Gerund & Infinitives

There are a handful of words in the English language that look like verbs. However, they are not. Even though they are derived from verbs, they operate as nouns. Look at the following sentences

• Smoking kills people.
• Swimming is good for you.
• I love running on the beach.
• I prefer eating at home.

It is easy to confuse the highlighted words in these sentences with the present participle, because they have the same form (verb-ing). However, if you look closely at where these words are in the sentence, you will see that they operate as nouns.
In the first two sentences…

• Smoking kills people.
• Swimming is good for you.

…“smoking” and “swimming” operate as the subject of the sentence. They appear before the main verbs “kills” and “is”.
In the second two sentences…

• I love running on the beach.
• I prefer eating at home.

…“running” and “eating” operate as the object of the sentence. They appear after the main verbs “love” and “prefer”.
These types of nouns are called gerunds.
It’s important for learners of English to avoid confusing gerunds with the infinitive (to + verb) form. Look at the following sentences:

• I love to swim in the sea.
• We stopped to rest after two hours of hard work.
• I like to play squash every week.

Please note that the main verbs in these sentences are “love”, “stopped” and “like”. These verbs are followed by infinitives: “to swim”, “to rest” and “to play”.
Most of the verbs that can be followed by a gerund cannot be followed by an infinitive, and vice versa. For example:

• I enjoy dancing (not ‘to dance”)
• He can’t afford to go abroad (not “going”)

Some of the verbs that can only be followed by a gerund are:

admit anticipate appreciate avoid consider

deny discuss dislike enjoy escape finish

get through give up go on can't help imagine involve keep (on)

mention (not) mind miss postpone practise put off recall

recommend report resent resist resume risk

stop suggest take up tolerate understand

Some of the verbs that can only be followed by an infinitive are:

agree aim appear ask (smb) (not) care cause smb claim

condescend consent decide demand deserve desire endeavour expect (smb)

fail get (smb) happen hesitate help smb hope instruct smb invite smb learn

long manage offer order smb persuade smb plan prepare (smb) pretend proceed

promise refuse remind smb resolve seem strive struggle swear tell smb tend threaten

trustsmb volunteer vow wait (for smb) want (smb) warn him yearn

Sometimes sentences can use either the gerund (cheering / cleaning) or the infinitive (to cheer / to clean) with little or no difference between the two. Look at the following pairs of sentences:

• When Joe came around the corner, his colleagues in the office began cheering.
• When Joe came around the corner, his colleagues in the office began to cheer.
• When mother came into the house, we immediately started cleaning the kitchen
• When mother came into the house, we immediately started to clean the kitchen

However, sometimes there is a slight difference in meaning between the –ing form (doing / leaving) and the infinitive form (to do / to leave). With some verbs (i.e. a verb that expresses a strong feeling such as “hate”) sometimes the –ing form gives a sense of the action really happening, whereas the infinitive form points to a possible future action. Look at the following sentences:

• I hate doing the same thing in my job every day.
  (The person speaking may not be enjoying what he/she is doing at that moment in time.)
• I hate to do the same thing in my job every day.
  (The person speaking may not be looking forward to going to work later.)

• I hate leaving everything until the last minute.
  (The person saying this may be annoyed at that moment in time and regrets that he/she didn’t start preparing for whatever it is earlier.)
• I hate to leave everything until the last minute.
  (The person saying this may be making a general statement about their attitude towards future situations.)

It is important to place these sentences in a context to aid further understanding.

• I didn't like complaining about my boss.
  (The person speaking complained, but didn't enjoy it.)
• I didn't like to complain about my boss.
  (The person speaking didn't complain at all because it wasn't a good idea or the speaker got cold feet.)

If you understand that the speaker’s boss had done something to upset them earlier that day, it is easy to understand clearly the meaning of these two sentences.

As teachers, we need to be aware of the slight differences between using the –ing form and the infinitive form.
The difference in meaning between a gerund and an infinitive is more significant with the following verbs:

Forget:		I forgot posting the letter (did it, then had a mental lapse) I forgot to post the letter (had a mental lapse, and therefore did not do it)
Mean:		This new order will mean working overtime (entail) I only meant to encourage him. (intend)
Regret:		I regret yelling at him (do it, then feel bad) We regret to inform you that your application has not been successful (feel bad, but then do it)
Try:		Why don’t you try adding some sugar and see if it tastes better that way? (do it as an experiment) I tried to find some sugar in the house but I couldn’t. (make an effort, often not successful)

In addition, when the main verb is continuous (intending / beginning) you generally wouldn't use a gerund. Look at the following sentences:

• I am intending to go to Japan next month. (Correct)
• I am intending going to Japan next month. (Incorrect)
• The office staff were starting to arrive at the party. (Correct)
• The office staff were starting arriving at the party. (Incorrect)
• Martin was beginning to see the point. (Correct)
• Martin was beginning seeing the point. (Incorrect)