Gerunds or Infinitives • Gerunds or gerund noun phrases can be used as subject of a sentence Ex: Smoking is bad for your health Learning English is fun • Gerunds or gerund noun phrases are used after certain verbs such as enjoy, finish, keep, mind, dislike, quit = give up, regret, consider, postpone = delay, put off, avoid, admit, deny… as the object of a sentence: Ex: Nigel enjoys playing the guitar Would you mind helping me with these exercises? • Gerunds follow prepositions: Ex: I am interested in working for your company We’re talking about going to the beach • Gerunds follow the main verb of a sentence: Ex: Carlos and Anna enjoy going to the movies They finished painting the house last week • Infinitives follow adjectives: Ex: It’s important to get a good job It’s easy to use a computer • Infinitives follow the main verb of a sentence: Ex: Mario wants to go fishing tomorrow I need to call my friends tonight • Some verbs can be a followed only by infinitives, for example: want, would like, would love, need, choose, agree, plan, learn, expect, decide, seem, promise, try = attempt, begin Ex: My parents would like to visit us next month John agreed to meet us at 8:00 Some verbs can be followed by either gerunds or infinitives, for example: begin, continue, love, hate, prefer, start, bother, intend Ex: My sister will begin to study Chinese next month My sister will begin studying Chinese next month