)
*I remembered to close the door. ( I had

to close it, so I did )

3/ *I regret telling you the bad news. ( I

told you and now Im sorry about it )

*I regret to tell you the bad news. ( I am

sorry that I have to tell you the bad news)

4/ *He stopped for a while and then went

on talking. ( continued with the same thing)
*The students finished reading the text
and then went on to answer the questions.
( started doing something new)

4/ Expressions followed by the gerund:

_ The gerund is used after prepositions.
I look forward to hearing from you..
Are you thinking of attending the maths evening classes.
_ Its no use pretending you didnt see me.
_ Its no good insisting. He wont accept.
_ Its (not) worth watching this movie.
_ Theres no point in shouting at her. She is deaf.
_ Go climbing/ swimming/ skiing/ fishing/ sailing/
shopping...

5/ Expressions followed by the infinitive:

_ After WH words: I didnt know what to do. / I didnt know
where to go.
_ After superlatives: London is the best place to visit abroad.
_ After too + adjectives: Tom is too short to play basketball.
_ After adjective + enough: She is not old enough to vote.
_ After every/some/any/no + body/where/thing: There was
nowhere to park. / I felt bored because I had nothing to do.
_ Purpose: He went to the airport to see his father off

PRACTICE ACTIVITY
Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form (gerund or infinitive):
1/ Suddenly everybody stopped ( talk ). There was silence.
2/ It isn't cold enough ... ( wear ) a jacket.
3/ You can improve your English by .
( read ) more.
4/ I live only a short walk from here. It
isn't worth .. ( take ) a taxi.
5/ It was late, so we decided . ( take ) a taxi.
6/ When I'm tired, I enjoy .. ( watch ) TV.
7/ There is an interesting article on the paper today. It's worth
........... ( read)
8/ David was in a difficult situation, so I decided ... ( lend ) him some
money.
9/ Peter adores ... ( play ) cards with his friends.
10/ I left the door open. I didn't remember
...( close ) it.
11/ I ran 10km without
.... ( stop ).
12/ Sandra
has got a good camera but she doesn't know how .... ( use ) it.

ANSWERS

1/
2/
3/
4/
5/
6/

talking
to wear
reading
taking
to take
watching

7/ reading
8/ to lend
9/ playing
10/ to close
11/ stopping
12/ to use

THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK