This document compares gerunds and infinitives, noting that gerunds end in "ing" while infinitives use "to". Both can be subjects or objects of verbs, but only gerunds can be objects of prepositions. Gerunds refer to real, completed actions while infinitives refer to unreal, abstract, or future actions.

1. Presents

2. Gerunds vs.
Infinitives

3. Gerunds are formed with ING
Eg: walking, talking, thinking,
listening
Infinitives are formed with TO
Eg: to walk, to talk, to think, to listen

4. Both gerunds and infinitives can be
the subject of a sentence:
-Writing in English is difficult.
-To write in English is difficult.

5. Both gerunds and infinitives can be
the object of a verb:
- I like writing in English.
- I like to write in English.

6. Only gerunds can be the object of
a preposition:
- We are talking about writing in
English.

7. How do we
know when to
use each???

8. Gerunds are often used when actions
are real, concrete or completed:
-I stopped smoking.
(The smoking was real and happened until I
stopped.)

9. Infinitives are often used when
actions are unreal, abstract, or future:
- I stopped to smoke.
(I was doing something else, and I stopped; the
smoking had not happened yet.)