28f. Verbs followed by gerunds or infinitives
A gerund is a verb form that ends in -ing and is used as a noun: sleeping, dreaming. An infinitive is the word to plus the base form of the verb: to sleep, to dream. The word to is an infinitive marker, not a preposition, in this use. (See 48b.)
A few verbs may be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive; others may be followed by a gerund but not by an infinitive; still others may be followed by an infinitive but not by a gerund.
Verb + gerund or infinitive (no change in meaning)
The following commonly used verbs may be followed by a gerund or an infinitive, with little or no difference in meaning:
| begin | hate | love |
| continue | like | start |
I love skiing. I love to ski.
Verb + gerund or infinitive (change in meaning)
With a few verbs, the choice of a gerund or an infinitive changes the meaning dramatically:
| forget | remember | stop | try |
She stopped speaking to Lucia. [She no longer spoke to Lucia.]
She stopped to speak to Lucia. [She paused so that she could speak to Lucia.]
Verb + gerund
These verbs may be followed by a gerund but not by an infinitive:
| admit | discuss | imagine | put off | risk |
| appreciate | enjoy | miss | quit | suggest |
| avoid | escape | postpone | recall | tolerate |
| deny | finish | practice | resist |
Bill enjoys playing [not to play] the piano.
Jamie quit smoking.
Verb + infinitive
These verbs may be followed by an infinitive but not by a gerund:
| agree | decide | manage | plan | wait |
| ask | expect | mean | pretend | want |
| beg | help | need | promise | wish |
| claim | hope | offer | refuse | would like |
Jill has offered to water [not watering] the plants while we are away.
Joe finally managed to find a parking space.
A few of these verbs may be followed either by an infinitive directly or by a noun or pronoun plus an infinitive:
| ask | help | promise | would like |
| expect | need | want |
We asked to speak to the congregation.
We asked Rabbi Abrams to speak to our congregation.
Verb + noun or pronoun + infinitive
With certain verbs in the active voice, a noun or pronoun must come between the verb and the infinitive that follows it. The noun or pronoun usually names a person who is affected by the action of the verb.
| advise | convince | order | tell |
| allow | encourage | persuade | urge |
| cause | have (“own”) | remind | warn |
| command | instruct | require |
The counselor advised Haley to take four courses instead of five.
Verb + noun or pronoun + unmarked infinitive
An unmarked infinitive is an infinitive without to. A few verbs (often called causative verbs) may be followed by a noun or pronoun and an unmarked infinitive.
| have (“cause”) | let (“allow”) |
| help | make (“force”) |
Help can be followed by a noun or pronoun and either an unmarked or a marked infinitive.
Emma helped Brian wash the dishes.
Emma helped Brian to wash the dishes.
note: The infinitive is used in some typical constructions with too and enough.
too + adjective + infinitive
The gift is too large to wrap.
enough + noun + infinitive
Our emergency pack has enough bottled water to last a week.
adjective + enough + infinitive
Some of the hikers felt strong enough to climb another thousand feet.