This document summarizes two grammatical structures involving verbs and the -ing form in English: 1. Some verbs are followed directly by -ing to form verb + -ing constructions like "enjoy swimming" or "consider leaving". 2. Many verbs take a preposition like "about", "for", or "to" followed by a verb in the -ing form, such as "talk about meeting", "apologize for missing", or "look forward to visiting".

1. I. VERB + -ING
Some verbs are followed by -ing :
enjoy,
mind,
suggest,
stop,
finish,
delay,
postpone,
fancy,
imagine,
consider,
avoid,
admit,
deny,
miss,
risk,
involve,
practise.
Examples : Suddenly, everybody stopped talking. / I don't fancy
going out this evening.
Note the negative form not -ing :
when I'm on holiday, I enjoy not having to get up early.
We also use -ing after give up, put off, carry on / go on, keep or
keep on :
she has given up smoking.
With some verbs, you can use the structure "verb + somebody + -ing" :
you can't stop me doing what I want.
Verbs and expressions that mean "like" or "not like" are often followed
by -ing :
like,
love,
hate,
can't bear,
enjoy,
dislike,
mind,
can't stand.

2. After love, hate and can't bear, you can also use to..., but after
enjoy, dislike, mind, can't stand, we use only -ing.
Example : Tom doesn't mind working at night (and not "mind to
work").
II. VERB + PREPOSITION + -ING
Many verbs have the structure "verb + preposition (in, for, about...) +
object" : we talked about the problem.
If the object is another verb, it ends in -ing : she apologised for not
telling the truth.
Here are the verbs with this structure :
talk about,
apologise for,
succeed in,
insist on,
think of,
dream of,
approve of,
decide against,
feel like,
look forward to.
Examples : I'm thinking of buying a house. / Do you feel like going
out tonight ?
The following verbs can have the structure "verb + object + preposition
+ -ing" :
congratulate ... on,
accuse ... of,
suspect ... of,
prevent ... from,
stop ... (from),
thank ... for,
forgive ... for,
warn ... against.
Examples : They accused me of telling lies. / Please forgive me for not
writing to you.