ENGLISH

ENGLISH PROJECT
PROJECT
GERUNDS
GERUNDS AND
AND
INFINITIVES
INFINITIVES

ENGLISH
PROJECT
GERUNDS

Form

Simple, Active

Dancing is her favorite habit.

I prefer eating ice-cream.

Form

Simple, Passive

Mary prefers being taught by a stern teacher.

The actress stayed at her hotel to
avoid being seen by her fans.

Form

Perfect, Active

I regret having made the remark abort her hairdo.

I regret having seen the film.

Form

Perfect, Passive

The film was banned after having been seen by

thousands of people.
I regret having been transferred
to another class this year.

The gerund can be used:

1. As the subject of a verb
2. As the object of a verb
3. As the object of a preposition
4. After a possessive or the possessive form
of nouns
5. After certain verbs
6. Special combination
7. Formed by adding not before it.

As the subject of a verb

When a gerund is used as the subject of a verb,
it is placed at the beginning of a sentence.
Reading romantic novels is my favourite pastime.
Smoking is hazardous to health.
Climbing mountains can be dangerous if we are not careful.
A babys crying woke me up last.
Walking from here to the local supermarket takes only five
minutes.

Notes: The gerund is also used in the following

constructions:
constructions
1) It is no use/It is no good
e.g It is no use trying to make her change
her mind.
It is no good interfering with other peoples
business.
2) There is no
e.g There is no joking about such matters.
There is no denying the fact that the Clean
Hong Kong Campaign is a success.

3) Its worth / Its not worth

E.g. Is the film worth seeing ?
It is not worth going to see that film.

4) Its a waste of money / time

E.g. Its a waste of time writing the report.
Its a waste of money buying the doll.

5 ) Have difficulty
E.g. Mary has difficulty doing her Maths homework .
Im sorry Im late. I had difficulty finding the
place.

6 ) Go-ing
E.g. Did you go shopping yesterday ?
How often do you go swimming in the
summer ?

As the object of a verb

When a gerund is used as the object of a verb
in a sentence, it is placed after the verb.
She tried to avoid getting involved in their quarrels.
He enjoys acting.
Mary disliked listening to pop music.
They hate eating fatty foods.
We all enjoy reading a good book.

Note: The following words are followed

by gerunds, not infinitives:
Acknowledge , admit , anticipate , appreciate , avoid ,
celebrate , defer , delay , deny , detest , dislike , like ,
consider , doubt , enjoy , escape , excuse , fancy ,
finish , forgive , remember ,imagine , include , keep ,
mention , mind , miss , propose , pardon , postpone ,
practice , prevent , recall , recollect , report , resent ,
resist , risk , save , stand , suggest , tolerate ,
understand , be worth , be busy

As a object of a preposition
A gerund can also be used as the object of a
preposition. In this case, the gerund follows the
preposition.
My brother is thinking of changing his job.
She is fed up with teaching English.
I look forward to seeing you in the summer.
I was interested in painting.
He persisted in carrying out the plan.

Notes1: There are two exceptions---except and but .

e.g There was nothing left for us to do except complain
to the Consumer Council.
He did nothing but (to) watch television yesterday.

Notes2: In the following phrases, to is a

preposition.
used to, averse to, closed to, object to, devoted to,
when it comes to, opposed to, susceptible to,
look forward to, accustomed to, confessed to, key to

After a possessive adjective

or the possessive form of nouns
Possessive adjective : my, our, your, his,
her, its, their
Possessive form of nouns : Johns

my brothers

Example :
Would you mind my using your book?
Would you mind Joans using your dictionary?

After certain verbs

Avoid

enjoy

appreciate
resist

dislike

miss
finish

recall
oppose

prevent

mind

waste

Examples :
1. I dislike having lunch with John.
2. Would you mind answering my question ?
3. When will you finish talking ?

7. Formed by adding not before it.

Example: I apologize for not being able to see
you off at the airport tomorrow.
He resented not having been invited
to the party.

English Project
Infinitives

Infinitive:-- bare - inf.-

(1) After auxiliary verb

"do , does , did , shall , should, will , would , can , could , may ,
might , must"
Alice could not find the key.

I will be glad to help you.

(2)After verbs of perception

"see , notice , observe , watch ,hear , feel , smell"

I saw her get on the bus.
He heard her say that.

(3)After "make" & "let

His joke made us laugh.

She did not let her sister go to the party.

bare - inf.
(4)After "had better" "would rather' "cannot but" "can do
nothing but"

You d better think about it.

I d rather wait here a little longer.
Compare I d rather you waited here a little longer.
I cannot but laugh whenever I think of his humourous remark.
As it was raining hard , I could do nothing but stay at home

(5)After "need" "dare" and "except"

He neednt do it himself.
Need he do it himself?
She dared not lie to her parents.
Dared she lie to her parents?

to - inf.
(1)As a subject
E.g To succeed at my fob is all I want at the moment.
To argue with him is a waste of time.
(2) To express an intention
E.g. I go to school to study.
She goes running everyday to lose weight.
(3) In order to join a question & answer in single sentence.
Q:Why did he move to Las Vegas?
A1:He wanted to be closer to the casino.
A2:He moved to Las Vegas in order to be closer to the
casinos.

to - inf.

(4) So as ( not) to join two sentences that

relate to the same idea in one sentence.

Eg. She studied very hard for the test. She

wanted to be save to pass.
She studied very hard so as to be save to

pass the test.

to - inf.
(5) Verb + inf.
A few of the more common verbs normally followed by
an
infinitive include :
afford agree appear attempt decide determine
love
need offer
expect hope like
pretend seem threaten refuse

We cant afford to go away this summer.

The room appears to have been searched.

The prisoners attempted to escape but failed.

to - inf.
(6) Verb + object +inf.
A few of the more common verbs normally

by an object + an infinitive include:

followed

advise allow ask encourage help invite

know order teach tempt
tell warn

The doctor advised me to take a complete break.

Please allow me to carry that bag for you.
We must appoint a time to meet again.

to - inf.

(7) Adjective followed by infinitive

dangerous important rude good

Eg. It s dangerous to walk home alone.

To walk home along is dangerous.

(8) Too and not enough

Eg, He is too tired to work, he should take some
rest.
He is not tall enough to be a policeman.

Comparison
between

GERUNDS and
INFINITIVE

Comparison between
GERUNDS and
INFINITIVE

(1) Some verbs followed by GERUNDS or

INFINITIVES without there being any change in
meaning .

Such verbs include start , begin ,cease, continue and

cant bear.
(2) Those which can be

difference in meaning.

followed by either without any

Eg. They continued to - work after lunch.

- working

Comparison between
GERUNDS and
INFINITIVE
STOP

When the teacher came, the

children stopped talking at once.
The driver stopped his cars to ask
where the farm was.

REMEMBER I cant find my key. I remember

putting it in my coat , pocket ,in

this morning.

I hope you will remember to post

my letter on your way to school.

Comparison between
GERUNDS and
INFINITIVE
FORGET He has forgotten asking me the same

TRY

question yesterday.

He has asked me to lend him my

dictionary because he has forgotten to
bring it again. mountain.

After failing twice, they tried climbing

from the other side of the maintain.
This year they will try to climb a high
mountain.

Comparison between
GERUNDS and
INFINITIVE

REGRET

GO ON

I regret telling her the secret. Now,

everybody knows that I m going to
resign.
I regret to tell you that your
application has not been successful.
I ll let you know when there is
another vacancy.
They went on talking until late into
the night.
They went on to talk about other
things.

Comparison between
GERUNDS and
INFINITIVE

Eg. Allow , advise , acknowledge , encourage ,

permit ,can be followed by an Object + infinitive.

She advised us to start early.

Compare: she advised starting early.

Eg. deserve , need , want , and require

Can be followed by either an active gerund or a
passive infinitive without change of meaning.

This needs- painting

- to be painted.

PRESENTED BY
David Au
Kelvin Wong
Skye Lam
Linda Ng
Chris Fung

~THE END~
END~
~THE