Gerund versus Infinitive

Common verbs followed by a gerund:

Example: He misses playing with his friends.


  • admit

  • advise

  • allow

  • appreciate

  • avoid

  • confess

  • consider

  • deny

  • discuss

  • dislike

  • enjoy

  • explain

  • fear

  • feel like

  • finish

  • give up

  • imagine

  • keep

  • mention

  • mind

  • miss

  • practice

  • prevent

  • recommend

  • resume

  • risk

  • suggest

  • tolerate

  • understand


 

Common verbs followed by an infinitive:

Example: She threatened to quit if she didn't get a raise.


  • afford

  • agree

  • appear

  • ask

  • attempt

  • choose

  • decide

  • deserve

  • expect

  • get

  • hesitate

  • hope

  • intend

  • learn

  • mean

  • need

  • offer

  • pay

  • plan

  • prepare

  • pretend

  • promise

  • prove

  • refuse

  • seem

  • struggle

  • swear

  • tend

  • volunteer

  • wait

  • want

  • wish

  • would like




Verbs followed by a gerund or infinitive with little to no change in meaning:

Example: It started to rain. / It started raining.


  • begin

  • can’t stand

  • continue

  • hate

  • like

  • love

  • prefer

  • propose

  • start


 

Verbs followed by a gerund or infinitive with a change in meaning:

forget

I forgot to meet him.
(I didn’t meet him because I forgot to do it.)

I forgot meeting him.
(I don’t have the memory of meeting him before.)

quit

She quit to work here.
(She quit another job in order to work here.)

She quit working here.
(She quit her job here. She doesn’t work here anymore.)

regret

I regret promising to help you.
(I’m sorry that I made the promise.)

I regret to tell you that we can't hire you.
(I’m telling you now, and I’m sorry.)

remember

She remembered to visit her grandmother.
(She didn’t forget to visit.)

She remembered visiting her grandmother.
(She had memories of this time.)

stop

I stopped to call you.
(I interrupted another action in order to call you.)

I stopped calling you.
(I stopped this activity. Maybe we had a fight.)

try

I tried to open the window, but it was stuck.
(I attempted this action but didn’t succeed.)

I tried opening the window, but it was still too hot inside.
(I opened the window but it didn’t have the desired result.