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Ing and Infinitive Forms

Ingles

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Fabio Moran
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21 views5 pages

Ing and Infinitive Forms

Ingles

Uploaded by

Fabio Moran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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-ING FORMS

We use the –ing form:

 After certain verbs:

stop, delay, fancy, consider, admit, miss, involve, finish, postpone, imagine,
avoid, deny, risk, suggest, practice, like, love, hate, can’t bear, prefer, enjoy,
dislike, mind, can’t stand.

Examples:

a. Suddenly everybody stopped talking. There was silence.


b. I’ll do the shopping when I’ve finished cleaning the flat.
c. He tried to avoid answering my question.
d. I don’t fancy going out this evening.
e. Have you ever considered going to live in another country?
f. Ann hates flying.
g. Why do you dislike living here?
h. I don’t like people shouting at me.

After like, love, prefer, hate and can’t bear, you can also use “to”.

Examples:

a. I like getting up early. Or I like to get up early.


b. I love meeting people. Or I love to meet people.
c. She can’t bear being alone. Or She can’t bear to be alone.
d. I prefer to live in the country. Or I prefer living in the country.

 After certain expressions. When these expressions are followed by a verb, the
verb ends in –ing:

It’s no use…/ It’s no good…, There’s no point in…, It’s (not) worth…, have
difficulty…, a waste of money…/a waste of time…, spend/waste (time)…, be
busy…, how/what about…?, I look forward to… .

Examples:
a. I look forward to seeing you.
b. There’s nothing you can do about the situation, so it’s no use worrying about it.
c. There’s no point in having a car if you never use it.
d. I live only a short walk from here, so it’s not worth taking a taxi.
e. What was the film like? Was it worth seeing?
f. I had difficulty finding a place to live.
g. It was a waste of time reading that book. It was rubbish.
h. It’s a waste of money buying things you don’t need.
i. He spent hours trying to repair the clock.
j. I waste a lot of time daydreaming.
k. She said she couldn’t see me. She was too busy doing other things.

 We use go –ing for a number of activities (especially sports).

Go swimming, go sailing, go fishing, go climbing, go skiing, go jogging, go


shopping, go sightseeing, go skating, go hiking, go horseback riding, go dancing,
go biking.

Examples:

a. I’d like to go skiing.


b. When did you last go shopping?
c. Barry lives by the sea and he’s got a boat, so he often goes sailing.

 If a preposition is followed by a verb, the verb ends in –ing.

in, at, with, of, for, about, instead of, in spite of, before, after, by, without.

Examples:

a. Are you interested in working for us?


b. I’m not very good at learning languages.
c. She must be fed up with studying.
d. What are the advantages of having a car?
e. This knife is only for cutting bread.
f. How about playing tennis tomorrow?
g. I bought a new bicycle instead of going away on holiday.
h. Carol went to work in spite of feeling ill.
i. Before going out, I phoned Sarah.
j. What did you do after leaving school?
k. You can improve your English by reading more.
l. I ran ten kilometers without stopping.

 We use the –ing form as a subject of a verb.

Examples:
a. Smoking is a bad habit.
b. Listening requires patience.
c. Listening to the radio is a good practice in understanding English.
INFINITIVE FORM
Verb + to ... (decide to ... / forget to ... etc.)

After these verbs you can use to ... (infinitive):

offer hope deserve


agree forget afford
refuse manage learn
decide fail tend
plan promise
arrange threaten

It was a long way to walk, so we decided to take a taxi home.


Simon was in a difficult situation, so I agreed to help him.
I waved to Karen, but failed to attract her attention.
I like Dan, but I think he tends to talk too much.
How old were you when you learned to drive?
or ... learned how to drive?

The negative is not to ... :


We decided not to go out because of the weather.
I promised not to be late.

After some verbs, we use -ing (not to ...). For example, enjoy/think/suggest:
I enjoy reading. (not enjoy to read)
Andy suggested meeting for coffee. (not suggested to meet)
Are you thinking of buying a car? (not thinking to buy)

After dare you can use the infinitive with or without to:
I didn’t dare to tell him. or I didn’t dare tell him.
But after dare not (or daren’t), we do not use to:
I daren’t tell him what happened. (not I daren’t to tell him)

We also use to ... after seem, appear, pretend and claim. For example:
They seem to have plenty of money.
Ann pretended not to see me when she passed me in the street.
You can also use to be -ing (continuous infinitive) and to have (done)
(perfect infinitive):
I pretended to be reading the newspaper. (= I pretended that I was reading)
Have you seen my keys? I seem to have lost them. (= it seems that I have
lost them)
She claimed not to have seen me. (= she claimed that she hadn’t seen me)

After these verbs you can use a question word (what/how etc.) + to ... .
ask know decide remember forget learn explain
understand wonder

For example:
We asked how to get to the station
Have you decided where to go on holiday?
I don’t know whether to apply for the job or not.
Do you understand what to do?

also
show/tell/ask/advise/teach somebody what/how/where to do something:
Can somebody show me how to use this camera?
Ask Jack. He’ll tell you what to do.

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