The gerund is used in the following cases :
1.- As the subject/ object / complement of a clause or sentence.
Subject: Reading in the car makes me feel sick
Object: I find shooping for clothes really boring
Complement: My favorite sport is swimming
2.-After prepositions.
I’m not very good at making things
*To is a preposition in the following verbs :
I look forward to hearing from you soon
I can’t get used t o living without her
After certain verbs
Peter suggested going for a picnic
Verb+ gerund
Have you finished cleaning your room ?
The following verbs like finish, are normally followed by the gerund :
a) Certains verbs expressing likes and dislikes: adore, detest, dislike, enjoy, don’t mind, can’t stand +
b) other verbs: admit, avoid, can’t help, consider, delay, deny, feel like, forgive, give up, imagine, involve, keep, mind miss, postpone, put off, practice, prevent, resist, risk, suggest.
Verb+ gerund or infinitive
a) Like, love, hate and prefer are usually followed by the gerund. However , the infinitive is also possible with little, if any, difference in meaning
I love going/ to go for long walks in the hills
*the infinitive is common for specific situations :
I hate to interrupt, but we really must be going
b) Begin, start, continue and intend can be followed by the gerund or infinitive with no change in meaning.
When I arrived it started to rain / raining
c)Forget, remember, go on, mean,need, regret,stop and try can be followed by the gerund or the infinitive, but with a change in the meaning.
Remember/Forget+ gerund= (not) to recall a previous action.
I remember doing something=I did it and now I remember this.
You remember doing something after you have done it :
I’m absolutely sure I locked the door. I clearly remember locking it (=I locked it, and now I remember this)
He could remember driving along the road just before the accident happened, but he couldn’t remember the accident itself
I remember coming here when I was young
I’ll never forget seeing U2 in concert
Go on+gerund= To continue with the same activity
The minister went on talking for two hours
We must change our ways. We can’t go on living like this
Some footballers go on playing professionally until they’re nearly 40
Mean +gerund=to involve
Dieting usually means giving up things you enjoy
Need +gerund= (passive meaning)
This house needs painting (=needs to be painted)
Regret+gerund= to be sorry for a previous action.
I now regret saying what I said. I shouldn’t have said it
I regret going to see that film: it was so boring
Stop +gerund= to stop an activity your are doing.
I ‘ve stopped smoking: It’s too expensive
Try+gerund= To experiment in order to see what will happen.
Try resting for a while, you might fell better then
We also use -ing after :
Give up (=stop)
Put off (=postpone)
Carry on/ go on (=continue)
Keep or keep on (=do something continuously or repeatedly)
Paula has given up smoking
We must do something. We can’t go on living like this!
Don’t keep interrupting me while I’m speaking /or don’t keep on interrumpting….
With some verbs you can use the structure verb +somebody +-ing:
I can’t imagine George riding a motorbike
You can’t stop me dong what I want
Sorry to keep you waiting so long
Note the pasive form (being done/seen/kept,etc)
I don’t mind being kept wainting (=I don’t mind people keeping me..)
When you’re talking about finished actions, you can say having done/stolen / said, etc.
She admitted having stolen the money
But it is not necessary to use having (done) . You can also use the simple
-ing form for finished actions:
She admitted stealing the money
I now regret saying (or having said) what I said
-Begin/ start/ intend/ continue/ bother
These verbs can be followed by -ing or to with litle or no difference in meaning. So you can say :
It has start raining/ it has started raining
John intends buying a house/ John intends to buy a house
Don’t bother locking the door/ Dont’ bother to lock the door
But normally we don’t use -ing after-ing:
It’s starting to rain (not it’s staring raining)
_ Try (with the meaning do something as an experiment or test) is followed by a verb we say try-ing:
a.-The photocopier doesn’t seem to be working
b.-Try pressing the green button (=press the green button-perhaps this will help to sovle the problem )
I didn’t like the way the furniture was arranged, so I tried moving the table to the other side of the room. But it still didn’t look right , so I moved it back again.
Need+
Something needs doing =something needs to be done:
The batteries in the radio needs changing (=they need to be changed)
Do you think my jacket needs cleaning =needs to be cleaned) ?
It’s a difficult problem. It needs thinking about very carefully (=it needs to be thought about)
Help and can’t help
There an expression Can’t / couldn’t help doing something. I can’t help doing something= I can’t stop myself from doing it.
I don’t like him but he has a lot of problems. I can’t help feeling sorry for him
She tried to be serious but she coudlnt’ help laughing (=she couldn’t stop herself from laughing)
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