Tips to Master Gerunds and Infinitives 3
Last week, we learned that we can use the gerund as a subject or as a complement in a sentence. We also looked at how we normally use the gerund after the verbs “miss, mind and practice”.
This week we’re going to learn how the meaning of a sentence changes when we use a gerund or an infinitive after some verbs. Let’s start with these examples:
- "I remember locking the door."
- "I remembered to lock the door."
These sentences have different meanings. So, what’s the difference between remember + gerund and remember + infinitive? Let’s find out.
Remember + Gerund
When we use the gerund after 'remember', we’re looking back in the past. Let’s look at this in context to understand it better.
Suppose my roommate says to me:
- Alex: "The door wasn't locked when I came back home today! Why did you leave it open?"
- Me: "That's strange because I remember locking it."
- (I remember that I locked the door. I have a memory of it that I'm playing in my head.)
Remember + Infinitive
When we use the infinitive after 'remember', we’re looking into the future. Let’s look at this in context again:
- Me: "That's strange because I remember locking it."
- Alex: "I guess you forgot. Can you please remember to lock it next time?"
Tip: when we ask someone to remember to do something, we use the infinitive. For example:
- "Remember to call your mom!"
Let’s look at some more examples of remember + gerund:
- "I still remember buying my first bike."
- "She remembers being shy when she was younger."
- "I remember telling you this before."
- "How did she get into the house? I don’t remember giving her a key!"
And here are some more examples of remember + infinitive:
- "I hope she remembers to buy coffee."
- "If you see them, remember to say hello from me."
- "Thank you for remembering to bring my passport!"
- "It’s a good thing we remembered to bring the tickets."
We use the gerund after the verbs keep, finish and imagine.
1. keep + gerund
- "She keeps losing her keys."
- "I hate that they keep telling me what to do."
- "If you keep practicing, you'll get better."
2. finish + gerund
- "Did you finish reading the book?"
- "I'm waiting for them to finish eating."
- "Call me when you finish working."
3. imagine + gerund
- "She can't imagine working anywhere else."
- "He can't imagine living with them."
- "Can you imagine traveling for a year?"
We use the infinitive after the verbs refuse, hesitate, and pretend.
1. refuse + infinitive
- "She refused to answer any of my questions."
- "They refused to let him stay in the country."
- "He keeps refusing to help her."
2. hesitate + infinitive
- "They hesitated to tell him what happened."
- "Don't hesitate to call me if you need me."
- "She hesitated to take the job at the company."
3. pretend + infinitive
- "They pretend to understand, but they don't."
- "He knows nothing but he pretends to know everything."
- "She's pretending to be asleep."
5 septembre 2018
