Gerunds and Infinitives Verb Lists

Complete reference lists for which verbs take GERUNDS, INFINITIVES, or BOTH. GERUND ONLY (60+ verbs): enjoy, finish, mind, avoid, consider, suggest, practice, miss, keep, quit, deny, admit, risk, imagine, involve, postpone, delay, resist, etc. INFINITIVE ONLY (60+ verbs): want, need, decide, plan, hope, expect, agree, refuse, promise, offer, manage, fail, learn, afford, pretend, deserve, seem, appear, etc. BOTH with SAME meaning (20+ verbs): like, love, hate, prefer, start, begin, continue, etc. BOTH with DIFFERENT meaning: stop, remember, forget, regret, try. Memorize these lists through practice and exposure.

• • GERUND ONLY verbs: enjoy, finish, mind, avoid, keep, consider, suggest, practice, miss, quit
• • More gerund: deny, admit, risk, imagine, involve, postpone, delay, resist, appreciate, tolerate
• • INFINITIVE ONLY verbs: want, need, decide, plan, hope, expect, agree, refuse, promise, offer
• • More infinitive: manage, fail, learn, afford, pretend, deserve, seem, appear, tend, choose
• • BOTH (same): like, love, hate, prefer, start, begin, continue, intend, can't stand
• • stop doing (quit) vs stop to do (pause to do)
• • remember/forget doing (past) vs remember/forget to do (future)
• • regret doing (past) vs regret to inform (formal)
• • try doing (experiment) vs try to do (attempt/effort)

1. 1

   GERUND verbs — enjoyment, completion, avoidance

   enjoy swimming, finish working, mind waiting, avoid going, keep studying, miss seeing, quit smoking, practice playing

2. 2

   GERUND verbs — consideration, suggestion, denial

   consider buying, suggest going, deny stealing, admit making, risk losing, imagine living, involve traveling

3. 3

   INFINITIVE verbs — desires, decisions, plans

   want to go, need to work, decide to leave, plan to visit, hope to see, expect to win, agree to help

4. 4

   INFINITIVE verbs — promises, refusals, offers

   promise to call, refuse to go, offer to help, manage to finish, fail to understand, learn to drive, afford to buy

5. 5

   BOTH (same meaning) — preferences, beginnings

   like swimming/to swim, love dancing/to dance, hate waiting/to wait, prefer walking/to walk, start working/to work, begin studying/to study

6. 6

   BOTH (different) — stop, remember, forget, try

   stopped smoking (quit) vs stopped to smoke (pause) | remember doing (past) vs remember to do (future) | try doing (experiment) vs try to do (attempt)

• GERUND: enjoy, finish, mind, avoid, keep, consider, suggest, practice, miss, quit, deny, admit, risk
• INFINITIVE: want, need, decide, plan, hope, expect, agree, refuse, promise, offer, manage, fail, learn
• BOTH (same): like, love, hate, prefer, start, begin, continue
• BOTH (different): stop, remember, forget, try, regret
• stopped smoking (quit) ≠ stopped to smoke (pause)
• remember doing (past) ≠ remember to do (future)

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