·What comes after the verb
Gerund, infinitive and verb patterns. In Spanish you almost always use the infinitive after another verb: quiero ir, disfruto viajar, although that last one already sounds odd. In English, each verb chooses what it wants after it: ing, to plus infinitive, or both with a different meaning. We will look at verbs that take ing, those that take to, those that change meaning and prepositions, which always take ing. The rules are AptisBot's own reading.
1/4Verbs followed by -ing
Some verbs require ing after them, and it is worth learning them as a group. Liking and disliking: enjoy, mind, like, love, hate. Avoiding and delaying: avoid, postpone, delay. Finishing and continuing: finish, keep, give up. Admitting and denying: admit, deny, suggest, recommend. And imagining and risking: imagine, risk, consider. I enjoy swimming. She avoided answering. We finished working at six. The typical mistake for Spanish speakers is to use the infinitive: I enjoy to swim is not correct. And with mind, the question is do you mind opening the window?
2/4Verbs followed by to
Other verbs require to plus infinitive. Wanting and deciding: want, would like, decide, choose. Planning and hoping: plan, hope, expect, wait. Being able and succeeding: manage, afford, be able. And refusing and promising: refuse, promise, offer, agree. I want to learn Italian. They decided to move. She managed to finish on time. And with a person after the verb, the pattern changes: want, ask, tell, expect and advise take person plus to plus infinitive. I want you to come. She told him to wait. The typical mistake is I want that you come, which is a word-for-word copy of the Spanish.
3/4Stop, remember, forget, try and regret
Five verbs accept both forms, but the meaning changes. Stop plus ing: you quit doing something. He stopped smoking. Stop plus to: you pause in order to do it. He stopped to smoke. Remember plus ing: you recall something you did. I remember locking the door. Remember plus to: you remember to do it. I remembered to lock the door. Forget works the same way. Try plus ing: you experiment to see what happens. Try restarting the computer. Try plus to: you make an effort to achieve it. I tried to open it, but it was stuck. And regret plus ing expresses sorrow about something done; regret plus to is a formal announcement: we regret to inform you.
4/4Preposition + -ing
After a preposition, the verb is always in ing. It is the safest rule of all. I'm interested in learning Chinese. She's good at singing. Thank you for helping me. Before leaving, call me. Instead of complaining, do something. And be careful with to: sometimes it is part of the infinitive and sometimes it is a preposition. Look forward to, be used to and object to have to as a preposition, and that is why they take ing: I look forward to seeing you, not I look forward to see you. It is the most repeated mistake. If you can put a noun after to, it is a preposition.
·Practice
For practice, write six sentences of your own. Two with a verb followed by ing, like enjoy or avoid. Two with a verb followed by to, like decide or manage. And two with stop, remember or try in their two meanings. Then, for each verb, ask yourself what comes after it, and if there is a preposition, check that the verb is in ing.