Become familiar with verbs that may be followed by gerunds or infinitives - Verbs - Multilingual Writers and ESL Topics

Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Become familiar with verbs that may be followed by gerunds or infinitives
Verbs
Multilingual Writers and ESL Topics

A gerund is a verb form that ends in -ing and is used as a noun: sleeping, dreaming. An infinitive is the word to plus the base form of the verb: to sleep, to dream. The word to is an infinitive marker, not a preposition, in this use. (See 49b.)

A few verbs may be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive; others may be followed by a gerund but not by an infinitive; still others may be followed by an infinitive but not by a gerund.

Verb + gerund or infinitive (no change in meaning)

The following commonly used verbs may be followed by a gerund or an infinitive, with little or no difference in meaning:

begin

hate

love

continue

like

start

I love skiing. I love to ski.

Verb + gerund or infinitive (change in meaning)

With a few verbs, the choice of a gerund or an infinitive affects the meaning dramatically:

forget

remember

stop

try

She stopped speaking to Lucia. [She no longer spoke to Lucia.]

She stopped to speak to Lucia. [She paused so that she could speak to Lucia.]

Verb + gerund

These verbs may be followed by a gerund but not by an infinitive:

admit

discuss

imagine

put off

risk

appreciate

enjoy

miss

quit

suggest

avoid

escape

postpone

recall

tolerate

deny

finish

practice

resist

✵ Bill enjoys playing [not to play] the piano.

✵ Jun quit smoking.

Verb + infinitive

These verbs may be followed by an infinitive but not by a gerund:

agree

decide

manage

plan

wait

ask

expect

mean

pretend

want

beg

help

need

promise

wish

claim

hope

offer

refuse

would like

✵ Jill has offered to water [not watering] the plants while we are away.

✵ Orlando finally managed to find a parking space.

A few of these verbs may be followed either by an infinitive directly or by a noun or pronoun plus an infinitive:

ask

help

promise

would like

expect

need

want

✵ We asked to speak to the congregation.

✵ We asked Rabbi Abrams to speak to our congregation.

Verb + noun or pronoun + infinitive

With certain verbs in the active voice, a noun or pronoun must come between the verb and the infinitive that follows it. The noun or pronoun usually names a person who is affected by the action of the verb.

advise

convince

order

tell

allow

encourage

persuade

urge

cause

have (own)

remind

warn

command

instruct

require

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Verb + noun or pronoun + unmarked infinitive

An unmarked infinitive is an infinitive without to. A few verbs (often called causative verbs) may be followed by a noun or pronoun and an unmarked infinitive.

have (cause)

let (allow)

make (force)

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Help can be followed by a noun or pronoun and either an unmarked or a marked infinitive.

Emma helped Brian wash the dishes.

Emma helped Brian to wash the dishes.

NOTE: The infinitive is used in some typical constructions with too and enough.

TOO + ADJECTIVE + INFINITIVE

✵ The gift is too large to wrap.

ENOUGH + NOUN + INFINITIVE

✵ Our emergency pack has enough bottled water to last a week.

ADJECTIVE + ENOUGH + INFINITIVE

✵ Some of the hikers felt strong enough to climb another thousand feet.

EXERCISE 28-4

Form sentences by adding gerund or infinitive constructions to the following sentence openings. In some cases, more than one kind of construction is possible. Possible answers appear in the back of the book.

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a. I enjoy

b. The tutor told Samantha

c. The team hopes

d. Ricardo and his brothers miss

e. Jon remembered