Infinitives and Gerunds

When I first started teaching I didn't even know

the meaning of 'gerund‘ while 'infinitive' seemed
somehow faraway and exciting.

Then I discovered the awful truth.

Mike JC Smith
The ideas and many of the examples in this presentation come from Explaining English Grammar by
George Yule - Oxford University Press 1998

Mike Smith www.mjcsmith.net 1

 Major Concepts
We look at three major concepts to give the
learner a better chance of producing correct or
acceptable language
●
time sequencing
●
'noun-ness'
●
factuality and reality

This teaching strategy does not put the whole

truth, but it is the truth and can be confidently
applied by learners. It avoids 'negative learning'
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 Native Utterences

Do you surf?
Yep I like/enjoy surfing.
Like to surf this afternoon?
Sure, surfing is better than studying.
Hmm, the surfing is better at Bondi than Manly.

Can you explain all this to a learner or English?

Mike Smith www.mjcsmith.net 3

 Time Sequence Infinitive
This rule of thumb (by itself) is about 80% correct.

Would you like to surf?

Do you want to eat?
My doctor encouraged me to get fit.
He entered to competition to win a holiday.

All these are simple time sequences of verbs:

first like then surf
first want then eat
first encourage then get fit
first enter then win
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Reverse Time Sequence Gerund
This rule of thumb (by itself) is about 60% correct.

I like/love/enjoy surfing
He resented cooking for her.
He finished working at 4pm.

All these are reverse time sequences of verbs

(often as a consequence):
enjoyment follows surfing
resentment follows cooking
finish follows working

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Contrasting Time Sequences
He stopped to buy a magazine yesterday.
first stop then buy

She stopped buying magazines last year.

stop follows (and concludes) buying

You must remember to pay the bills.

first remember then pay

You must remember paying the bills.

remember follows pay

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 Noun-ness of Gerunds
Gerunds can name an activity.
(take articles, possessives, determiners like nouns)
The surfing is better at Bondi today.
I like her singing.

Gerunds can also refer to an event

(focus not on action and
the performer of an action can be a different person)
He considered walking to the city.
She suggested driving.
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 Verb-ness of Infinitives

Infinitives cannot name an activity.

The *to surf is better at Bondi today.
I like her *to sing.

Infinitives focus on action and actor

He wanted to eat.
She told him to cook.

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 Factuality and Reality
Gerunds convey a sense of fact and reality
He denied shooting the bank teller.
a statement of fact meaning “I did not shoot the teller.”
although the teller had been shot
(fact – something happened)

Infinitives convey a sense of action or inaction .

He refused to talk further.
a statement of action or lack of action
cannot be true/false
(action – something was done or not done)
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 Verb Types and Distance
Commitment
Self-directed NP V inf
demand, agree, decide, apply, ask,
consent, aim, attempt, beg
Other-directed NP V NP inf
order, command, tell, convince,
persuade, urge, advise, ask, permit
Aspectual
Point Time – infinitive
Period time - gerund
begin, commence, finish, remain,
start, continue, cease, carry on,
quit, stay, stop,

Sensory Linguistic Distance

feel, look at, hear, see, smell, reflects Conceptual Distance
watch, sense, observe, notice
time limited, completed, single act I told her to leave (separate)
-> bare inf I saw her leave (concurrent)
time unlimited, incomplete, series I saw her leaving concurrent,
of acts -> gerund incomplete)

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 Discussion 1
●
Complements following adjectives
It’s hard (find) a parking place here.
I was sorry (miss) you.
It’s awful (work) here.
It was good (see) you again
●
Try these adjectives
afraid, curious, first, kind, slow, annoying, delighted, free, quick, stupid,
careful, difficult, glad, reluctant, unkind, certain, eager, impossible, ridculous,
unlikely, crazy, easy, keen, rude, willing
●
Can you apply any of the rules-of-thumb?
time sequencing, 'noun-ness‘, factuality and reality
●
Who is helping whom?
He is quick to help. vs He is hard to help.
Categorise the adjective set accordingly

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 Discussion 2
●
Complements following prepositions
He left without …
I thought about …
He stopped me from …
I dream of …
We decided against …
●
Complements following nouns
It’s a nice change (go) somewhere different.
He regrets his decision (sell) the land.
Do you have enough money (sell) for all this?
She never has a kind word (say) about him.

Mike Smith www.mjcsmith.net 12

 Teaching Ideas 1
●
Simple Sequences -> Infinitives
(Choose verbs carefully)
encourage / stay
warn / be careful
tell / keep quiet
convince / stay
●
Clause elements -> Infinitives
We tell / they come early -> We told them to come early.
We ask / we leave -> We asked to leave.
You promise / you help
He order / we stand up
She pretended / she is ill
They permit / we enter
We agree / we work harder
●
Plans and Goals -> Infinitives
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 Teaching Ideas 2
●
Turning over a new leaf. -> gerunds
I should start/stop …
begin, start, stop, quit, give up
●
Rules prohibiting and encouraging
The following are prohibited:
running, smoking, eating, chewing gum
The following are encouraged:
doing your homework, coming early, talking to native speakers, drinking
●
Personal ads
Blond, enjoys running and dancing

Mike Smith www.mjcsmith.net 14