Verbs followed by ‘ing’ or by ‘to + infinitive’ (2)

When one verb is followed by another, the second verb can either be an infinitive or an –ing
form. Some verbs can be followed by either an infinitive, or an –ing form but with a change in
meaning. These are some of the most common ones.

like

• I like watching old films on TV.

With an ‘ing’ form, ‘like’ means ‘enjoy’

• I like to wash up as soon as I finish eating.

I might not enjoy washing up but I think it’s the right thing to do.

Remember that ‘would like’ can only be followed by an infinitive.

• I’d like to go to Japan next year, if possible.

try

• I’m trying to learn Japanese but it’s very difficult.

Try + to + infinitive means that something is difficult and you make an attempt to do it.

• Have you tried using butter instead of oil?

Try + ‘ing’ means make an experiment. It’s not difficult – it might work, it might not.

stop

Stop + ‘ing’ tells us what has stopped. in this example, buying a newspaper.

• I’ve stopped buying a newspaper every day to try to save money.

Stop + to + infinitive tells us why something stopped. In this example the reason that the bus
stopped was to pick up the children.

• The bus stopped to pick up the children.

remember /forget

• Don’t forget to post that letter for me.

• Did you remember to post that letter for me?

Remember/forget + to + infinitive means that you remember something you have to do – a

duty or a chore.

• I’ll always remember meeting you for the first time.

• I’ll never forget meeting you for the first time.

Remember/forget + ‘ing’ form means remember something you did in the past – an event or
an activity.

 1 Some verbs are followed by the to-infinitive:
I decided to go home as soon as possible.
We all wanted to have more English classes.
Common verbs followed by the to-infinitive are:
Verbs of thinking and feeling: Verbs of saying:
choose love agree
decide mean promise
expect plan refuse
forget prefer
hate remember Other common verbs
hope would like arrange
intend would love attempt
learn like fail
want
2 Some verbs are followed by a noun and the to-infinitive:
She asked him to send her a text message.
He wanted all his friends to come to his party.
Common verbs with this pattern are:
Verbs of saying:
advise order encourage
ask persuade invite
warn *
*Note: The verb warn is normally used with not
The police warned everyone not to drive too
fast.

Verbs of wanting or liking: Other verbs with this pattern are:

expect allow
intend enable
would force
prefer get
want teach
would like









 When one verb is followed by another, the second verb can either be an infinitive or
an –ing form. Some verbs can be followed by only an infinitive, others by only an –
ing form and some by both but with a change in meaning. To know which structure
to use, you can consult a good dictionary but here are some common examples.

Verb + infinitive

• I want to speak to the manager.

• She’s learning to ride a horse.
• He offered to help us wash up.

‘Want’, ’learn’ and ‘offer’ are followed by to + infinitive

Other verbs in this group

include: afford, agree, ask, choose, decide, expect, hope, prepare, promise,p
retend, refuse, would like.

Verb + ‘ing’ form

• I enjoy travelling.
• He admitted stealing the necklace.
• I don’t mind waiting if you’re busy.

‘enjoy’ ‘admit’ and ‘mind’ are followed by the ‘ing’ form

Other verbs in this group include: avoid, consider, dislike, feel like, finish, give
up, can’t help, practise,suggest.

Verb + infinitive or ‘ing’ form with no change in meaning

A few verbs can be followed by either an infinitive or the ‘ing’ form and the
meaning does not change.

• I started to work here in 1994.

• I started working here in 1994.

The meaning of these two sentences is the same.

There aren’t many verbs that can take an infinitive or an ‘ing’ form with no change
in meaning. ‘Begin’ and ‘continue’ are two more examples.

There is also a group of verbs that can be followed by an infinitive or an ‘ing’

form with a change in meaning. These verbs will be covered in another section.

 We use will:

• to talk about the future – to say what we believe will happen

• to talk about what people want to do or are willing to do

• to make promises and offers

would is the past tense form of will. Because it is a past tense it is used:

• to talk about the past.

• to talk about hypotheses – things that are imagined rather than true.

• for politeness.

Beliefs

We use will

• to say what we believe will happen in the future:

We'll be late.
We will have to take the train.

We use would as the past tense of will:

• to say what we believed would happen:

I thought I would be late …… so I would have to take the train.

Offers and promises

We use I will or We will to make offers and promises:

I’ll give you a lift home after the party.

We will come and see you next week.

Willingness

• to talk about what people want to do or are willing to do:

We’ll see you tomorrow.

Perhaps dad will lend me the car.

We use would as the past tense of will:

• to talk about what people wanted to do or were willing to do:

We had a terrible night. The baby wouldn’t go to sleep. He kept waking up

and crying.
Dad wouldn’t lend me the car, so we had to take the train.

• to talk about something that we did often in the past because we wanted to do it:

When they were children they used to spend their holidays at their
grandmother’s at the seaside. They would get up early every morning and
 they’d have a quick breakfast then theywould run across the road to the
beach.

Conditionals

We use will in conditionals with if and unless to say what we think will happen in
the future or present:

I’ll give her a call if I can find her number.

You won’t get in unless you have a ticket.

We use would to talk about hypotheses, about something which is possible but not
real:

• to talk about the result or effect of a possible situation:

It would be very expensive to stay in a hotel.

• in conditionals with words like if and what if. In these sentences the main verb is
usually in thepast tense:

I would give her a call if I could find her number.

If I had the money I'd buy a new car.
You would lose weight if you took more exercise.
If he got a new job he would probably make more money.
What if he lost his job. What would happen then?

We use conditionals to give advice:

Dan will help you if you ask him.

Past tenses are more polite:

Dan would help you if you asked him.

Phrases with would:

• would you…, would you mind (not) -ing, for requests:

Would you carry this for me please?

Would you mind carrying this?
Would you mind not telling him that?

• would you like ...; would you like to ..., for offers and invitations:

Would you like to come round to morrow?

Would you like another drink?

• I would like …; I’d like … (you)(to) ..., to say what we want or what we want to
do:

I’d like that one please.

I’d like to go home now.

• I’d rather… (I would rather) to say what we prefer:

 I’d rather have that one.
I’d rather go home now.

• I would think, I would imagine, I'd guess, to give an opinion when we are not
sure or when we want to be polite:

It’s very difficult I would imagine.

I would think that’s the right answer.

Past habit – used to/would/past simple

When we talk about things that happened in the past but don’t happen anymore we
can do it in different ways.

Used to

• We used to live in New York when I was a kid.

• There didn’t use to be a petrol station there. When was it built?

We can use ‘used to’ to talk about past states ….

• I used to go swimming every Thursday when I was at school.

• I used to smoke but I gave up a few years ago.

… or we can use ‘used to’ to talk about repeated past actions

Remember that ‘used to’ is only for past states/actions that don’t happen now – we
can’t use it for things that still happen now. Also, ‘used to + infinitive’ should not
be confused with ‘be/get used to + ‘ing’ form’ – this is covered in a separate
section.

Would

• Every Saturday I would go on a long bike ride.

• My teachers would always say “Sit down and shut up!”

We can use ‘would’ to talk about repeated past actions.

Often either ‘would’ or ‘used to’ is possible. Both of these sentences are possible.

• Every Saturday, I would go on a long bike ride.

• Every Saturday I used to go on a long bike ride.

However, only ‘used to’ is possible when we talk about past states.

• We used to live in New York when I was a kid.

• We would live in New York when I was a kid.

Past simple

• We went/used to go/would go to the same beach every summer.

 We can use the past simple in the same way as ‘used to’ and ‘would’ to talk about
repeated past actions.

• I had/used to have a dog called Charlie.

We can also use the past simple for past states.

• I went to Egypt in 1988.

However, if something happened only once we can’t use ‘used to’ or ‘would’ – we
must use the past simple.