Verb patterns: Use of verb + ing
1. We use certain verbs + ing at the beginning of a sentence when it's used as the subject:
• Smoking is bad for you
• Running is my favourite hobby
2. We also use verbs + ing after a preposition including 'to', 'of', or 'without':
• I look forward to meeting you (where 'I look forward to' means 'I want to meet you')
• My sister is afraid of flying
• They left the party without saying goodbye
But be careful - you always use 'to' before the infinitive!
3. We always use the following verbs + ing, whatever the tense:
• Admit: I admit to liking the Spice Girls
• Avoid: He avoided doing homework as much as possible
• Dislike: Your cat dislikes getting his feet wet
• Enjoy: They always enjoyed studying together
• Risk: She risked missing the deadline
• Miss: We'll miss cooking together at the weekend when we go to different universities
• Consider: They considered seeing the new Star Wars movie at the weekend
• Fancy: Do you fancy trying that new Chinese restaurant? (With a + ing form, fancy means 'want to')
There's also a negative form of verb + ing. You form the negative using verb + not + verb + ing:
• My brother likes not getting up in the morning (With a + ing form, like means enjoy)
• My grandparents enjoy not working now they're retired (With a + ing form, enjoy can mean like)
In some cases, you can also use the form ‘verb + somebody + verb + ing'
• We discussed Harry going to College
• I can't imagine the Queen riding a motorbike
Verb patterns: Use of verb + infinitive
The infinitive form of the verb is formed by using 'to' + the base form of the verb.
• I want to study English in the UK
• Jim sometimes forgets to brush his teeth
We always use the following verbs + the infinitive, whatever the tense:
• Offer: He offered to take us for a ride in his car
• Decide: We decided to go for a walk in the countryside
• Hope: Jade hopes to visit America one day
• Deserve: Kanye feels he deserves to be given a prize
• Agree: "Let's agree to disagree," John said
• Refuse: I refuse to wear green, it's an unlucky colour
• Forget: He forgot to go to the dentist
• Learn: You learnt to walk when you were 10 months old
• Manage: He'll manage to pick up the laundry without any help tomorrow
There's also a negative form of verb + infinitive. You form the negative by using verb + not + infinitive
• I'm not going to play the drums any more
• Tanya didn't (did not) want to fly as she was scared
Some infinitives also use the form 'verb + somebody + infinitive'
• The told Tom to travel by train because it was cheaper
• We invited our friends to celebrate with us
The continuous infinitive is formed using to be + present participle
The continuous infinitive refers to the same time period as the preceding verb and is used to talk about an action that is happening now or over a period of time:
• This time next month, I'll be sunbathing on the beach
• During that time, Liz was supposed to be staying in Madrid
The perfect infinitive is formed using to have + past participle
The continuous infinitive refers to a time period before the preceding verb:
• She pretended to have enjoyed the meal
• I wonder if she wanted to have eaten a dessert?
We use verb + object + infinitive to command or persuade someone to do something.
We use this form with verbs like encourage, force, tell, require and choose:
• I encouraged him to take swimming lessons
• You can't force me to go to bed at 7!
• She told her sister to bring a bottle of wine to the party
• The college required him to have 3 'A' grades to gain a place
• We chose to travel by plane rather than boat
Verb patterns: Use of verb + ing or infinitive
Sometimes you can use a verb with +ing or the infinitive without a change in meaning.
These verbs include hate, like, love and prefer:
• I hate cooking but I love eating
• I hate to cook but I love to eat
• I love swimming but I prefer sunbathing
• I love to swim but I prefer to sunbathe
Other verbs like remember, regret, go on, try, need, stop and like can also be followed by verb + ing or the infinitive, but with a change of meaning:
• He went on singing after everyone else had finished (he continued singing after everyone had stopped singing)
• He went on to sing after everyone else had finished (everyone else finished singing and then he started)
• I've stopped buying a newspaper (The + ing version tells us what has stopped)
• The bus stopped to pick up the children (the infinitive tells us why something has stopped)
• I tried to stop him leaving but he went home anyway (It was impossible to stop him leaving, where trying is something negative or impossible)
• Have you tried skiing? I love it! (Skiing is something you might enjoy, where trying something is an experiment that could be good or bad)