to or ing

Question

Hello, I would like to know if you have any rules to know when to put "to" between two verbs or ing at the end of the second one. Thankyou.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

There probably are. If there aren't, we'll just invent a few for you if you just give us some sentences so we know what you really have in mind.
CB

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousHello, I would like to know if you have any rules to know when to put "to" between two verbs or ing at the end of the second one.

Rules? Not exactly. You are asking about "catenative verbs". The decision between to and ing depends on the first of the two verbs. Some verbs allow either to or ing in the following verb.
Your best bet is to make yourself a list of verbs that are only followed by to, a list of verbs that are only following by an ing form, and a list of verbs that can take either. List only the most common verbs first. Later, as you practice these and get very familiar with them, you can add more verbs to your lists.
For all the gory details about these verb patterns and many others, see http://www.geocities.com/endipatterson/Cat.html

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

I spent a day to meeting clients.

I spent a day meeting clients.

Is the second sentence correct?

Do these sentences mean the same thing?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I spent a day to meetingclients. Not correct.

I spent a day meeting clients. Correct.

Is the second sentence correct?

Do these sentences mean the same thing?

Clive

Imantaghavi · Answer

Dear CJ,

For example for the verb "enjoy" we use gerund after it.

Is there any specific rule behind it, you mean?

Since your link didn't work, would you please give me a brief explaination about using infinitive or gerunds or both after some verbs?

Regards,

Iman

Anonymous · Answer

CliveI spent a day to meeting clients. Not correct.

Thanks, Clive, then there seems to be a typo in:

Oxford Word Skills (Basic), by Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman (2008), page 117, Unit 45, Part B, Exercise 4, in the example of 'finding the mistakes and correcting them':

I spent a day to ~~meet~~ clients. (meeting)

It should be written as:

I spent a day ~~to meet~~ clients. (meeting)

Otherwise, the students may interpret it as a possible exception of the use of 'to' as a preposition in this case.

Anonymous · Answer

The strike-through which is shown only over '~~meet~~' should be shown over the whole infinitive '~~to meet~~' including 'to'.

P.S. For some reason, the strike-through does not appear in the posted messages of this forum.

CalifJim · Answer

imantaghaviFor example for the verb "enjoy" we use gerund after it.
Is there any specific rule behind it, you mean?
Since your link didn't work, would you please give me a brief explaination about using infinitive or gerunds or both after some verbs?

There are no rules except that some verbs form catenative structures with infinitives, some with -ing forms, and some with both. Those that form catenative structures with both divide into two categories, those where the meaning with infinitive or gerund is the same for both, and those where the meaning differs.

Here are some verbs that are representative of the four kinds of catenative verbs.

1. want Jerry wants to invite Jane to the party.

2. avoid We should avoid making any noise; Lucy is sleeping.

3a. like I like to swim. / I like swimming.

3b. stop Ken stopped to take a photo.

Ken stopped worrying about it after a while.

There are also groupings like this for cases where a noun phrase intervenes.

Check the internet for 'catenative verb' for more information.

________________________

It's unfortunate that that link doesn't work anymore. It was a good chart of hundreds of verbs and the catenative categories for each.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousP.S. For some reason, the strike-through does not appear in the posted messages of this forum.

Use a double-hyphen before and after the words you want struck out.

*words to strike out*

Substitute hypens for asterisks.

CJ

Imantaghavi · Answer

Thank you CJ for your help.

to or ing

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