Unit 11.2

Gerunds and Infinitives with Verbs without difference in meaning


Print This Post Print This Post

Advertising

Introduction

Sometimes, after certain verbs, we find the gerund (when acting as a noun) or the infinitive and the meaning of those verbs do not change.

Form

Certain verbs can have the gerund (when acting as a noun) or the infinitive without any change in meaning.

These formations have the same structures:
Subject + verb + gerund + object…
Subject + verb + to + verb + object…

The most commonly used verbs are: begin, continue, hate, like, love, start, …

Example

Gerund Infinitive
Begin

Continue

They begin digging the hole

She continued driving.

They begin to dig the hole.

She continued to drive.

Hate I hate listening to pop music I hate to listen to pop music
Like They like skydiving. They like to skydive.
Love Adriana loves painting. Adriana loves to paint.
Start We start playing guitar. We start to play guitar.

Use

Sometimes, after certain verbs, we can use both the gerund and the infinitive and the meaning of the sentence does not change.

Summary

After certain verbs, we find the gerund (when acting as a noun) or the infinitive and the meaning of those verbs do not change.

The most commonly used verbs are: begin, continue, hate, like, love, start.

These formations have the same structures:

  • we start with the subject of the sentence followed by the verb, a gerund and the object of the senence;
  • we start with the subject of the sentence followed by the verb, the preposition to, another verb, and the object of the senence.

For example:
— “She started singing” = “She started to sing.”
— “I like jogging in the morning.” “I like to jog in the morning.”

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.

Content Rating

Please, tell us how to improve the content here.


What did you think of our explanations and exercises?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Ambassadors

Open TextBooks are collaborative projects, with people from all over the world bringing their skills and interests to join in the compilation and dissemination of knowledge to everyone and everywhere.

Become an Ambassador and write your textbooks.

Online Teaching

Become a Books4Languages Online tutor & teacher.

More information here about how to be a tutor.

Translations


Contributors

The Books4Languages is a collaborative projects, with people from all over the world bringing their skills and interests to join in the compilation and dissemination of knowledge to everyone, everywhere.

License