18. gerunds and infinitives

As a subject of a sentence we use gerund

As a subject of a sentence we use …

After prepositions we use gerund

After prepositions we use …

After spend / waste time / money we use gerund

After spend / waste time / money we use …

spend sth on sth / sb

spend sth on sth / sb

it’s no use doing

it’s no use …

it’s no good doing

it’s no good …

it’s (not) worth doing

it’s (not) worth …

there’s no point (in) doing

there’s no point (in) …

there’s no use (in) doing

there’s no use (in) …

can’t help doing

can’t help …

have difficulty (in) doing

have difficulty (in) …

have trouble doing

have trouble …

have a hard / difficult time doing

have a hard / difficult time …

We use gerund after verb of the senses to express a long /incomplete action or action in progress

We use … after verb of the senses to express a long /incomplete action or action in progress.

To express purpose or reason we use to infinitive.

To express purpose or reason we use …

After be adjective we use to infinitive

After ‘be’ adjective we use …

After question words we use to infinitive

After question words we use …

After most verbs plus person we use to infinitive

After most verbs plus person we use to infinitive

After some nouns we use to infinitive

After some nouns we use …

to be honest

to be honest

to tell you the truth

to tell you the truth

to begin with

to begin with

adj enough (for sb) to do

enough

too adj (for sb) to do

too

too much (for sb) to do

too much

a lot to do

a lot

something to do

something

anything to do

anything

someone to do

someone

anyone to do

anyone

somewhere to do

somewhere

decide to do

decide

forget to do / forget doing

forget to do - used to talk about things that we need to do, and we forgot to do them

forger doing sth - it’s normally used in negative sentences, used to talk about memories, generally about past events that we will not forget

help to do

help

hope to do

hope

learn to do

learn

need to do / need doing

need to do sth - it’s necessary to do

need doing - it has a passive meaning, it means that sth needs to be done

offer to do

offer

plan to do / plan for sb to do

plan

promise to do

promise

remember to do / remember (obj) doing

remember to do - used to talk about things we need to do

remember doing - used to talk about memories, we remember things from the past

seem to do

seem

try to do / try doing

try to do - when we try to do sth, we make an effort to achieve sth that we maybe will or will not accomplish

try doing - used when we have an objective, and we try something as an experiment to see if it helps us achieve that objective. We try sth in order to achieve an objective.

want to do

want

afford to do

afford

agree to do

agree

appear to do

appear

be able to do

be able

choose to do

choose

deserve to do

deserve

expect to do

expect

happen to do

happen

hesitate to do

hesitate

manage to do

manage

pretend to do

pretend

refuse to do

refuse

teach to do

teach

tend to do

tend

would like / hate / prefer to do

would like / hate / prefer

avoid doing

avoid

admit doing

admit

enjoy doing

enjoy

deny doing

deny

finish doing

finish

fancy doing

fancy

feel doing

feel

hate doing / hate obj doing

hate

hate obj

imagine doing / imagine obj doing

imagine

imagine obj

keep doing / keep obj doing

keep

like (obj) doing

like

involve doing / involve obj doing

involve

involve obj

love doing

love

miss doing

miss

(don’t) mind (obj) doing

(don’t) mind

practice doing

practice

prefer doing

prefer

regret doing

regret

recommend doing

recommend

spend doing

spend

stop to do / stop (obj) doing

stop to do - used when we stop doing an activity so as to start doing a different one (we start to do)

stop doing - it means to finish doing sth that we are doing

suggest doing

suggest

After modal verbs we use infinitive without to

After modal verbs we use …

make obj do / be made to do

make obj

be made

let obj do

let obj

help obj do

help obj

had better do

had better

would rather do

would rather

would sooner do

would sooner

After the verbs of the tenses to express a short or complete action we use infinitive without to

After the verbs of the tenses to express a short or complete action we use …

dislike obj doing

dislike obj

prevent obj doin

prevent obj

resent (obj) doing

resent

risk (obj) doing

risk (obj)

arrange for sb to do

arrange

ask for sb to do

ask

wait for sb to

wait

essential for sb to do

essential for sb to do

nice for sb to do

nice for sb to do

difficult for sb to do

difficult for sb to do

advantage for sb to do

advantage for sb to do