Grammar · Lesson 2

Gerunds and infinitives: the first word opens a grammatical path

When one verb or expression is followed by another action, English must choose a complement shape: Maya avoids checking, Maya decided to apply, or The coach made Maya rewrite it. The choice is not decoration. It can be selected by the first verb, by a preposition, by an object pattern, or by the meaning the speaker wants.

Can-do: By the end, you can retrieve frequent verbs with -ing or to + base verb; use -ing after ordinary prepositions and prepositional to; build object + to-infinitive and bare-infinitive patterns; distinguish stop, remember, try, and regret by meaning; treat flexible verbs as flexible rather than forcing a false rule; and make weak to plus clear -ing recoverable in connected U.S. speech.

Two-minute retrieval

Notice one career decision and three different controls

Get to the root: learn the first word together with its path

A complement completes the meaning opened by another word. English has no single form-meaning rule that predicts every verb complement. Store frequent verbs as retrievable chunks: avoid doing, decide to do. A dictionary can confirm unfamiliar patterns, but a short personal example makes each pattern usable.

These are useful families, not claims that a verb can never enter another structure. For example, suggest doing is common, and suggest that Maya apply is also standard U.S. English. The controlled practice names the intended structure and context.

After a preposition, use a noun or an -ing form

Ordinary prepositions such as after, before, by, in, without, and about take a noun-like complement: after the meeting or after meeting Maya. Some expressions end in prepositional to: look forward to, be used to, object to, be committed to. Here, to is not an infinitive marker, so the following verb uses -ing.

Use a substitution test: if a noun or pronoun can follow, the word is a preposition. I look forward to the workshop / it / attending. Compare infinitive-marker to in I plan to attend; a noun cannot replace attend in that structure.

She used to speak quietly describes a past pattern and takes a base verb. She is used to speaking to a group describes present familiarity and takes -ing after prepositional to.

Track the object before choosing to or a bare verb

Some verbs open a place for a person or thing before the second action: The coach encouraged Maya to apply. Common object + to-infinitive verbs include ask, allow, encourage, expect, invite, tell, and want. In active clauses, let and make normally take object + bare verb: They let Maya leave. The deadline made her focus.

Help can take either a bare infinitive or a to-infinitive in standard U.S. English: The guide helped me revise and helped me to revise. With recommend, prefer recommend revising or recommend that Maya revise, not the learner error recommend Maya to revise.

When both forms exist, context must carry the meaning

The infinitive after stop expresses purpose, so the stopped activity is supplied by context. The formal regret to inform pattern is limited; it does not mean every use of regret can freely take either form.

Keep flexible patterns flexible

With begin, start, continue, love, and prefer, both complements are often grammatical. Context can create a tendency rather than an absolute rule. I like working with clients commonly presents enjoyment of the activity; I like to review the agenda first can present a chosen routine. Many real contexts allow either form.

Would like is a different request or desire pattern and normally takes a to-infinitive: I’d like to review the agenda. Do not replace careful pattern learning with the false rule that -ing always means past and to always means future.

Sound natural: reduce to, but keep the pattern recoverable

Infinitive-marker to is commonly weak /tə/ in connected U.S. speech: decided tə APPLY, tried tə FINish. It may be fully stressed /tu/ when contrasted: I said TO call, not that I called. The -ing ending is normally /ɪŋ/, without a separate /g/: WORKing, CHECKing.

Stress normally highlights the new or contrastive idea, not one permanently fixed grammar word. In a meaning-changing pair, the lexical context and complement must remain clear enough to recover: I STOPPED checking versus I stopped tə CHECK one alert.

Read a project update without guessing the complement

Go on doing means continue the same activity. Go on to do means move to a later, different activity. The progress note supplies both the earlier call and the later drafting stage.

Build two complete complement paths

Notice and repair the complement path

Play and practice

Games and a short reading that recycle this lesson. Use them as a warm-up, a fast finisher, or homework. Each one checks itself.

Use the patterns without exposing a real application

You never need to reveal a real employer, application, salary, contract, manager, coworker, client, performance review, schedule, family responsibility, health detail, or private career decision. Use Maya, the Bridgeway career lab, and the fictional portfolio. Real details are optional.

Final production and check

Reflect: what opened the complement path?