Infinitive/-ing forms B1

‘When you are tempted to give up, your breakthrough is probably just around the corner.’ Joyce Meyer ‘You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.’ Abraham Lincoln

‘I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork ‘I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.’ Peter de Vries ‘Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.’ Don Marquis

‘Man is born to live, not to prepare for life ‘Man is born to live, not to prepare for life.’ Boris Pasternak, Dr Zhivago ‘I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her.’ Rodney Dangerfield

-ing forms After 1)prepositions: in, on, from, for, etc. except for to But: look forward to, be/get used to, object to, in addition to, admit to + ing form 2) conjunctions: before, after, when, while, despite, since You will achieve nothing by being rude. After losing some weight he felt much better.

Used as a noun to express the name of activity Smoking is considered a health hazard. Shopping and trying clothes on is not quite his cup of tea.

After certain verbs: I enjoy watching old black-and-white films. Do you fancy going out tonight? Imagine winning a million pounds. She can’t stand waking up early. You should avoid walking alone at night.

After love,like,enjoy,prefer, don’t mind dislike,hate to express general preference Alison enjoys gardening very much. Mary doesn’t mind going there alone. I hate watching action films.

After certain expressions can’t help, be busy, it’s no use, it’s (not) worth I can’t help thinking about this all the time. John was busy writing an essay. It’s no use complaining about it now. The film is worth seeing.

After to in rare cases. look forward to, be/get used to Children look forward to making a snowman. Martin will never get used to waking up early.

to + infinitive To explain the purpose of something I came here to study. (in order to study)

After would like/would love/would prefer She would prefer to take a rest now. She’d like to say a word.

After certain verbs She decided to take a day off. Tom failed to prove his case. After certain verbs + object Jane advised her sister to give up the plan. The teacher reminded us to revise for the test.

In the structures with too + adjective/adverb too late/early/tired/ etc. I’m too tired to work now. This task is too difficult to do for us. It’s too good to be true.

Infinitive without to After modal verbs Peter can play the piano After the verbs let and make (= force) My father let me stay out late yesterday. He made me tell the truth.

After had better and would rather You’d better stop eating junk food. I’d rather go there on my own.

Both to and –ing with no change in the meaning Verbs like begin,start,continue,love, She began to play/playing the violin at age 4. I really must start to save/saving money They continued to debate/debating. I love to discuss /discussing things with my friends.

Both to and –ing forms with different meanings Remember, forget, regret + ing form looking back at things that have happened I remember walking on the streets of Rome last summer. She’ll never forget winning her first medal. Tom regrets hurting your feelings.

Remember, forget, regret + to infinitive refers to an action after the moment of remembering or forgetting Did you remember to call him on his birthday? I forgot to tell him the news. (I didn’t do it) Regret to do sth. – usually to announce bad news We regret to inform you that your application has not been accepted.

Stop + ing finish an action When he saw me, he stopped talking. Stop + to infinitive pause in order to do sth. He stopped to have a look at the map.

Try + ing have a go, experiment If you can’t sleep, try counting sheep. Try + to infinitive go through some effort Mary tried to help him, but it was pointless.

go on + ing continue doing the same thing He went on talking for hours go on + to do to continue with sth different At first the professor explained the theory then he went on to show how it works in practice.

mean + ing to have the meaning The new job means spending more time in the office. mean + to do want to I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings

come + ing to move in a certain way The children came running. come + to do gradually start to do sth. We didn’t get along at first but over the years I’ve come to appreciate him.

Smb used to do sth Only has past simple tense When I was a child I used to go to the kindergarten. She didn’t use to like opera but now she does. Did you use to make your Christmas presents yourself? Where did you use to spend your summer holidays?

Be/ get used to doing sth Has all kinds of tenses I am not used to working with so many people in the room. You have got to get used to walking to school. Also used with modal verbs You must get used to taking others into consideration as well.