1.
Definition of
Gerund and Infinitive
A gerund is a
noun made from a verb by adding "-ing." The gerund form of the verb
"read" is "reading." You can use a gerund as the subject,
the complement, or the object of a sentence.
Infinitives are
the "to" form of the verb. The infinitive form of "learn"
is "to learn." You can also use an infinitive as the subject, the
complement, or the object of a sentence.
2.
Form of Gerund
a.
As the subject
Examples:
Reading helps you learn English.
Crossing the desert is very tiresome
Smoking is bad for for your health
Running is good for our health
b.
As the object
Examples:
I enjoy reading.
He loves hunting
They finished speaking
c.
As the
complement
Examples:
Her favorite hobby is reading. complement of sentence
Her chief delight is swimming in the river
My favorite past-time is singing
One of the worst habits is telling lies
d.
Gerunds can be
made negative by adding "not."
Examples:
He enjoys not working.
The best thing for your health is not smoking.
3.
Form of Infinitive
a.
As the Subject
Examples:
To learn is important.
To swim is good exercise
To say is easy but to do is difficult.
To learn english grammer is not easy.
To pray is our duty.
b.
As the Object
Examples:
They advise me to wait in the park
(objective complement)
They forgot to tell me about the
exam (object to a verb)
She is about to
go abroad (object to a preposition)
c.
As the
complement
Examples:
The most important thing is to learn.
I fail to see
what you mean.
He appears to
be a wise man.
I promised to
meet him in the post office.
This reports
proved to be false.
d.
Infinitives can
be made negative by adding "not."
Examples:
I decided not to go.
The most important thing is not to give up.
4.
Both gerunds
and infinitives can be used as the subject or the complement of a sentence.
However, as subjects or complements, gerunds usually sound more like normal,
spoken English, whereas infinitives sound more abstract. In the following
sentences, gerunds sound more natural and would be more common in everyday
English. Infinitives emphasize the possibility or potential for something and
sound more philosophical. If this sounds confusing, just remember that 90% of
the time, you will use a gerund as the subject or complement of a sentence.
Examples:
Learning
is important. normal subject
To
learn is important. abstract subject - less common
The
most important thing is learning. normal complement
The most important thing is to learn. abstract complement - less
common
5.
As the object
of a sentence, it is more difficult to choose between a gerund or an
infinitive. In such situations, gerunds and infinitives are not normally
interchangeable. Usually, the main verb in the sentence determines whether you
use a gerund or an infinitive.
Examples:
He enjoys swimming. "Enjoy" requires a gerund.
He wants to swim. "Want" requires an infinitive.
Some verbs are followed by gerunds as objects. List of Verbs
Followed by Gerunds
Examples:
She suggested going to a movie.
Mary keeps talking about her problems.
Some verbs are followed by infinitives. List of Verbs Followed by
Infinitives
Examples:
She wants to go to a movie.
Mary needs to talk about her problems.
6.
Gerund and infinitives can follow certain verbs but
not others. You need to remember which verbs can be followed by only a gerund
or only an infinitive.
|
|
Over, decide, hope, attempt, promise,
agree, afford, deserve, refuse, undertake,
learn, fail, seem, appear, tend,
pretend, choose, demand, desire, guarantee,
claim, manage, determine,
expect, want, wish.
|
|
Example:
I stopped watching the movie. (I no longer
watched the movie).
I stopped
watching the movie. (I stopped what I was doing to watch the movie).
7.
Examples in the
paragraph
Learning to speak a
foreign language requires mastering new sound and sound combination. Writing,
on the other hand, is concerned with symbolizing those sounds. The
student who wishes to learn to write must first learn to spell word in the
tradisional manner. That is not easy if the language he is learning is English
because many of the sound s of English are represented by more than one symbol,
and many of the symbols represent more than one sound. English spelling
is not entirely without pattern, however. A student’s becoming concious of the
sound symbols correlates, which do exist in the language is the first step
toward his overcoming his spelling difficulties. Memorizing
the spelling rules that apply to word-form changes, and frequenly reffering
to a dictionary are other recommended procedures.
It is sometimes difficult for a teacher to persuade a
student to work hard enough to pass. Most foreign student who come to
America want to succeed and they try to understand their
assignment and do their work well. Unfortunately, many of them file to
realize their language handicap. They do not like to study language,
they prefer to spend their time on other things. Consequenly, they allow
themselves to believe that they will learn by listening and they pretend
to understand when they do not. They need to practice sentence
patterns and their English teachers advise them to, but teachers can’t force
students to practice.
8.
Excercise
1.
I hope
............. (graduated) from college next june
2.
The models
practiced .............. (walk) with a book balanced on their head
3.
Mandy has
promised ............... (take) care of our dog while we are on vacation
4.
Mr. Edward
chose ................ (accept) the management position in chicago rather than
the position in miami
5.
I don’t know
what she wants ............ (do) tonight, why don’t you ask her?
6.
Frank offered
..............(help) us point the house
7.
Sandra decided
............ (study) economics in london
8.
Witnesses
reported ............ (see) the bank robber as he was climbing out of the
second story window.
9.
Stephanie
dislikes .............. (work) in front of a computer all day
10.
Mrs Naido
appears ............. (be) the most qualified person for the job
11.
I demand
................. (talk) to the manager of the hotel immediately
12.
Eliza
recommended ............. (eat) in a dim sum restaurant while were in Hongkong
13.
This broken
bicycle need ........... (fix) before someone can ride it
14.
She refused
............. (speak) to me after our fight
15.
Don’t hesitate
............. (ask) for help if you don’t understand the direction
No comments:
Post a Comment