10 common verbs followed by gerunds

Hey, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking. Welcome to this lesson on common verbs followed

by gerunds. Most of you know, if you're watching this video, some verbs in English are only

followed by an infinitive, which is 'to' plus verb, or a gerund, which is verb plus '-ing'.

Again, a gerund is actually a noun. Here we go.

We have common verbs followed by gerunds, starting with 'avoid'. We have: "I tried

to avoid arguing." We don't say, "I tried to avoid to argue", we say, "avoid arguing".

Remember that one.

'Finish': 'Finish' means to complete. If you complete something, you complete doing something.

"I finished reading it." "I finished reading the book." Not, "I finished to read it." I

completed it. I'm done. "I finished reading it."

Next: 'Be worth'. If you want more of an explanation of the word 'worth', you can check out my

lesson on that. However, if you want to use a gerund or infinitive after 'worth', you

should be using a gerund. For example: "It's worth seeing." If you're talking about a movie

that you recently saw, you paid money for, and people want to know "Should I see this

movie?" You say "Yeah, it is worth seeing the movie." Not, "It is worth to see." "It

is worth seeing." is correct.

'Consider': 'Consider' is always followed by a gerund: "We considered leaving early."

To 'consider' is to think about something, to have it as an option. "We considered leaving

early." We considered leaving the party early, or the wedding early, something like that;

maybe because it was boring. Who knows?

We have 'discuss': For example, "You always discuss making changes." If you have a friend

who always talks about their life, and they say "I want things to be different. I'm going

to change things.", and you tell them, "You always discuss making changes in your life

but you never actually do anything, so stop talking about that."

'Dislike': Obviously, this means "don't like". "Don't like" we can follow with an infinitive

or a gerund. You can say, "I don't like being interrupted." "I don't like to be interrupted."

However, if you use 'dislike', you can only follow that with a gerund. For example, "I

really dislike being interrupted."

Next we have 'dread': 'Dread' is similar to detest or hate. In this situation, 'dread'

is always followed by a gerund. "He dreads going to the gym." You have that friend who's

trying to get into better shape, and they're going to the gym regularly but they're really

hating it, so "he dreads going to the gym." Not "to go" - "he dreads going".

'Enjoy': Very, very common verb always followed by a gerund: "They enjoy jogging together.",

for example.

'Miss': You don't say, "I miss to do something." You say, "I miss doing something." For example,

"I miss seeing my friends." If you are traveling somewhere and you're staying in a new country,

maybe learning English, and I ask you, "What do you miss about your home country?" "What

do you miss about home?" and you say, "I miss seeing my friends." "I miss hanging out with

my family.", for example.

The last one is a little bit of an expression here: 'Feel like'. "I feel like traveling."

If you "feel like" something, it means that you desire it, you want it. If you feel like

something, you feel like "doing something", not "to do something".

All right, guys. Once again, the verbs are 'avoid', 'finish', 'be worth', 'consider',

'discuss', 'dislike', 'dread', 'enjoy', 'miss', and 'feel like'. If you would like a more

extensive list of common verbs followed by gerunds and followed by infinitives, you can

check out our RESOURCE section on www.engvid.com . Also, to test your knowledge of this material,

you can check out the quiz; also, as always, on www.engvid.com. Take care, guys, and good luck.

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