Gerunds and infinitives

Edith Xanat Jaramillo Maya

301
 GERUNDS
In English, the gerund is identical in form to
the present participle (ending in -ing) and can
behave as a verb within a clause (so that it
may be modified by an adverb or have an
object), but the clause as a whole (sometimes
consisting of only one word, the gerund itself)
acts as a noun within the larger sentence.
Some use "gerund" to refer to all nouns
ending in -ing, but in more careful use, not all
nouns ending in -ing are gerunds.[1] The
formal distinction is that a gerund is a verbal
noun – a noun derived from a verb that
retains verb characteristics, that functions
simultaneously as a noun and a verb, while
other nouns ending in -ing are deverbal
nouns, which function as common nouns, not
as verbs at all. Compare
Double nature of the gerund
As the result of its origin and development
the gerund has nominal and verbal
properties. The nominal characteristics of the
gerund are as follows:
The gerund can perform the function of
subject, object and predicative:
Smoking endangers your health. (subject)
I like making people happy. (object)
The gerund can be preceded by a preposition:
I'm tired of arguing.
Like a noun the gerund can be modified by a
noun in the possessive case, a possessive
adjective, or an adjective:
I wonder at John's keeping calm.
Is there any objection to my seeing her?
Brisk walking relieves stress
 INFINITIVE

English language has three non-finite verbal

forms, but by long-standing convention, the
term "infinitive" is applied to only one of
these. (The other two are the past- and
present-participle forms, where the present-
participle form is also the gerund form.) In
English, a verb's infinitive is its unmarked
form, such as be, do, have, or sit, often
introduced by the particle to.
 The infinitive with auxiliary verbs
The auxiliary verb do does not have an infinitive —
even though do is also a main verb and in that sense is
often used in the infinitive. One does not say *I asked
to do not have to, but rather, either I asked not to have
to or I asked to not have to (but see split infinitive).
Similarly, one cannot emphasize an infinitive using do;
one cannot say, "I hear him do say it all the time."
Nonetheless, the auxiliary verbs have (used to form
the perfect) and be (used to form the passive voice and
continuous aspect) both commonly appear in the
infinitive: "It's thought to have been a ceremonial
site", or "I want to be doing it already."