THE GERUND

TELLING (gerund)
HAVING TOLD (perfect gerund)
BEING TOLD (passive gerund)
Telling the truth will set you free.
Having told the truth, he felt much better.
I dont enjoy being told what to do
Gerunds are verbs that behave like nouns. They can be used in five ways:

1.

AS A SUBJECT:

2.

Skiing is an expensive pastime. Smoking harms your health

AS AN OBJECT:
I love skiing in winter / I really enjoy talking to Peter

3.

AFTER VERBS AND EXPRESSIONS THAT DESCRIBE LIKING AND

DISLIKING:

Liking: like, fancy, love, adore, feel like, enjoy, to be keen on, to be fond of
Disliking: dislike, hate, loathe, detest, cant stand, cant bear

4.

AFTER PREPOSITIONS:
He is fed up with waking up early every day/ Theres no point in talking to
him /Im looking forward to hearing from you

5.

AFTER VERBS SUCH AS:

admit , avoid, cant help, consider, delay, deny, finish, forgive, give up, imagine,
involve, keep, mind, miss, postpone, resist, risk, suggest, be worth, suggest

THE INFINITIVE
TO SEE (SIMPLE INFINITIVE)
TO HAVE SEEN (perfect infinitive)
TO BE SEEN (passive infinitive))
Its nice to see you
She said she was sorry to have missed you
I didnt expect to be invited
1. THE INFINITIVE OF PURPOSE : It is usually used to express purpose, the
objective of an action:
I went to Brighton to learn English /My brother got a job to earn money for his
holiday He started to drink to forget
The same idea can be expressed with in order to or so as to:
I got up early in order to / to /so as to have time to pack.
In negative sentences in order to and so as to are used; the infinitive alone is not
usually correct:
Im going to hurry up in order not to miss the bus.
2. SOME VERBS ARE ALWAYS FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE:
afford, agree, arrange, ask, appear, attempt, choose, decide, expect, help, hope,
intend, learn, manage, need, offer, pretend, promise, refuse, seem.
3. VERB +OBJECT+INFINITIVE. There are some verbs that are followed by an object
and an infinitive:
want, allow, ask, warn, beg, tell, advise, tell, encourage
4. INFINITIVE AFTER ADJECTIVES.: Many adjectives are always followed by the
infinitive.
Amazed, certain, difficult, disappointed, easy, free, glad, happy, likely, surprised,
nice
It is nice to see you / Relativity theory isnt easy to understand
5. VERBS FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO:
After the modal auxiliary verbs shall, should , will, would, may ,might, must...we use
the infinitive without to.
I must go now Shall I open the window? Will you come tomorrow?
a)

Certain verbs are followed by an object and the infinitive without to.

let, make, see, hear, feel, watch and notice

She lets the children stay up until late
I made him give me the money back.
I didnt see you come in
I heard her say that she was fed up.
Could you help me unload the car?

GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

Certain verbs, adjectives and prepositions must always be followed by gerunds.
Other verbs and adjectives must always be followed by the infinitive. Some verbs,
however, can be followed by either the infinitive or the gerund.
1. With no change of meaning.
Begin, start, continue can be followed by either the gerund or the infinitive without
changing the meaning of the sentence: It started to rain It started raining
2. With a slight change in meaning.
The meaning of the verbs like, prefer, hate or love change slightly depending on
whether they are followed by the gerund or the infinitive:
-

The gerund is more usual when the emphasis is on the enjoyment (or not
enjoyment) of the action: I like travelling I hate driving
The infinitive is more usual for more specific statements where extra information is
given: I hate driving in an unknown place at night

3. With a change of meaning.

A) TRY
Try + gerund To experiment in order to achieve an objective with different
methods and to see if it works.
If you have a headache, try going to bed earlier and try drinking a hot glass of milk
see if that helps
Try + infinitive

To attempt a difficult action but do not succeed in doing it.

I tried to climb the tree but i couldnt even get off the ground
B) REMEMBER
Remember
past.

+gerund To recall a past action, to remember that you did sth in the

I dont remember seeing you at the party

Remember +infinitive To remember to do something before you do it, in the
future:
Remember to post the letter before you go out
I remember mentioning the meeting yesterday

C) FORGET
Forget +gerund : to forget that you have done sth in the past
She forgot reading Oliver twist when she was a child
Ill never forget flying the Alps for the first time

Forget +infinitive : to forget that you need to do sth in the future

She forgot to pay the rent this month
Dont forget to feed the cat, will you?
D ) MEAN
Mean + gerund : sth has to be done to get a result
You have forgotten your homework again, that means phoning your mother.
Bachillerato means working hard.
Mean +infinitive : to intend to do sth
I meant to phone you but my mobile wasnt working.
I meant to tell you the truth but it hurt too much.
E) REGRET
Regret + gerund : you did sth in the past and you are not happy about it.
I regret being late for school
Regret +infinitive : to tell bad news you are not happy about
I regret to inform you that your flight has been delayed for another 2 hours.