2. Gerunds: The Gerund as a Noun
It can be subject, object, predicate, and the
object of a preposition: Her feelings were
hurt / My hobby is running / I’m good at
playing tennis.
It can form the plural: He gave his children
two warnings.
It can be part of compounds: writing-desk,
walking-stick, etc.
3. Gerunds: The Gerund as a Verb
Gerunds also have the characteristics of verbs in
that they may:
Be used with adverbs or adverbials: He
disliked drinking heavily.
Form the passive: The seat-belt saved him
from being hurt.
Take an object or predicative complement:
Tom likes painting walls. / After reading the
letter, she left the room
4. Other uses of the Gerund (1)
The gerund as part of a prepositional adjunct:
A great variety of verbs + preposition / adverb
combinations such as be for / against, give up,
keep on, look forward to, put off take the
gerund: I’m looking forward to hearing from
you in the near future.
The gerund after prepositions: They were
thinking about going on holiday to London at
Christmas. / After leaving school she started
to work.
5. Other uses of the Gerund (2)
The gerund as the object or adjunct of a verb
or verbal phrase: The most important verbs
used in this construction are: avoid, deny,
escape, fancy, finish, give up, it’s no good, it’s
no use ,cannot help, keep (on), put off, feel like,
can’t stand, imagine, risk, suggest, enjoy, go on,
carry on, etc.: He can’t avoid criticising her /
Do you fancy coming to the pictures with me? /
He has given up smoking / It’s no good
convincing him. He won’t change his mind.
6. Other uses of the Gerund (3)
After verbs of the senses both the gerund
and the bare infinitive can be used, but
there’s a difference in meaning. Let’s compare
these pairs of sentences:
She heard the alarm clock go off: It expresses a
complete action, the subject has heard the whole
ringing of the clock.
He saw the builders building the block of flats. It
means that the subject has only seen part of the
action, he has only seen them building the flats
whenever he walked by that area. It expresses
incompleteness.
7. Other uses of the Gerund (4)
After verbs denoting physical activity,
such as to go and to come: They go
skiing every winter / I went shopping
with my mother last week / I wanted
him to come riding.
After the verbs waste / spend (money /
time): She spends a lot of time doing
her homework / I have wasted hours
waiting for the bus.
8. Other uses of the Gerund (5)
When the subject of the –ing form is
different from the subject of the main
clause, two constructions are possible: either
the genitive / possessive or the accusative: Do
you mind him / his studying with us?
After nouns in the possessive case. In formal
English, nouns denoting persons are put into
the possessive case: I couldn’t stand my
sister-in-law’s criticizing my children.
9. Other uses of the Gerund (6)
The use of the perfect gerund instead of the present
when we are referring to a past action: He was accused
of having driven under the influence / He was accused of
driving under the influence.
There are some verbs which can be followed by the
infinitive or gerund without any difference in meaning.
The most common ones are: start, begin: I started
studying / to study English when I was a little girl.
However, when the verb is in the continuous form the to-
infinitive is preferred: I’m beginning to concentrate now.
10. Other uses of the Gerund (7)
There are some other verbs which can
also be followed by the to-infinitive or
gerund with a slight difference in
meaning. Let’s compare these two
sentences:
I like going to the beach. It expresses a
general or habitual action.
I like to go to the beach early in the
morning. It expresses specific or isolated
actions.
11. Other uses of the Gerund (8)
There are some other verbs which can
also be followed by the to-infinitive or
gerund, but their meaning change
according to whether they are used in
one way or another. These verbs are to
remember, to forget, to try, to stop, to
regret, to mean. Let’s exemplify these
uses in the following group of sentences.
12. REMEMBER
Remember to buy the newspaper on your
way back home. It reminds somebody to
do something he / she may easily forget
or it also refers to something that one
must do in the future.
I remember visiting my grandmother
when I was a little girl. Somebody did
something in the past and now he / she
remembers what he / she did.
13. FORGET
He has forgotten to take his coat with
him. The person does not remember to
do something.
I haven’t forgotten meeting my husband.
The person remembers something he /
she did in the past. This use is generally
in the negative form.
14. TRY
He tried to read for a bit. It means the
same as to attempt.
When you have hiccups, try holding your
breath, if it doesn’t work try drinking
some water. The subject makes an
experiment or do something to see if it
has an effect.
15. STOP
He stopped to buy a bunch of flowers to
his mother. It expresses purpose.
He has stopped smoking. He has not
continued doing what he / she did.
16. REGRET
I regret to tell you that you haven’t passed
your driving test. The introductory subject is
sorry that one must do something. At the
same time that the introductory subject is
regretting what he / she is saying the that-
clause subject knows about the information.
He regrets not going to university. Someone is
sorry that one has (not) done something in the
past, that is, he didn’t go to university and
now he regrets it.
17. MEAN
I meant to call you, but in the end I
forgot to. It means the same as intend.
Working as an air-hostess means
travelling a lot. It means the same as
involve.
18. PREFER/RATHER
We can have the following structures:
I prefer to visit Chaplin exhibition rather than (to)
go to the EOI (Present tense)
I prefer visiting Chaplin exhibition to going to the
EOI (Present tense)
I prefer tea to coffeeprefer tea to coffee (one thing to another thing)(one thing to another thing)
II would prefer to go skiing rather than (to) gowould prefer to go skiing rather than (to) go
fishingfishing butbut
II would rather go skiing than go fishingwould rather go skiing than go fishing..
19. Full Infinitive or Infinitive with to (1)
The infinitive with to is used:
After certain verbs which can be followed by to-infinitive
or by a noun or pronoun in the accusative plus a to
infinitive, that is, the structure can be verb + to-
infinitive: I want to go to the pictures, or verb + object +
to infinitive: I want him to come with me to the pictures,
where HIM act as the subject of the infinitive.
The following verbs, among others, admit these
constructions: to wish, to like, to love, to hate, to prefer,
to tell, to ask, to beg, to advise, to forbid, to invite, to
persuade, to order, to expect, to allow.
20. Full Infinitive or Infinitive with to (2)
After several verbs (hear, feel, see, and make)
in the passive voice: She was made to open her
suitcase at the airport. Where him acts as the
subject of the infinitive.
Although in the active voice we use the bare
infinitive:
We made her open the case.
21. Full Infinitive or Infinitive with to (3)
To express the infinitive of purpose:
I went to the theatre to book the
tickets. The corresponding negative is
often constructed with in order not to
or so as not to:
I came in quietly in order not to/so as
not to wake up the children.
22. Full Infinitive or Infinitive with to (4)
After nouns, when the infinitive
functions as a modifier of the noun:
A book to read.
After adjectives, when the infinitive
functions as a modifier of the adjective:
This word is easy to spell.
23. Full Infinitive or Infinitive with to (5)
After certain adverbs such as enough and too:
This suitcase is too big for me to carry.
After verbs such as to know, to teach, to
learn, to show followed by an interrogative
word + infinitive (with the value of a
subordinate noun clause): I know where to go.
24. Full Infinitive or Infinitive with to (6)
In the construction: For + a noun or pronoun in
the accusative + infinitive: This coffee is very
hot for her to drink.
With the immediate future (going to): I’m
going to eat in a Japanese.
With to have to / ought to / used to: He has
to wake up now if he doesn’t want to miss the
train./ I used to visit my grandparents on
Sunday when I was a child.
With the structure to be to to express a
command or arrangement: He is to go right
now.
25. Full Infinitive or Infinitive with to (7)
In impersonal passive sentences: The
Official Language School is believed to
have a great number of students.
There are also a number of independent
constructions which also use the to-
infinitive: To sum up, To start with, etc.
26. Bare/Plain Infinitive or Infinitive
Without to (1)
With verbs of perception, such as to
hear, to see, to watch, to feel, to
notice, to observe, to overhear: I saw
Pablo and Javier enter. Nevertheless, in
the passive the infinitive is used with
to: They were seen to enter.
27. Bare/Plain Infinitive or Infinitive
Without to (2)
With some other verbs and expressions that
govern a bare infinitive, for instance, to make,
to let, had better, had rather, had sooner,
need hardly, cannot but, etc.:
Javier made Pablo cry / You had better start
studying right now if you want to pass your
English test.
28. Bare/Plain Infinitive or Infinitive
Without to (3)
In noun predicate clauses, when the
subject is a pseudo-cleft sentence, both
constructions are possible:
What you’ve done is (to) spoil our plans.
