Gerund or Infinitive Part 1

Quiz 1
Which sentence is correct?

1a I enjoy to swim.
1b I enjoy swimming.

2a She practised to speak English.
2b She practised speaking English.

3a I spend a lot of time to garden.
3b I spend a lot of time gardening.

4a He admitted to steal the money.
4b He admitted stealing the money.

Quiz 2
Which sentence is correct?

1a I can't afford to buy a new car.
1b I can't afford buying a new car.

2a She offered to help me.
2b She offered helping me.

3a They decided to go away.
3b They decided going away.

4a I'd like to go to Australia.
4b I'd like going to Australia.

​See if you can find the answers by reading the rest of the post, then you can check if you were correct at the end.

Some verbs are followed by the infinitive and others are followed by the gerund. Unfortunately there are no easy rules to help you. You just have to learn them!

After these verbs, use the infinitive (verb 1) with "to":
afford   agree   arrange   ask   choose   claim   dare   decide   deserve   expect   fail   help   hope   intend   invite   learn   manage   need   offer   plan   pretend   promise   refuse   remind   seem   tend   threaten   want   would like/love/hate/prefer
(This is not a complete list but these are the most common ones.)

For example:
I can't afford to buy a new car.
She offered to help me with my homework.
They decided to go to Australia next year.

Sometimes there is an object (a person) before the infinitive.
​I helped her to cook the dinner.
She reminded me to buy some milk.
​They invited me to have dinner with them.

After these verbs, use the gerund (-ing):
admit   adore   avoid   can't stand   consider   deny   enjoy   fancy   feel like   finish   imagine   mind   miss   postpone   practise   risk   spend (time)   suggest   waste (time)
(Again, this is not a complete list. You can find more if you search for "gerund or infinitive" online but be careful because some sites are wrong and there may be some differences in American English.)

For example:
I enjoy swimming.
I spend too much time watching TV!
I don't feel like cooking this evening. Let's go out.

We also sometimes use the gerund after a phrasal verb. For example:
He gave up smoking.
I'm looking forward to seeing you again.
He wants to go on working until he is 65.

Quiz answers: In the first quiz, the answer for every question is B but in the second quiz the answer is always A.

​Click here for Gerunds and Infinitives Part 2.

Click the buttons below to get my e-book which covers this topic in more detail, including practice exercises, and my free verb list.
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