Gerunds and infinitives in English
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Sign up for freeThis chapter will discuss the gerunds that follow an infinitive in English.
Lesson outline
HideEnglish verbs followed by gerund (-ing form)
There are two situations in English in which the infinitive must be followed by a gerund.
- When putting together two verbs, the second verb must be in gerund.
- Sometimes between the infinitive and the gerund the preposition 'to' must be placed.
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1) Infinitive followed by gerunds
| Infinitives that must be followed by gerunds | Example |
|---|---|
| Abhor | She abhors making homework. |
| Acknowledge | She acknowledges his studying hard for the exams. |
| Admit | I admit wasting money. |
| Advise | You advise saving money. |
| Allow | She allows using laptops in class. |
| Anticipate | She anticipates travelling to the United States next month. |
| Avoid | She avoids using the elevator. |
| Celebrate | She celebrates working at the company for 10 years. |
| Confess | He confesses stealing from the company. |
| Consider | Mike considers buying a new bike. |
| Defend | She defends buying a new bike, because her other bike got stolen. |
| Delay | She delays the meeting to next week. |
| Discontinue | She discontinued working with him. |
| Discuss | They discussed living together. |
| Encourage | I encourage travelling the world. |
| Enjoy | You enjoyed travelling through Asia. |
| Escape | We escaped running through the woods. |
| Fancy | I fancy walking on the beach. |
| Finish | We finished making homework and went home. |
| Forgive | They forgive running in the classroom. |
| Imagine | You imagined living in Spain. |
| Keep | They keep learning something everyday. |
| Like | They liked going there. |
| Love | He loved having her here. |
| Mention | We mentioned living in London before. |
| Mind | He doesn't mind smoking. |
| Miss | She misses spending time with her family. |
| Permit | They will permit fishing. |
| Picture | He pictures travelling to Asia. |
| Propose | They proposed living in Amsterdam. |
| Postpone | She postponed living in London for a year. |
| Practice | Practice playing soccer every day. |
| Prefer | I prefer running for an hour. |
| Recommend | They recommended running before dinner. |
| Resist | She resisted studying. |
| Resume | I resumed speaking when he left the room. |
| Stop | He stops smoking immediately. |
| Suggest | She suggested helping each other. |
| Support | We supported spending time with our grandmother. |
| Understand | She understands helping each other. |
| Urge | She urges spending time in homework. |
2) Infinitive and the gerund with the preposition 'to' in between
Some infinitives need the preposition 'to' when the gerund follows.
| Infinitive | Example |
|---|---|
| Admit to | You admitted to saying something mean about her. |
| Be used to | I am getting used to waking up at 6 o'clock. |
| Commit to | She is committed to working hard. |
| Confess to | He confessed to being the one that left the door open. |
| Get used to | I am getting used to waking up at 6 o'clock. |
| Look forward to | He is looking forward to having you here. |
| Object to | She objected to admitting that it was her fault. |