Transcription
Hi everyone! I'm Arnel. Today, let's look at gerunds and infinitives.
Okay, I've organized today's lesson with a Venn diagram. But I like to say "Venn diagrammar." Okay. You can see we have rules for gerunds, and we have rules for infinitives. But right in the middle, we can see two points. Both can start a sentence. Both can come after certain verbs. Let's look at these two points because usually, this is what students find the most confusing.
Basics. I have infinitives, bare infinitives, and gerunds. Infinitive, also called "to infinitive." To plus base verb. To eat, to play, to go, etc. Bare infinitives are also called zero infinitives, same thing. We don't have the "to." Eat, play, go, etc. In today's lesson, we don't need to look at bare infinitives, but I still wanted to show them to you.
Gerunds. Base verb plus "ing." Eating, playing, going, etc. Infinitives are verbs, but gerunds are not verbs. For example, "I am talking to you." "They've been studying really hard." Those are verbs, present continuous, present perfect continuous. Those aren't gerunds. A gerund is not an adjective. "I read an interesting book." "Interesting" is an adjective. So, what is a gerund? A gerund is an "ing" word that looks like a verb, but it functions as a noun. So, we use gerunds in the same way we use nouns. Don't worry, I'll give you lots of examples.
Okay, you can see my chart here. Both the gerund and the infinitive can be the subject of your sentence. But if we are showing purpose or giving instructions, we want that infinitive.
Let's start with gerunds. Okay, if you want your verb to be a subject, it must be a gerund. I'm gonna choose "clean." "Cleaning is hard work." Here, my subject is one word: "cleaning." But oftentimes, gerund subjects are part of longer phrases. "Walking to work every day has really helped my back problem." "Driving without a seat belt is dangerous."
Do gerunds really function as nouns? Let's do a little test. "Motherhood is hard work." "Motherhood" is a noun, it works! "Physical therapy has really helped my back problem." "Poison is dangerous." The test works. You can see in all of these sentences, the infinitive does not work, and it's a common mistake. "To smoke has many negative effects on your health." "Smoking has many negative effects on your health." And you can see when I was writing the script, the editor suggested a gerund.
Okay. So, when, when can the infinitive be a subject? First, infinitive subjects are often very abstract and poetic. "To love is to admire with the heart." "To admire is to love with the mind." Did you get that abstract feeling? And then there's Shakespeare... "To be or not to be, that is the question."
Okay. If we're not talking about art, if we're not talking about Shakespeare and old English, can the infinitive be a subject? If we use an infinitive subject, we're usually talking about goals and achievements. Did you hear? Samantha quit medical school? "To study for so long just to quit seems like a waste." "To become a doctor had always been her dream." "To pass my econometrics class this semester is my only goal." And look at the verbs: "seem," "be." We often use those verbs with infinitive subjects.
What's the difference? Gerund or infinitive? You can see the gerund is also correct. Gerunds are far more common and actually sound more natural. So, we can use infinitive subjects, but be careful, what type of feeling do you want to give the listener or reader.
"To vote, you must be 18." "To win the race, you will need to start training every day." "To make employees feel safer, the company installed security cameras." Uhhh, I'm so confused. Why is the infinitive okay here, but not the gerund? You said the gerund is more common.
Right, this is different. "To vote," "to win," and "to make." These are short for "in order to." We use a phrase "in order to" to show purpose. Why, why we do something. For example, action. "I wear glasses." Why? "In order to see." "I wear glasses in order to see." Or, "I wear glasses to see." And yes, the clauses can be switched around. "You need to be 18 to vote." "You will need to start training every day to win the race." "The company installed security cameras to make the employees feel safer."
What's the difference? "To" or "in order to"? In spoken English, "in order to" isn't really common. Save that for written English. When we're speaking, we just say "to." And when the "to" phrase comes first, we need a comma. But if the "to" phrase comes later, we don't need a comma. "To listen to the message again, press one." "To save the message, press two." "To delete the message, press three."
Okay. We often use "to" at the start of our sentence when we're giving instructions, kind of like what you just heard. Or maybe on a blog or website, you'll see something like this: "To make slime, you will need glue, baking soda, food coloring, and water." Yes, these here are also short for "in order to." But I wanted to make this a little part in this lesson because "to" instructions are very common.
Mini review. If you want a verb to be a subject, use a gerund. "Drinking coffee after 2 pm keeps me up at night." The infinitive can be a subject, but there's a special feeling to it, and it's not so common. "To win is all he wants." We use the infinitive to show purpose. "To make cheesecake, you only need three ingredients."
Are you ready? Let's move on to, after certain verbs. For this part here, we're going to look at five different lists. And these aren't regular grammar lists, quite the opposite. There are five special grammar lists. If you learn these lists, you will be an English master.
Okay. Here are the lists. You might think, "Oh my god, there's so much information!" But the rules are pretty simple. And I'll put these lists in the description down below for you, you can just copy them. We can get through lists one through four pretty quickly. We need to spend more time on list number five.
List one. These verbs here are always followed by the gerund. Let's choose "avoid." Definition: To stay away from someone or something because you don't like it, or it's dangerous. "I avoid sitting in the sun, it hurts my eyes." "You should avoid staring at a screen for too long." Let's try another one, "involve." Definition: Requires, this is necessary. "Learning a language involves studying a little bit every day." Double gerund! My subject is a gerund, and I have a gerund after "involves." So, these verbs are always followed by a gerund. Don't forget, because a gerund functions as a noun, yes, these verbs can also be followed by a noun.
Let's move on to list two. These verbs are always followed by the infinitive. I'm gonna choose "manage." Definition: To successfully complete a difficult task. "I finally managed to find a babysitter for Friday night." Let's do "refuse." Definition: To say no, I will not do this. "My son refuses to eat vegetables."
List three. Verbs followed by an object then the infinitive. "Ask." I saw "ask" in list two. See, "ask" is in list two! "I asked to see the menu." "I asked my friend to help me." "Ask" can be used in both ways. In the first sentence, I'm doing the seeing. In the second example, my friend is doing the helping. So, when it comes to grammar rules, it's important to have a bit of flexibility. Let's try "remind." Definition: To help someone remember. "Please remind me to call Mom later and say happy birthday."
List number four. These verbs here can be followed by either the gerund or the infinitive, and there's really no difference in meaning. Let's try "can't stand." Definition: To hate. "I can't stand seeing you sad." "I can't stand to see you sad." "Start." "The two drivers started shouting at each other." "The two drivers started to shout at each other." Same thing.
Okay. Last list. Let's look at list number five in a bit more detail. We'll do each one, starting with "remember."
"Remember," plus gerund. I have the memory of a past experience or action. "I remember learning how to swim with arm floaties." "Did you see anything suspicious last night around 10 pm?" Um. "I remember seeing a man carrying a large suitcase, but nothing looked suspicious."
"Plus infinitive." Oh! "I can't forget to do this, please remember to cancel your dental appointment." "Don't forget, all students must remember to bring their passports with them." Don't forget. We can use "remember" plus infinitive to talk about the past as well, but it's not a memory. It's something we didn't forget to do. "I'm so happy you remembered to turn off the stove."
Answer these two questions to compare: What's something you remember doing as a child? What's something you need to remember to do later? Double infinitive. "Need" needs an infinitive. "Remember" needs an infinitive in this case. Double infinitive.
"Forget." It's just the opposite of "remember." Plus gerund. "I don't have the memory of a past experience or action." "Look how cute you were when you were little." "Oh, I will never forget playing with Addie, she was my best friend."
Plus infinitive. "Oops, I didn't remember to do this task..." Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! "Why do you always forget to take out the trash?" "Oh man, I forgot to get gas."
What's something you will never forget doing? What's something you always forget to do?
"Try," plus gerund. You do different things to find the best solution, you experiment. "I can't sleep at night." "Have you tried meditating?" Yes. "Have you tried drinking herbal tea?" Yes. "Have you tried listening to classical music?" Yes, yes, yes, yes! Hmm, you're so cranky. You should try sleeping more. We often use "try," plus gerund, when our previous ideas did not work.
Plus infinitive. With the infinitive, there's a difference between the present future and the past. In the present future, I will attempt this action, but I think it will be difficult. "Okay, everyone can do yoga. It's easy!" First pose. "I can try to do that..." Next. "Huh, I can try to do that one." Next.... "I think she's trying to kill me." Present continuous here, "to" plus infinitive, after "try."
In the past. "I tried, but it wasn't successful." "I tried to get tickets for the seven o'clock show, but they were sold out." If someone thinks learning grammar is boring, what should they try doing? What's something you tried to do, what something ambitious you tried to do, but failed?
"Stop," plus gerund. Don't do this anymore. "Can you please stop chewing your gum so loudly." Don't do this anymore. "I stopped going to my French class. I don't go anymore."
Plus infinitive. I stopped one action because I wanted to do another action. Maybe the first action will continue, maybe it won't. The context will tell us. "I ran almost one full hour. But I did stop to take pictures of some ducklings." "The car stopped to let the ambulance pass."
What's something you wish you could stop doing? And when you're working or studying, how often do you stop to take a break?
"Regret," plus gerund. Why did I do this in the past? I feel guilty. "I regret not spending more time with my grandma when she was alive." "I regret eating all of those donuts, I feel sick."
Plus infinitive. This is very formal. "I'm sorry, I need to give you bad news." "We regret to inform you that your application has been rejected." "I regret to announce Fiona's decision to leave our company."
What do you regret doing in the past? Or what do you regret not doing? Okay. It's hard to come up with a question with the second "regret" form, "regret" infinitive, because it's so formal. Usually, we don't use it in the negative, or in a question. So, different activity. Complete her sentence, what is she saying?
Five lists done! Unfortunately, there is no easy way to learn these lists. One thing you can do is you can write example sentences, personal example sentences. You can even write them in the comments below. So, I hope this lesson was helpful, and I can't wait to make another video for you. Thank you. Bye!!!