Gerunds and Infinitives

The GERUND is used in the following cases:
- As
Subject: Reading in the car makes me feel sick.
Object: I find shopping for clothes really boring.
Complement of a clause or sentence: My favourite sport is swimming.
- After prepositions.
I'm not very good at making things.
NB: to is a preposition in the following verbs: look forward to; get used to.
- After certain verbs
Charles suggested going for a picnic.


The INFINITIVE with TO is used:
- To express purpose
I'm learning English to help me get a better job.
- After many adjectives: surprised, delighted, disappointed, easy, happy, important, lucky, necessary, normal, possible.
I was surprised to hear he had failed the exam.
- After certain verbs.
He offered to give her a lift, but she decided to go by train instead.

Gerunds and infinitive after verbs:
- Verb + gerund
The following verbs are normally followed by the gerund.
Certain verbs expressing likes and dislikes: adore, detest, dislike, enjoy, don't mind, can't stand.
Other verbs: admit, avoid, can't help, consider, delay, deny, feel like, forgive, give up, imagine, involve, keep, mind, miss, postpone, put off, practise, prevent, resist, risk, suggest.
- Verb + infinitive with to
The following verbs are normally followed by the infinitive with to: afford, agree, appear, arrange, ask, attempt, choose, decide, deserve, expect, help, hesiate, hope, learn, manage, offer, prepare, pretend, refuse, seem.
The infinitive with to is also used after: would like, would love, would hate, would prefer.
- Verb + gerund or infinitive
Like, love, hate and prefer are usually followed by the gerund. However, the infinitive is also possible with little, if any, difference in meaning.
Begin, start, continue and intend can be followed by gerund or infinitive with no change in meaning.
Forget, remember, go on, mean, need, regret, stop and try can be followed by the gerund or the infinitive; but with a change in meaning.
* remeber/forget + gerund: (not) to recall a previous action
   remeber/forget + infinitive: (not) to remember what you have to do
* go on + gerund: to continue with the same activity
   go on + infinitive: to change to a different activity
* mean + gerund: to involve
   mean + infinitive: to intend
* need + gerund (passive meaning)
   need + infinitive (active meaning)
* regret + gerund: to be sorry for a previous action
   regret + infinitive: to be sorry for what you are going to say
* stop + gerund: to stop an activity you are doing
   stop + infinitive: to stop doing one thing in order to do another
* try + gerund: to experiment in order to see what will happen
   try + infinitive: to make an effort; to attempt to do something.