2017-11-30 Grammar: gerunds vs. infinitives

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: p. 113 exercise 7 - Make two sentences with each pattern 2 verb, one general (verb + gerund) and one specific (verb + object + infinitive).
1 Most jobs require having graduated from college. The government requires paying taxes.
  The teacher requires students to finish their homework.
2 The government encourages using public transportation.
  Teachers encourage their students to do school activities.
3 Gandhi urged using nonviolent methods of protest. (“urge” + verb-ing is very uncommon)
  Teachers urge their students to study every day.
4 I advise reading as much as possible outside of class in order to improve vocabulary.
  I advise some students to read Harry Potter in English.
5 This museum forbids taking pictures.
  He forbade his son to spend a lot of money.
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verb + gerund has a very similar meaning to verb + (general) “you” + infinitive
Most doctors advise getting at least 15 minutes of good exercise every day.
Most doctors advise you to get at least 15 minutes of good exercise every day.
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https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ - Search the frequency of words and phrases in English. For example, search “urge *ing” to find the most common -ing words that come after “urge” in English.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/ - Compare the frequency of different words and phrases.
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p. 117 focus 7 - Choosing between gerunds and infinitives.
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Often (but not always), infinitives talk about actions that may occur, or that will occur later, and gerunds talk about real actions that will definitely occur or have already occurred.
I don’t want to study on the weekend. - This is a potential future action.
I don’t enjoy studying on the weekend. - This is a real action I have already experienced.
(“enjoy” and “want” are always followed by gerund and infinitive, so you could also just memorize that)
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Some verbs can be followed by gerund or infinitive with no change in meaning:
I started to study at 10. = I started studying at 10.
I don’t like to do homework on the weekend. = I don’t like doing homework on the weekend.
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Other verbs can be followed by gerund or infinitive, but the meaning changes:
I stopped to eat fast food. = I stopped another thing in order to eat some fast food.
	(First I stopped, then I ate fast food.)
I stopped eating fast food. = I used to eat fast food, but now I don’t. I quit.
	(First I ate fast food, then I stopped.)
I remembered to lock the door. = I remembered my obligation.
	(First I remembered, then I locked the door.)
I remembered locking the door. = I remembered my action.
	(First I locked the door, then I remembered it.)
- Most of these verbs are similar to “stop” and “remember” for the order of the actions.
I tried to open the window. = I attempted, but I couldn’t do it. (Maybe the window is broken.)
I tried opening the window. = I did it, but it didn’t solve the problem.
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p. 118 exercise 12 - Choose the gerund or infinitive to complete these sentences.
1 to avoid (if I’m not sure you’ll be able to do it) / avoiding (if I have confidence, but it might not help you)
2 talking
3 to pick up
4 talking = to talk
5 smoking
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Homework (optional): the rest of the handout