gerunds and infinitives

In addition to simple gerund and infinitive forms, there are continuous gerund and infinitive forms, passive gerund and infinitive forms and perfect gerund and infinitive forms as well as combinations of these forms. This article explains these different forms in more detail.

1. We use a passive gerund (being done) or a passive infinitive (to be done) to describe actions which are done to the subject.

2. We use a perfect gerund (having done) or a perfect infinitive (to have done) if we want to emphasise that an action is completed or in the past.
3. Often there is no difference between using a simple gerund or infinitive and a perfect gerund or infinitive, e.g.
4. He denied stealing / having stolen the money.
5. It was our fault. We were silly not to lock / not to have locked the car.

3. We use the perfect infinitive after would like, would love, would hate, would prefer, and would rather to talk about an earlier action.
4. Compare:
5. I would like to see the Eiffel Tower = when I go to Paris in the future.
6. I would like to have seen the Eiffel Tower = I was in Paris, but I didn’t see it.

4. We use a continuous infinitive (to be + verb + -ing) to say that an action / event is in progress around the time we are talking about.

1. We use the gerund after certain expressions with it or there, e.g. It’s no use, There’s no point, It’s not worth, etc.

We use the infinitive with to:

2. after nouns formed from verbs which take the infinitive, e.g. agree, plan, hope, etc.

3. after expressions with quantifiers, e.g. enough, too much, a lot, plenty of, etc.

• When we want to refer to the subject of the infinitive verb we use for + person or object pronoun before the infinitive. This can be used before any infinitive structure, e.g. after adjectives:
• It’s very difficult for me to decide.

4. after something, anywhere, etc.

5. after question words (except why).

6. after superlatives and first, second, last,) etc, e.g. Who was the first person to walk on the moon?