Gerund or infinitive

Rules

• Rule 1: Verbs + -ing

  These verbs take -ing: enjoy, finish, mind, keep, avoid, practice, suggest, give up, imagine, miss.

  Pattern: enjoy / finish / avoid … + verb-ing

  Example: My sister keeps asking the same question.

  Example: Have you finished painting the fence?

• Rule 2: Verbs + to + verb

  These verbs take to + verb: want, decide, hope, plan, promise, agree, refuse, learn, need, manage, offer, would like.

  Pattern: want / decide / hope … + to + verb

  Example: Selin hopes to become a vet one day.

  Example: The kitten refused to come out from under the bed.

• Rule 3: After a preposition → -ing

  After at, in, of, for, about, before, after, without, instead of, look forward to, use -ing. An action as the subject also uses -ing.

  Pattern: preposition + verb-ing · Verb-ing as subject

  Example: She's really good at telling jokes.

  Example: Reading before bed helps me relax.

• Rule 4: After an adjective → to + verb

  After adjectives like happy, easy, difficult, nice, ready and in It is … to, use to + verb.

  Pattern: adjective + to + verb

  Example: It's difficult to sleep when it's so hot.

  Example: We were sad to leave the campsite.

Common mistakes

• I enjoy to swim in the sea. → I enjoy swimming in the sea.

  enjoy + -ing.

• We decided going home. → We decided to go home.

  decide + to + verb.

• I'm looking forward to see you. → I'm looking forward to seeing you.

  Here to is a preposition → -ing.