VERB + INFINITIVE or GERUND? LEARN ENGLISH VERB PATTERNS & GET 35 ENGLISH PHRASES (FREE AUDIO!)

- In this English lesson we are going to talk

about verb patterns and the difference

between the infinitive and the gerund.

I have a free gift for you,

so be sure to keep watching until the end.

When we use a sentence with two verbs,

the first verb dictates what form the second verb takes.

Now, if that is confusing for you,

take a look at these two examples.

I want to go there.

I want to go there.

I enjoy going there.

I enjoy going there.

So the first one, I want to go there,

shows you that after the verb want, we use the infinitive.

So you can say things like I want to go there.

I want to be there.

I want to see you.

I want to play football.

We also use the infinitive after want.

The second example shows you that after the verb enjoy,

we use the gerund, the I-N-G.

I enjoy going there.

I enjoy seeing her.

I enjoy playing football.

I have some good news and some bad news

at this stage of the lesson.

The bad news is this: there are no rules that tell you

which type of verbs to use your gerund with

or which types of verbs you need to use the infinitive.

The good news is that at To Fluency,

we do things differently.

We learn through the repetition of phrases.

And I have a method for you

that's going to help you with this.

And I also have a free gift

that will help you learn these sentences and phrases

so that you can internalize these types of patterns.

Let's look at some examples now using simple verbs

before we look at some more advanced uses.

So the first one is this: we decided to get the red car.

We decided to get the red car.

To get is the infinitive, and this tell us

that after the verb decide, we use the infinitive.

I avoided talking to him about it.

I avoided talking to him about it.

Talking is the gerund, so after the verb avoid,

we use the gerund.

Do you want to continue watching this lesson?

Now, in this example, you can see that we have

do you want to continue.

So after want, we use the infinitive, to continue.

But then after continue, we use the gerund.

To continue watching.

Do you want to continue watching this lesson?

With certain verbs we can use prepositions with them.

And when we do this,

we use the gerund after the preposition.

For example, I'm thinking about buying that red car.

I'm thinking about buying that red car.

So think about doing something.

I apologize for saying that.

I apologize for saying that.

Apologize for doing something.

The first example I gave

in this lesson was I want to go there,

but look at this example.

I want him to go there.

I want him to go there.

When you add in somebody else

or a pronoun into the sentence, that's how we construct it.

I want him to go there.

I want her to go there.

I want you to go there.

I want you to do it.

She asked me to give it to her.

She asked me to give it to her.

This is quite a complex sentence,

but if you learn sentences like this,

then your English will improve.

She asked me to give it to her.

Certain verbs have a different meaning

depending on which pattern you use.

And the most common example of this is the following:

I stopped smoking last year.

I stopped smoking last year.

This means that I quit smoking last year,

or I gave up smoking last year.

I stopped to smoke uses the infinitive,

and this tells somebody that you stopped doing something

to have a cigarette.

I was driving to work, but I stopped to smoke.

Additionally, it's important to know

that we use the same patterns

no matter what the first tense is.

For example, I want you to do it.

I wanted you to do it.

I'm going to want you to do it.

All of these are different tenses,

but they use the same pattern after that first verb.

Like I mentioned before, I have something for you.

It's a downloadable MP3 file that has 35 sentences

using different verb patterns.

So I'm going to include things

like the gerund versus the infinitive,

verbs with prepositions, different tenses,

and I'm also going to introduce verbs like let and make.

This is free to download.

And I'm going to give you the method that you can use

so that you can internalize this grammar

and improve your speaking at the same time.

All you need to do is to click over here

and enter your name and email address,

and I'll send it to you straightaway.

And if you want to learn more about verb patterns,

then be sure to check out the playlist over here.

Thank you so much for watching,

and please share this with anyone who would find it useful.

Bye for now.

(upbeat music)