GERUND / INFINITIVE

Decide whether the group of verbs below belongs to gerund, infinitive or both.
_______________ ______________ _______________

begin start admit give up afford hope

bother forget avoid include agree manage
can’t bear go on carry on keep on appear pretend
can’t stand like consider practice arrange promise
continue mean deny recommend decide refuse
hate remember face risk expect seem
love stop feel like suggest fail volunteer
prefer try finish take up happen wait
help
These verbs are followed by gerunds and to infinitive if they are followed by an object. Classify these
verbs into the correct column.
advise choose help order send
allow encourage hire overhear teach
ask feel inspire persuade tell
authorise force invite pick want
beg find need remind watch
catch hear notice see warn

Verbs + gerunds

Verbs + to infinitive

Complete the sentences with the correctform of these pairs of verbs.

ask/help catch/solve encourage/learn feel/blow

force/read let/rest overhear/say advise/do

1. If you really want to relax your mind, I ............................... you ............................... yoga.
2. She ............................... me ............................... her with the crossword because she couldn’t finish it on
her own.
3. At primary school, when we were tired, they ............................... us ............................. our heads on the
desk.
4. I don’t mean to be rude, but did I ............................. you ............................. you used to be a grand
master at chess?
5. Last week the teacher ............................. me ............................. a sudoku puzzle instead of a maths
question.
6. When you ............................. students ............................. a novel, sometimes they end up hating
literature.
7. Being ny the sea is so relaxing, especially when you ............................. the sea
breeze ............................. on your face.
8. Our school ............................. us ............................. at least one foreign language, but it’s not
compulsory.

Complete the text with the correct form of the verb in brackets (-ing or to-infinitive).
Scientists recently carried out an experiment where they made women imagine the process of eating their
favourite food. They expected the women (1) ________________ (imagine) eating sweets and chocolate,
but many favoured savoury alternatives. The women ‘ate’ their favourite food for twenty minutes and were
then offered the real thing. 60% of the women refused (2) ________________ (eat) the food offered to
them and requested alternative options. 30% didn’t feel like (3) ________________ (consume) anything
and 10% managed (4) ________________ (snack on) the same food they had imagined in life form.
Scientists suggest (5) ________________ (use) these techniques to help cut obesity in adults and children.

A recent investigation into the human brain found that those struggling (6) _________(solve) a puzzle or
problem should give up (7) _________(stare) at the page and should watch or read something funny or
uplifting. Researchers suggest (8) _________(watch) a comedy sketch or a film that people know will
bring a smile to their face.
They claim you should avoid (9) _________ (spend) time watching horror films or TV programmes with
sad scenes, as by feeding your negative emotions, you risk (10) _________ (lose) inspiration. They
promise that by considering this advice, you will gain additional insight and be able to find solutions to
your puzzles or problems more quickly.

Find and correct the mistakes in the sentences. There is one mistake in each sentence.
1. A substitute teacher was hired her to stay for one week to replace a teacher that was off sick.
2. The doctor persuaded his patient taking the prescribed medicine.
3. As it was raining, the teachers let stay their pupils inside at break time.
4. As she waited outside the office, she heard the client to complain about the service he had received.
5. The teacher caught the student look up the answers in the back of the book.
6. If I give him a gold star when he is good, it encourages to behave better.
7. My master’s programme has taught me planning before I write an assignment.
8. Unfortunately, they caught him to cheat in the exam and so he was suspended from school.
9. As part of her recovery programme, the doctor asked to read her at least one book a week.
10. Last month, after watching a programme on TV, my grandfather was inspired him to climb Mount
Everest.