-ing versus To + infinitive

Question

Hi Everyone,This morning I taught verbs that would take the -ing structure and those that don't.I know that rules around this get more difficult as students move up the learning ladder. However, how would you explain the difference between the following two sentences:1) The expansion of the airport allowed Dubai to become a popular destination.2) He helped Dubai become famous...One student wanted to know why we remove the 'to' from example two, yet we don't in the first example.I had to teach the verbs that take -ing and those that only take 'to + infinitive'.I told the class that they needed to learn the verbs that take, and do not...blah blah. One student didn't get it. How else could I have explained this?Miss stumped Thanks.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

1) The expansion of the airport allowed Dubai to become a popular destination.

2) He helped Dubai (to) become famous.

The verb "help" is one of two English verbs that can take either the to-infinitive or the bare infinitive.

I helped my mother (to) clean the house.

Here is a very good resource on catenative verbs:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_catenative_verbs

CalifJim · Answer

Cup cakeHow else could I have explained this?

There are probably a hundred ways to do it, but you can always try to give an overview by talking about the general idea that English has rules that apply when you use two verbs in row. This does not apply when you connect the verbs with "and" or "or", of course, and you might mention that. But in other cases, each verb that can connect to a following verb has a special way it must connect to that next verb. The first verb can be in any tense that's needed, but the second verb has to be in the correct form as determined by the first verb.

On first exposure the students don't have to know exactly how to do any of this for specific verbs. It's just to give them an overview.

Examples:

avoid + -ing
want + to ---

avoided touching the hot stove; will want to arrive early

The form of the second verb might be the bare infinitive, the full infinitive, the -ing form, or the past participle.
____________

More connection patterns can be listed if we include those that have a noun or pronoun between the two verbs:

see (someone, something) + -ing
allow (someone) + to ---

saw the children laughing; allowed him to leave

Some verbs occur both with and without the intervening noun or pronoun. (I want to know more about it; I want you to know more about it.)
____________

The tricky part is that some verbs can be followed by more than one verb form. Sometimes the meaning of the two verbs in combination will differ depending on which of these forms is used (stop to see someone; stop seeing someone) and sometimes the meaning doesn't change at all (liked to dance; liked dancing / help me write this; help me to write this).

There are other tricky bits, but the students don't need to know everything in the first overview of the subject.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

He helped Dubai become famous

He helped Dubai to become famous

The second one is wrong because it could mean that 'He helped Dubai so that he could become famous.

Cup cake · Answer

Thanks Everyone!

All your comments are so helpful. Thanks A.S for the link too; it's great! And thank you CJ for such a helpful and detailed explanation. This will really help me explain these better. One problem is time; there's never enough of it in class.

I'm going to create a list of the most common catenative verbs for Wednesday. I never realised how big this topic is. Then again, EVERY topic in English is H U G E!

I absolutely hate it when a student doesn't understand.

You know, most natives really take English for granted, never knowing how much they really know.
A bit of a Clayton's: The English to do when you're not doing English.

...gosh, and it's only Monday.

Fivejedjon · Answer

AnonymousHe helped Dubai become famous He helped Dubai to become famous The second one is wrong because it could mean that 'He helped Dubai so that he could become famous.

The second one is not wrong. It is potentially ambiguous, but context will normally make the intended meaning clear.

-ing versus To + infinitive

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I'm going to create a list of the most common catenative verbs for Wednesday. I never realised how big this topic is. Then a

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