TO- INFINITIVE

1. TO EXPRESS PURPOSE
She went to the supermarket to buy some milk.

2. AFTER WOULD LIKE/WOULD PREFER/WOULD LOVE/WOULD HATE

I´d love to see you tonight

3. AFTER CERTAIN ADJECTIVES ( HAPPY, NICE, IMPORTANT, NECESSARY, GLAD, PLEASED,

ETC)
I´m glad to see you here.
Nice to meet you.

4. WITH TOO AND ENOUGH

He is too old to drive
She is clever enough to understand

5. After certain verbs

Verbs Examples
Afford I can’t afford to fail the exam.
Agree He agreed to help me.
Appear His health appeared to be better.
Arrange Naomi arranged to stay with her cousin in Miami.
Ask She asked to leave.
Begin The plane began to make its final descent into the airport.
Choose He chose to help his father.
Continue She continued to walk.
Decide Have they decided to move again?
Deserve He deserves to go to jail.
Expect They expect to arrive early.
Hate I hate to watch golf.
Hesitate Don´t hesitate to contact me if you need help.
Hope I hope to begin college this year.
Intend We intend to visit you next spring.
Learn I learnt to speak German when I was a boy.
Like I like to play football.
Love I love to watch golf.
Manage He managed to open the door without a key.
Offer Frank offered to drive us to the airport.
Plan We plan to go to the USA this summer.
Prefer He prefers to eat at 7pm
Prepare They prepared to take the test.
Pretend He pretends not to understand
Promise She promised to stop smoking.
Refuse She refused to tell me.
Seem That man seems to be friendly
Start It started to rain at 4 o´clock.
Struggle I struggled to stay awake.
Swear She swore to tell the truth
Threaten She threatened to tell my parents
Wait There were a lot of people waiting to use the phone
Want I don’t want to go with you
 6. BE LIKELY TO/ USED TO
He is likely to come
I used to work on Saturdays

7. AFTER CERTAIN VERBS FOLLOWED BY AN OBJECT

Verbs Examples
Advise The teacher advised the students to study harder.
Allow My father allowed me to stay out late.
Ask I must ask you to reconsider your statement.
Beg They begged her to stay for another month.
Encourage She encouraged him to keep trying.
Expect They didn’t expect us to win the prize.
Forbid The teacher forbade us to use translators.
Invite We invite you to attend the ceremony.
Order He ordered the group to leave the building.
Prepare He prepared his son to be a scientist.
Remind Please remind him to check the references.
Require They will require you to submit an outline.
Teach We should teach them to follow standard procedures.
Tell Did she tell you to make three copies?
Urge They urged her to apply for the job.
Want I don’t want you to come.
Warn Why didn’t they warn me to turn down the heating?

8. AFTER QUESTION WORDS (WHICH, WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHERE) BUT NOT WHY.
Has she told you where to meet them?

INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO
1. VERB + OBJECT + INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO
Verbs Examples
Let He let me use the dictionary.
Make The boss made me work an extra day.
See I saw him escape.
Watch I watched the woman come out of the house.
Hear I heard him come up the stairs.

REMEMBER: Make, see, watch, hear are followed by to infinitive in the passive.

2. HAD BETTER / WOULD RATHER

You´d better (not) stay at home
I´d rather (not) go out
THE GERUND (V-ING)
 1. AS A NOUN
Smoking is dangerous.
2. AFTER A PREPOSITION
He left without taking his coat.
3. AFTER CERTAIN VERBS AND EXPRESSIONS
Verbs Examples
Admit He admitted cheating on the test.
Advise The scientists advised performing another experiment
Allow We don´t allow smoking in here
Avoid I avoided talking to him.
Be used to I am not used to walking so much.
Begin Jane has just begun learning to drive.
Consider (think about) She considered moving to Paris
Can´t help I couldn´t help laughing.
Can´t stand I can’t stand being late for appointments.
Continue If she continues drinking like this, I´ll have to carry her home.
Deny He denied committing the crime.
Enjoy I enjoy meeting new people.
Fancy I don´t fancy going out.
Feel like I feel like having a shower.
Finish He finished doing his homework.
Get used to It took me years to get used to living in the UK.
Give up He gave up smoking.
Hate I hate watching golf
Have difficulty (in) He has difficulty (in) walking
Imagine Imagine earning that much money!
It´s no good It´s no good trying to change his beliefs.
It’s no use It’s no use trying another method.
be (not) worth The film is worth seeing.
Keep Mary keeps talking about her problems.
Like I like playing football.
Love I love watching golf
Look forward to I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Mention He mentioned going to that college.
Mind Do you mind waiting here?
Miss She misses living near the beach.
Postpone It was an unpopular decision to postpone building the new hospital
Practise She practised singing the song.
Prefer She prefers keeping her personal and professional lives separate.
Put off He keeps putting off going to the dentist
Quit She quit worrying about the problem.
Recall I can´t recall meeting her before.
Recommend Doctors recommend exercising regularly.
Risk He risked being caught.
Spend He spent all day sending e-mails.
There is no point (in) There is no point buying him expensive wines.
Waste He wasted his life writing bad novels.
Start It started raining at 4 o´clock.
Suggest She suggested going to a film.

4. AFTER CERTAIN VERBS FOLLOWED BY AN OBJECT (TO EMPHASIZE AN ACTION IN PROGRESS)

see We saw everybody running away.
hear María heard him coming up the stairs
watch We watched them running back and forth

VERBS FOLLOWED BY A TO-INFINITIVE OR A GERUND WITH A DIFFERENCE IN

MEANING
 To- infinitive -ing form
1 REMEMBER AND FORGET 1 REMEMBER AND FORGET

I must remember to post this letter today. It’s I can remember posting the letter. I posted it
important. on Friday morning.

The clothes are still dirty because I forgot to switch I’ll never forget flying over the Grand Canyon.
on the machine. It was wonderful.

(We use remember/forget to do for necessary (We use remember/forget doing for memories
actions. The remembering is before the action.) of the past. The action is before the
remembering)
2 REGRET 2 REGRET
We regret to inform you that we are not taking on any I regret spending all that money. I’ve got none left.
new staff at present.

(Regret to do something means to be sorry for (Regret doing something means to be sorry
something you are doing, e.g. giving bad news.) because of something that happened in the past.)

3 TRY 3 TRY
I’m trying to run this computer program. I tried clicking on the box, but it doesn’t work.

(Try to do something means to attempt something, to do (Try doing something means to do something
your best.) which might solve a problem).

4 STOP 4 STOP

An old man walking along the road stopped to talk There’s too much noise. Can you all stop
to us. talking ,please?

(Stop to do something means to stop so that you (Stop doing something means to end an action, to
can do it.) finish doing it).

5 MEAN 5 MEAN

I think Nick meant to break that glass. It didn’t look I’m applying for a visa. It means filling in
like an accident. this form.

(Mean to do something is the same as to intend to (Means doing something expresses the idea of one
do it). thing resulting in another).

5 GO ON 5 GO ON
The teacher told everyone to be quiet, but they just
The teacher introduced herself and went on to
went on talking.
explain about the course.
(Go on doing something means to continue doing
(Go on to do something means to do something
it).
else, to do the next thing.
6 NEED 6 NEED
I need to clean my shoes.
My shoes need cleaning.
(This means that I must clean my shoes. I have to clean
(This means that my shoes need to be cleaned)
them).