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Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Gerunds and infinitives are both verbal forms that act as nouns. Gerunds end in -ing, such as swimming, walking, or laughing. Infinitives are the basic verb form with the particle to, as in to swim, to walk, or to laugh.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to know whether it's best to use a gerund or an infinitive in a sentence. Here are a few rules:

Both gerunds and infinitives can follow a verb, as in, "I don’t like losing," or, "I don’t like to lose." They can also both be the subject of a sentence, as in, "Catching a chicken is difficult," or, "To catch a chicken is difficult."

But only gerunds follow prepositions. For example, it’s correct to say, "I can’t leave a painting without finishing it," but it’s not correct to say, "I can’t leave a painting without to finish it."

Gerunds vs. Infinitives Grammar Quiz

  1. I cannot collect Easter eggs without them.

  2. movies is very expensive.

  3. Actors don't like time while they are on the set.

  4. into a good school can be difficult and expensive.

  5. My friend Charles doesn't like eating meat; he thinks animals deserve .

  6. Working the onion fields left him of onion juice.

  7. Are we talking about basketball on Saturday?

  8. She thought about moving, however she doesn't like in big cities.

  9. Michelle considered for more time to finish her book.

  10. I stopped cigarettes last year.

Go Super to see the answers! Go Super!

Gerunds vs. Infinitives Lessons:

Cabin Fever

Outer Space

Face Swapping

Picky Eaters

Ali Krieger - Sink or Swim

Scientology

Not_Hunting

Bar Games

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Comments

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rienzie

Sri Lanka

i was so convinced by this lesson.

08:00 AM Feb 04 2012 |

kai@kalliope

Thailand

Doing this lesson help me get more understanding .Is this right sentence ?


Thank you Ebaby for sharing .Laughing

02:52 AM Jan 29 2012 |

1 person likes this

pichanon

pichanon

Thailand

555  it is baby easy TT 

09:44 AM Jan 24 2012 |

mohammadasadi19

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

it was easy!


ha ha ha…!

07:08 PM Dec 06 2011 |

George William

Uganda

Good. I had my lessons on that topic.Now, I’ve learnt.

01:26 PM Dec 04 2011 |

Rachaeita

Bangladesh

I had confusion about Gerunds and Infinitives. Now, I am more clear after reading this topic.

09:05 AM Dec 01 2011 |

mohammadasadi19

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

that is a good lesson.

07:23 PM Nov 17 2011 |

kamalac

kamalac

Azerbaijan

thanks

04:41 PM Oct 23 2011 |

CatcheR

CatcheR

Iceland

thank you

07:11 AM Sep 19 2011 |

rasha ayad

Iraq

thank you for the information.Laughing

12:08 AM Aug 27 2011 |