Language work - 'ing' forms

Language work - 'ing' forms



Read the information about -ing forms and infinitives:

the -ing form

We can use the -ing form of the verb:

as a noun:
I love swimming.
Swimming is very good for your health.
You can get fit by swimming regularly.

after a preposition:
By having a blast.
I’ve always been interested in learning languages.

after some verbs
We enjoy cooking and going to the cinema.

Common verbs followed by an -ing object are:

admit, like, hate, start, avoid, suggest, enjoy, dislike, begin, finish

After verbs like see, watch, hear, smell etc.
I heard someone playing the piano.
I can smell something burning.



the infinitive

We use the infinitive (‘to __’)

after certain verbs, particularly verbs of thinking and feeling: choose, decide, expect, forget, hate, hope, intend, learn, like, love, mean, plan, prefer, remember, want, would like, would love
I’m hoping to find out the secret of his success

I’d like to learn more about the history of his companies.

… and verbs of saying:
agree, promise, refuse

He promised not to tell anyone.
She agreed to do the extra work for a small fee.

after certain adjectives.
We use ‘to ___’ after many adjectives including:

disappointed, glad, sad, happy, anxious, pleased, surprised, proud, unhappy, able, unable, due, eager, keen, likely, unlikely, ready

We were happy to come to the end of our journey.
Unfortunately I was unable to work for over a week.

We often use the to-infinitive after these adjectives to give opinions:
difficult, easy, possible, impossible, hard, right, wrong, kind, nice, clever, silly

It’s easy to play the piano, but it’s very difficult to play well.
He spoke so quickly it was impossible to understand him.


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