Sentence structure: Verb + -ing or to

In this chapter

• Four patterns

  Liking: -ing: I enjoy drawing animals. · Wanting, planning: to: We decided to make a cake. · Suggestion: Let's: Let's go to the park! · Purpose: in order to: I went to the store to buy milk.

• Verbs + -ing

  enjoy always takes -ing: “enjoy to read” is wrong.

  Example: I enjoy reading comics.

  Example: My dad loves cooking.

• Verbs + to

  Example: I want to learn Spanish.

  Example: Would you like to play chess?

• Purpose: to + verb

  Turkish “-mek için” = to + verb. “for buy” is wrong.

  Example: I went to the bakery to buy bread.

  Example: She practices every day to get better.

• Turkish equivalents

  Let's + base verb, no to.

  Example: Let's go out!

  Example: I like swimming. / I like to swim.

• Tip

  Verbs that look ahead to something not done yet (want, need, decide, hope, plan) usually take to. enjoy, finish and mind always take -ing.