Unit 1

✏️ Grammar

Gerund or Infinitive

3/6

📖 Gerund or Infinitive?

🔹 Gerund (-ing form)

Used as a noun: Subject or object of a sentence.

✅ Swimming is good for health. ✅ I enjoy reading books.

🔹 Infinitive (to + verb)

Used to express purpose or after certain verbs.

✅ I want to learn English. ✅ She came to help us.

📊 Rules

Use GERUND after:

enjoy, love, hate, like, dislike
finish, stop, avoid, mind
admit, deny, imagine
prepositions (interested in, good at)

✅ "I enjoy reading novels."

Use INFINITIVE after:

want, need, hope, expect
plan, decide, refuse, offer
promise, agree, learn
adjectives (happy to, sad to)

✅ "I want to read this book."

🇲🇦 الفعل مع -ing أو to + فعل: قواعد الاستخدام

✏️ Practice

Choose the correct form

Choose the correct form (Gerund or Infinitive):

1. I enjoy books.

2. She wants French.

3. He is interested in .

4. They decided at home.

📌 Quick Reference

Gerund (-ing):

enjoy, love, hate
finish, stop, avoid
after prepositions

Infinitive (to + verb):

want, need, hope
plan, decide, promise
to express purpose

MathMaroc · Learning guide

Gerund and infinitive: learn patterns in context

Original practice material · explained answers · no official-exam attribution

Understand the rule

A gerund is the -ing form used in a noun-like role; an infinitive often appears as to + base verb. Enjoy, avoid, finish and suggest commonly take a gerund. Want, decide, hope and plan commonly take a to-infinitive. After a preposition, use an -ing form: interested in learning. After a modal, use the bare infinitive: can learn. Some verbs accept both forms; sometimes meaning changes. Stop talking means end the activity, while stop to talk means interrupt another activity in order to talk.

Follow a method

Identify the preceding verb or preposition. Use its pattern instead of translating word for word from French or Arabic. Learn short examples as units. For verbs with two patterns, check whether the choice changes the meaning. Keep negation in the appropriate position.

Worked example

I enjoy reading. I decided to read. I am interested in reading. I can read. She stopped writing to answer the phone: writing ended temporarily and answering was the purpose of stopping.

Practise and explain your answer

01Complete: They avoid ___ (waste) water.

wasting — avoid + gerund.

02Complete: We hope ___ (visit) the exhibition.

to visit — hope + to-infinitive.

03Complete: He is good at ___ (explain) ideas.

explaining — after at, use the -ing form.

04Explain: I stopped to drink some water.

I interrupted another activity in order to drink.

05Correct: She suggested to start early.

She suggested starting early; or She suggested that we start early.