Remember that a 'gerund' is the ~ing form of a verb but 'infinitives' have ~to + base form of the verb. Importantly, some verbs are only followed by a 'gerund', some are only followed by the 'infinitive' and some verbs are followed by both.
Is it swimming or to swim?
Examples of gerunds:
- Flying makes Karl anxious.
- Brushing your teeth makes them clean.
- Lindsay is good at drawing.
- Marco can't give up smoking.
- I look forward to hearing from you soon
- avoid ~ I avoid eating meat.
- enjoy ~ He enjoys watching films.
- mind ~ They don't mind helping.
- finish ~ We finished cleaning the house.
- miss ~ She misses visiting her friends.
Examples of infinitives:
- I decided not to study in Glasgow.
- Karl likes to visit expensive restaurants.
- Lindsay wants to swim in the loch.
- They want to travel the world.
- We came to collect our money.
- agree ~ They agreed to come home.
- learn ~ We learned to swim on holiday.
- forget ~ I forgot to buy some milk.
- attempt ~ He attempted to redeliver the parcel.
- help ~ She helps to clean the house.
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