Remember, Forget, Stop, Try: Gerund vs

Infinitive Exercise
December 21, 2020

The verbs remember, forget, stop & try are the most common verbs
which change their meaning in the gerund (-ing form) and the infinitive (to
form of the verb).

Compare the following sentences:

REMEMBER


o to remember to do something is to not forget something that
needs to be done
o to remember doing something is to have a memory of something
you have done

Example sentence: Remember to take a jacket. Meaning: Don’t forget you

need to take a jacket.
Example sentence: She remembers taking her jacket. Meaning: She has a
memory of taking her jacket (i.e. she remembers the action of picking it up
and putting it on).

FORGET

 to forget to do something is to not remember something that you

needed to do
 to forget doing something is to have no memory of something you have
done

Example sentence: He forgot to do his homework. Meaning: He didn’t do

his homework. He forgot it was necessary.
Example sentence: He forgot going to Spain. Meaning: He has no memory
of going to Spain. He was too young at the time.

STOP


o to stop to do something is to stop for a reason or a purpose
o to stop doing something is to stop an action in general or to stop
an action at a moment in time
Example sentence: He stopped (walking) to talk to me. Meaning: The
reason he stopped was because he wanted to talk to me.
Example sentence: He stopped talking to me. Meaning: He doesn’t talk to
me anymore. / He stopped his conversation with me.

TRY

 try to do something is to make an effort or an attempt to do something

 try doing something is to experiment

Example sentence: Luis tried wakeboarding, surfing, diving and learning

English in Australia. Meaning: Luis experimented with wakeboarding,
surfing, diving and learning English.
Example sentence: Luis became very good at wakeboarding but didn’t really
try to learn English. Meaning: He didn’t make an effort to learn English.

In the following multiple-choice exercise, choose the infinitive or gerund form

of the verb that has the same meaning as the example sentence.