Infinitives vs. Gerunds

Article excerpt · target grammar marked

The stories we keep telling ourselves about who we were at seven or twelve turn out to shape who we decide to become at thirty. McAdams found that people tend to remember moments involving strong emotion far more vividly.

Grammar Reference · Infinitives vs. Gerunds

Verbs + infinitive

Use to + base form after: decide, manage, tend, choose, encourage, urge. She decided to revisit the memory.

Verbs + gerund

Use -ing after: avoid, suggest, enjoy, admit, keep, regret (past). He avoided speaking about the episode.

Meaning shifts

Stop, remember, regret, try change meaning with each form. She stopped to think (paused) vs. stopped thinking (quit).

Common error

She suggested to talk. ✗ → She suggested talking. ✓ — suggest, avoid, enjoy never take infinitives.

01Exercise 1 — Form · Write the Correct Form

Infinitives vs. Gerunds

1.McAdams urged his students the emotional tone of early memories, not just their content.

2.She always avoided about the afternoon her teacher humiliated her in class.

3.He decided the memory from a completely different angle after the session.

4.Most people enjoy their happiest childhood moments with people they trust.

5.The brain cannot help a memory slightly each time it reconstructs it.

6.After years of silence, she finally admitted deeply hurt by the episode.

02Exercise 2 — Find and Correct the Error

find the error · rewrite the sentence

1.She suggested to write down her three strongest childhood memories before the next session.

2.Most people tend avoiding the memories that carry the most emotional weight.

3.He stopped to think about the memory and found it no longer caused him pain.

4.The researcher managed identifying over two hundred nuclear episodes across the study group.

5.She remembered to feel proud of herself for the very first time on that afternoon.

6.After the workshop, several participants admitted to feel moved by their own stories.

7.The brain keeps to reconstruct memories each time a person recalls them.

8.He chose ignoring the difficult episode rather than confronting what it meant.

03Exercise 3 — About You

in your notebook

Personalise: complete five sentences about yourself using the target grammar.

Infinitives vs. Gerunds01classplan.ai