Gerund or Infinitive?

"To be, or being: that is the question."

Statement of Form

verb + verb_ing

verb + to + base form

verb + base form

What students need to know

When a verb is followed by another verb, the second verb has to be in the right form to fit with the first, e.g:

He pretended to be dead, not, He pretended being dead. (any verb following “pretend” has to be “to + base form”)

She enjoys skiing downhill, not, She enjoys to ski downhill. (any verb following “enjoy” has to be “verb_ing”)

Or, it might need to be in the base form (sometime called the “bare infinitive”) – two common examples are “let and “make”:

“At our school, they made us wear a tie, but they let us wear trainers.” (I know, that’s a pretty odd school, but, then again, they made us wear the odd school tie.)

Sometimes both forms are possible. In this case, there may be no difference in meaning…

We started running / We started to run.

… or there may be plenty of difference – think about the different uses of “stop” in this scene imagined from a very popular TV dating game show:

Girl: Are you very romantic? I mean, would you stop to buy me flowers on the way home?

Contestant: No. I've stopped buying flowers ever since my last girlfriend turned out to be allergic, had an acute reaction on Valentine’s Day and went into anaphylactic shock.

Girl: How awful!

Contestant: I know. Those flowers were bloody pricey too!

Host: I think you've got yer’ansa, chuck.

The main verbs in which the form changes the meaning are: stop, try, remember, forget.

How are you doing so far? Here’s a bit more:

We use the base form with “to” after adjectives:

First Ronnie: It’s wonderful to be back with you again, isn’t it, Ronnie?

Second Ronnie: It certainly is. And, in a packed programme tonight….

But we use the gerund after prepositions, as evidenced by the following dialogue, which is not at all contrived:

Fiona: Baby, are you up for giving Felix his lunch?

Geoff: I was thinking of giving it a miss.

Fiona: But I’m keen on trying that new cat food.

Geoff: Well have YOU thought of feeding him?

Fiona: Don’t be horrible, you know how fond I am of caring for Felix ever since we lost Tiddles.

Geoff: I thought you were over losing Tiddles.

Fiona: I was thinking of not burying him but having him stuffed.

Geoff: You see what a bizarre conversation you get when you insist on using only one grammar structure?

If you’re talking about the reason for doing something, it’s base form with “to” again, the so-called “infinitive of purpose”. Look at astronaut James Irwin:

He flew on Apollo 15 to explore the moon. Then he climbed Mount Ararat to find the Noah’s Ark. He certainly had a purpose.

We usually use a gerund as the subject of a sentence or clause:

Finding another Earth-type planet will be like finding a needle in a haystack.

I could go on - and many grammar books do - but that’s more than enough for the average student (and teacher.)

What they struggle with (the students, I mean)

Their main problem is not with the different forms of the verb - there are only the three basic ones – but when to use which one. Students can easily get bewildered in the face of all the points above. When it comes to verbs followed by verbs, there are no rules: students have no choice but to keep a list of which verbs are followed by which form of the verb – and which can be followed by multiple forms - then try to memorise it.

Generative situation

Which verb, which form. What is better? Make some strips of card, each card with a very general, debatable point on it. The students’ task is to decide which is better. E.g:

Expect to lose or avoid losing? Decide to go or enjoy going? Try to win or try winning? Remember to sing or remember singing?  Agree to help or learn to help? Ask to leave or suggest leaving? Anticipate winning or promise to win?

Monitor the students while they do this. The questions which cause the most discussion, or the ones that lead to the most confusion, will tell you what you need to focus on, bu the aim is to highlight from the examples which verbs are followed by what form.

Fun practice

Gerund use. Set students the task of writing, say, a letter of application (for an unusual job?) They can work individually, but small teams might be more fun. Their task is to use as many gerunds as possible in their letter – which must be a of a certain word-limit and written to a time limit. It will be important that they are not unduly forced or ridiculous, so get ready to take points off for this. SS can mark each other’s’ letters and decide who has used the most gerunds, the most convincingly.

Gerund or infinitive – change of meaning.

Forget doing vs. forget to do: Day-dreamer. Get Students to imagine an elderly couple who have been married many years. Establish that one of them might well have  failing memory – and therefore need to be reminded to do things. At the same time, the one with the failing memory is given to reminiscing. A picture of a couple might help the students identify with this.

Get the class suggest things he’ll probably never forget: see his wife for the first time; join the army; go on holiday in the Caribbean; meet the Queen. For each thing, students could also think about when it probably happened.

Next, get the class to suggest some everyday things that a he or she might need to be reminded (nagged) about: call your sister, return you library books, go to your optician’s appointment, fix the car, clean something.

Students in pairs then rehearse a mini scene between the couple:

Man: I’ll never forget seeing Dolly for the first time. It was in 1957.

Woman: Don’t forget to call your sister!

Man: OK, Darling. And I’ll never forget joining the army. It was 1954.

Woman: And don’t forget to return your library book!

Man OK, Darling. I’ll never forget meeting the Queen. It was 1964.

Stop to do or stop doing?

Annoying kid. This practice reinforces the use of stop + verb_ing. Introduce the theme of bringing up children. Establish that parents spend a lot of time telling their young children to stop doing things.

Elicit several undesirable behaviours that children might do (that you can comfortably refer to in class):

Cry, complain, ask for sweets, play with the electric drill, make a mess, torture your sister.

Then get students to take turns role-playing parent and child. The child acts out the behaviour, the parent tells them to stop:

Stop crying! Stop complaining! Stop asking for sweets! Etc.