-Ing Form or Infinitive

1. -Ing Form or Infinitive For Bachillerato Students According to Practical English Usage by Michael Swan

2. Non-personal Verb Forms

3. -Ing Form: subject, object or complement of a preposition • The -ing form often acts as a verb and a noun at the same time. It can be followed by an object (eg writing letters), but it can also itself be the subject, object or complement of a sentence: • Writing letters takes a long time • I hate writing letters • I’m not used to writing letters • I learn vocabulary by writing it several times

4. -Ing Form after Verb • When one verb is followed by another, the second verb is sometimes in the –ing form. The most common are: admit escape mind appreciate excuse miss avoid face postpone consider feel like practise contemplate finish put off delay forgive resent deny give up resist detest can’t help risk dislike imagine can’t stand endure involve suggest enjoy mention understand

5. -Ing Form after Verb • Some examples of this are: • You could avoidsitting in traffic jams by leaving home earlier. • I can’t helpfalling in love with you. • Please, take your time; I don’t mindwaiting. • I need to do some studying. I won’t riskfailingany exams again. • I can’t standqueueing. It just gets on my nerves. • My friends suggestedtravelling to London for the Easter holiday.

6. Infinitive • An infinitive can also be the subject of a sentence, especially in older English (eg “To err is human, to forgive divine”). • In modern English, it is more common to begin the sentence with “it” as preparatory subject and to put later, after an adjective.( “It’s easyto make mistakes” rather than “To make mistakes is easy”) • The combination adjective + infinitive can express various meanings, depending on which adjective is used: • I was very pleasedto see you yesterday • Relativity theory isn’t easyto understand.

7. Infinitive of purpose • Infinitives can also be combined with nouns to express what will be done with something (eg Have you got a keyto unlock the door?) • The infinitive with to is used to talk about people’s purposes, the reason why they do things. • I went to Brighton to learn English • In negative sentences, in order not to or so as not to are used; the infinitive alone is usually incorrect: I’m going now so as not to miss the train.

8. Infinitive after Verb • The most common verbs followed by an infinitive are: afford decide love seem agree determine manage start appear expect mean swear arrange fail neglect trouble ask forget offer try attempt happen prefer want bear hate prepare wish beg help pretend begin hesitate promise care hope propose choose intend refuse consent learn regret dare like remember

9. Infinitive after Verb • Some examples of this are: • I can’t affordto buy that BMW. • Shall we arrangeto meet at eight? • I choseto come to this school because I didn’t dareto apply for the bilingual one. • I failedto ring him. I meantto do it yesterday but I seemto have lost his phone number. • He promisedto look after the dog but now he refusesto take him for walks. • My mum started to learnto drive only last month, but she doesn’t wantto continue.

10. Verb + Object + Infinitive • Some verbs are used with an object before and an infinitive (eg She wantsme to go shopping with her; not *…that I go…) • The most common verbs using this construction are: advise get order trouble allow hate permit urge ask help persuade want bear instruct prefer warn beg intend press wish cause invite recommend command leave request encourage like remind expect mean teach forbid need tell force oblige tempt

11. Verb + Object + Bare Infinitive • Certain verbs are followed by an object and the infinitive without to (bare infinitive). The most common are: let see help notice make hear feel watch She letsher childrenstay up very late. I madethemgive me the money back. I did’t seeyoucome in. Can you helpmefinish my homework? The verbs have and know can also form this construction on certain occasions. HaveMrs Hansencome in, please.

12. -Ing Form or Infinitive? • Some verbs can be followed by either –ing or infinitive, usually with a difference in meaning. The most important cases are: advise hear start allow intend stop attempt like try can’t bear love watch begin permit continue prefer forbid propose forget regret go on remember hate see • Let us study a few of these differences

13. Remember, forget and regret • The difference is connected with time. • When they are followed by the –ing form, they refer to things that happened before the verb. • When they are followed by the infinitive they refer to things that happen after the verb. • I will always remembermeeting you for the first time • I will always rememberto buy you a birthday present.

14. Stop and go on • When they are followed by the –ing form, they refer to things that are in progress. • When they are followed by the infinitive they refer to things that will be started. • I must really stop smoking soon. • I must really stop to smoke a cigarette or else I’ll fall asleep. • How long do you intend to go on watching TV? • He said hello and then went on to start work.

15. Like, love, hate and prefer • They are mainly used followed by the –ing form, especially in British English. However, they can also be followed by the infinitive when they refer to a specific occasion, in which case the action seems like a good idea: • I likewalking in the rain. • I liketo walk after dinner so that I can get tired before I go to sleep.

16. Allow, advise, forbid and permit • They don’t change their meaning. They need to change the structure according to whether they are followed by an object or not. • We don’t allowsmoking in our house. • We don’t allowpeopleto smoke in our house.

17. Try • It is followed by the infinitive when its meaning is attempting to do something or to making an effort: • I triedto learn Japanese but the pronunciation was too difficult for me. • It is followed by the –ing form when the meaning is making an experiment: • If you find Japanese difficult, you should tryusing this speech trainer; you’ll be impressed!

18. Do you want some more? • I could easily add more for you, but first, you must learn all the information in these interesting slides