Verb Patterns

VERB + -ING VERB + TO INFINITIVE VERB ++ TO INFINITIVE

admit afford ask*
adore agree beg*
appreciate appear cause
avoid arrange dare*
burst out (laughing or crying) ask* encourage
can’t bear attempt expect*
can’t help beg* force
can’t stand begin help*
complete dare* inspire
consider decide intend*
contemplate expect* invite
delay fail leave
deny happen oblige
escape help* order
excuse hesitate persuade
face hope remind
feel like intend* request
finish learn teach
give up manage tell
imagine offer trust
involve prepare want*
justify pretend warn
keep promise wish*
look forward to refuse would like*
mention seem would love*
mind / don’t mind start would prefer*
miss swear would hate*
postpone / put off want*
practise wish
quit would hate*
resent would like*
resist would love*
risk would prefer*
spend/waste (+time)
suggest
understand
would mind

WE USE GERUND WE USE TO INFINITIVE VERB + TO INFINITIVE

 After prepositions.  After be + adjective dare
I drank a cup of coffee before It’s difficult to get up early. had better
leaving.  To show purpose let (+)
 As the subject or object I came to London to study.
make (+)
of a sentence.  After quantifiers (too,
Swimming is a good exercise. enough, a lot, plenty of…)
would rather (not)
 After certain expressions She isn’t too old to get married.
 After nouns from verbs WE USE TO INFINITIVE
with it or there:
-It’s worth followed by infinitive.  After modal verbs.
-It’s no good Our plan is to live on Saturday. I can meet you at six o’clock.
-It’s no use  After no one, nothing,  After verbs of perception
-There’s no point in
nowhere, something… (see watch, hear, notice, feel,
 After certain expressions: I’ve got nowhere to go sense…)
-Have difficulty/trouble/problems I watched her wlk away.
-Have + adj. + time  After question words
-Have fun (except why)  After why (not).
-A waste of money/time I don’t know where to go. Why pay more at other shops?
-Be busy  After superlatives and  After and, except, but,
-Go swimming, go shopping…
first, second, last… than, as, like.
He’s the youngest player ever to I’d like to lie down and go to sleep.
play for England.
Verb patterns with different meanings

Verb + gerund + to infinitive

Forget For something you should do / have
For an event or situation in the past.
Remember I’ll never forget riding my first bike. done.
Don’t forget to lock the back door.
Continue an activity Change of activity
Go on She stopped talking about her illnesses and
They stopped, but we went on walking.
went on to tell us about all her other problems.
Regret Feel sorry about sth. you did / didn’t do. Say sorry, particularly in formal letters.
I regret not studying harder at school. We regret to inform you...
Stop Finish an action definitely. Finish an action in order to do sth. else.
I stopped running. We’ve just stopped to take a break.
Try Do sth. as an experiment. Making an effort to do sth. difficult.
Try turning it off and on again. I tried to change the wheel.
Necessarily or usually entail or involve. Intend (something) or be the case.
Mean If you want to pass the exam it will mean
It was meant to be a secret.
studying hard.

Verb + gerund + to infinitive

Hate To talk about choices and habits. The
Like To talk about enjoyment. speaker doesn’t necessarily enjoy the
We like inviting friends to dinner at the weekend. action.
Love (=We enjoy this) I like to save a little bit of money every month.
Prefer (=It’s a good habit or I choose to do it)

Verb + gerund + to infinitive

Help is followed by infinitive with or
But we use CAN’T HELP + GERUND.
Help I couldn’t help laughing. without to.
(=I couldn’t avoid doing it) Everybody helped (to) clean up.
Everybody helped her (to) clean up.
We use to infinitive when it is necessary
We use gerund when sth. needs to be for me to do it.
Need done (the meaning is passive). I need to drink some water.
This room needs cleaning. (=physical necessity)
(=someone should clean it) I need to do the shopping today.
(=it is necessary for me)
We use BE/GET USED TO + GERUND (to is We use USED TO + INFINITIVE (to is a part
a preposition not a part of infinitive) when sth. of infinitive) when I did sth. regularly in
Used
is not new or strange for me. the past but no longer do it.
I am used to driving on the left. We used to live in a small village.

Verb + gerund + + to infinitive

Advise
Allow In active clauses, we use an –ing form If there is an object, we use an
Forbid if there is no object. infinitive.
The teacher has forbidden running in the The teacher has forbidden children to run in the
Permit corridor. corridor.
Recommend

Verb + + gerund + + to infinitive

Sense verbs
See One pay attention to events or actions
Look that are already going on (in progress)
Hear I saw her playing football Refer to complete action or event.
Sound (=When I saw her she was playing. We assume I saw her play football.
Feel that the speaker did not watch the whole game. =(I saw the whole game of football)
Taste The game probably continued after the speaker
Watch stopped watching)
Smell