Too much time watching TV / to watch TV

Question

1) "Too much time watching TV and hours spent on computer games could cause us the blood clot risks."2) "Too much time to watch TV and hours spent on computer games could cause us the blood clot risks."I have finally found the sentence that made me confused. I have learned that time to do is and time doing is structure can be interchangeable and then in the sentence, can I rewrite it to "Too much time to watch TV..."for the same meaning?Or when are the two structures interchangeable for the same meaning? And when aren't they interchangeable for the same meaning?Thank you so much as usual in advance!

Teechr · Accepted Answer

Hans51when are the two structures interchangeable? ~~for the same meaning?~~

You appear to have the answer already:

Hans51I have learned that the "time to do is" and "time doing is" structures can be interchangeable

Have a look here too:

Michael Chambers Teaching English · Answer

Dear Hans

You are right that the gerund and the infinitive are often interchangeable because the difference in their meaning in practice is very small. But here, this difference does actually affect the meaning of the whole clause.

Gerunds refer to activity whereas infinitives refer to the verb as a concept or an idea. Here, we are definitely talking about the activity and its effects.

There may also be a grammatical reason why a gerund must be used in this case, since it is part of the phrase which defines the subject of the sentence. I'd be interested to see what others say.

"cause us risks" is not natural. I suggest "..... could give rise to a risk of blood clots."

Kind regards, Michael

Kind regards, Michael

Hans51 · Answer

Michael Chambers Teaching Englishgerund and the infinitive

Thank you so much and I have a question for you.

I thought the ing form was a present participle. not a gerund.

I spent the free time, watching TV.

And then here in the sentence, watching is also a gerund or why do you call the ing form gerund in my original sentence?

"Too much time watching TV and hours spent on computer games could cause us the blood clot risks."

Michael Chambers Teaching English · Answer

Dear Hans

Gerunds act as nouns, describing an activity. The phrase "too much time watching TV" is one of the subjects of the sentence. If you rephrased it as "watching TV for too long", its role as a gerund would be clearer.

Perhaps you could argue that "watching" acts as a present participle within the phrase "too much time watching". I think you can look at it both ways. From what I have read, I believe that the distinction between gerunds and present participles is sometimes quite blurred, and perhaps this is a good example of one such situation.

Kind regards, Michael

CalifJim · Answer

Hans51Too much time watching TV and hours spent on computer games

You're talking about spending time. You could even write this as "Too much time spent watching TV". The concept of spending time takes the -ing form if you want to say how you spent the time.

We spent a lot of time assembling the toys.
They spent two hours preparing the meal.
A great deal of time was spent debating the issues.

Hans51Too much time to watch TV and hours spent on computer games

Here you have a too ... to ... pattern. This might work in a sentence like The children are given too much time to watch TV. (They have too much time during which they are permitted to watch TV.) It doesn't work in the given sentence, however.
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In the first case above, an amount of time is taken up by the activity mentioned. This is time actually used.
In the second case, the time is only there potentially to be taken up, not actually taken up. This is only available time.

CJ

Too much time watching TV / to watch TV

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