Gerund and infinitive
constructions
Gerund and infinitive constructions
Content:
• Gerund
• Infinitive
• Verbs, which can use the gerund or infinitive
• Exercices
Gerund forming
• verb + „-ing“
• Attention: write
swim
die
writing
swimming
dying
Gerund usage
• As a subject: «Swimming is fun»
• As an object: «I enjoy swimming»
• After a preposition: «I’m interested in learning
new things»
Infinitive usage
• Purpose : He bought some flowers to surprise his
wife
• As a subject: To be or not to be, that’s the
question.
• Comment or judgement: This is the wrong place
to park
• After adjectives: It is good to talk
• With adverbs: I have too many books to carry
• To indicate something can ore will be used for:
The childreen need a garden to play in
stop
He stopped smoking
he gave up smoking
He stopped to smoke
he made a stop to smoke a cigarrette
forget
As a kid she always forgot taking the keys with
her
the situation refers in the past
Don’t forget to take the keys with you
the futur refers in the future
Same with «remember»
remember
He remembers buying milk
He has the memory of buying milk
He remembers to buy milk
He thinks of buying the milk in the
present
regret
I regret going to bed so late. I’m really tired right
now
I did it in the past and wish I hadn’t done
it
I regret to tell you that the train has been
delayed
I give bad news in the present
often verbs like «say», «tell» or «inform»
try
She tried giving up chocolate, but she didn’t lose
weight
no problem to stop eating chocolate
She tried to give up chocolate, but it was too
hard
she failed to stop eating chocolate
begin
He began to talk
He began talking
no difference
Same with «continue», «hate», «like», «love»,
«prefer», «start»
Exercices
Questions?
Sources:
• http://www.perfect-englishgrammar.com/gerunds-and-infinitives-verbs4.html
• http://www.englischhilfen.de/grammar/gerund_und_infinitiv_bedeut
ung.htm
• https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english
-grammar/verbs/infinitive
• http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/gerund_or
_infinitive_different_list.htm