Blogs

Gerund v. Infinitives part 1 - remember and forget - Teacher Stumpers

Gerund v. Infinitives part 1 - remember and forget - Teacher Stumpers
Monday, 15 December 2008 13:50
Written by Neal Chambers

When do I use gerunds and when do I use infinitives?

This is a very difficult topic that many people have written about. When do you use a gerund or an infinitive? First, let's define what gerunds and infinitives are:

Gerund (AKA ~ing form) is the ~ing conjugation of a verb. e.g. like : liking, fish : fishing, etc...

Infinitive (AKA to-infinitive, base or dictionary form) is the form of the verb as it is found in the dictionary with 'to' added to the front. e.g. like : to like, fish : to fish, etc..

These two forms of verbs are used in several ways in the English language. Today, we want to talk about the following structure:

Subject + verb + (gerund/infinitive) - I like (fishing/to fish)

Let's look at remember and forget. These are very often confused.

Remember + to-infinitive = thinking about the future at the time you remembered:
I remembered to lock the door. (I wanted to lock the door and I did. I remembered.)

Remember + gerund = thinking about the past at the time you are remembering:
I remember walking to school in the snow. (now, I'm remembering that time. The time I was walking to school in the snow.)

Forget is very similar:

Forget + to-infinitive = forgetting a future action. Thinking about a future action (at the time of forgetting).
I forgot to lock the door. (In the past, I forgot. I forgot an action. That action was locking the door.)

Forget + gerund = thinking about the past at the time you are forgeting:
I forgot locking the door. (I locked the door. After locking the door, I forgot about the action.)

Please click on read more to view a graphic explaining forget and remember.

You can also watch the video.

Please look at the following drawing:

teacherstumpersforgetrememb

Thanks for stopping by. If you have an idea for a Teacher's Stumpers we would like to hear from you. Please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your ideas.
Also, you can follow me, Neal Chambers on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

And please support the community by adding your thoughts in the comments below.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this