Gerunds and Infinitives

5 Simple Rules to Master the Use of Gerunds and Infinitives 👇📌
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📍Rule 1: Gerunds can be used as a subject of a sentence.
Take a look at some examples.

Walking is good for your health.

Making friends has become more difficult since I moved to a new city.

Becoming a millionaire is a dream of many young people today.

Here, the gerunds (in bold) are part of the sentence subjects (“walking,” “making friends,” “becoming a millionaire”). All three sentences sound like normal, everyday English.

Now read these two sentences:

“To be or not to be—that is the question.”

“To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on.”

(Both sentences are quotes from William Shakespeare’s works.)

They sound formal, don’t they? They are poetic, aren’t they? Shakespeare is one of the greatest authors of all time, but his English is famously difficult to understand. And that’s because it is literature. It is formal and it is art.

In those two quotes, the infinitives “to be” and “to mourn” are used as the sentence subjects.

So, it is possible to use both infinitives and gerunds as subjects, but gerunds are much more commonly used as subjects. Just pay attention to how the choice reflects on the tone and meaning of your sentences.

📍Rule 2: Both gerunds and infinitives can be used as objects of a sentence.
You may say:

“I enjoy drawing.”

You may also say:

“Yesterday, I decided to draw.”

Both sentences are correct, but one has an infinitive as the object and the other has a gerund as the object.

What is the difference?

It’s the verbs that precede (come before) the object! Some verbs require a gerund and some will require an infinitive. In the above examples, we can see that the formula is “enjoy” + [gerund] and “decide” + [infinitive].

With practice, you will be able to remember which one is which.

Here are a few examples of verbs that need to be followed by an infinitive:

agree: I agreed to go to a party with my friend.
decide: The president decided not to participate in the discussions.
deserve: Everyone deserves to be respected.
expect: I expect to know my exam grade by tomorrow.
hope: We were hoping to avoid traffic by leaving early.
learn: He learned not to trust anyone.
need: She needs to learn how to cook.
offer: I offered to help my brother with homework.
plan: We are planning to watch a movie tonight.
promise: My friend promised to find the time to help me move.
seem: We seem to be lost.
wait: I cannot wait to see my family.
want: I don’t want to go to bed yet.
There are lots of verbs that require an infinitive after. You will learn them naturally, as you progress in your English studies.

And here are a few examples of verbs that need to be followed by a gerund:

admit: They admitted changing the schedule.
advise: I advise proceeding (moving forward) with caution.
avoid: She avoided looking me in the eye.
consider (think about): I considered staying silent, but I had to tell her.
deny: I denied knowing about his secret.
involve: The course involved writing three tests.
mention (say something): She mentioned seeing my brother at a baseball game.
recommend: I recommend practicing gerunds and infinitives.
risk: Don’t risk losing your job!
suggest: I suggest reading more English short stories.

📍Rule 3: Infinitives should be used after many adjectives.
Here are three sample sentences that will help to illustrate this rule:

It is not easy to graduate from university.

It is necessary to speak English to work in a hotel.

It is wonderful to have close friends.

When you describe something with an adjective (underlined in the examples above), an infinitive should follow (in bold). Using gerunds here would be incorrect.

But remember! If you want to make that object into a subject (see Rule 1), a gerund should be used:

Graduating from university is not easy.

Speaking English is necessary to work in a hotel.

Having close friends is wonderful.

How else do you know if an adjective should be followed by an infinitive? The construct “too + [adjective]” is another way to tell!

For example:

This dress is too big to wear.

This car is too expensive to buy.

And the same is true about “[adjective] + enough”:

My child is not tall enough to ride this rollercoaster.

The course was detailed enough to widen his knowledge base.

This rule is useful enough to understand the usage of infinitives!

📍Rule 4: Only infinitives are used after sentence objects that are nouns or pronouns referring to a person.
“We asked her not to go.”

In this sentence, “we” is the subject, “asked” is the verb and “her” is the objective form of the pronoun “she.” You must use an infinitive (“to go”), never a gerund, after direct and indirect objects referring to people.

To remember this rule, you will have to study verbs that take an object and an infinitive.

Start with these examples. The objects (nouns and pronouns) are underlined. Notice how the underlined objects are all followed by infinitives.

ask: Can I ask you to help me with something?
expect: I never expected him to become famous.
hire (give a job to someone): Did the company hire you just to sit in your office?
invite: I invited a friend to attend the ceremony.
order: She ordered the child to stay at home.
remind: Please remind me to wash the dishes.
require: The test required him to concentrate fully.
teach: That will teach you to follow the rules!
tell: Who told you to come here?
urge: They urged me to continue my research.
warn: I am warning you not to do this!

📍Rule 5: Only gerunds are used after prepositions (with one exception).
Consider this sentence:

I talked him out of taking that job.

Here, the gerund “taking” follows the preposition “of.”

Prepositions can follow any word, be it a noun, a pronoun, a verb or an adjective. In the examples below, the prepositions are underlined, followed by the gerunds in bold.

A preposition that follows a noun:

Novels about growing up are popular among teenagers.

I have an interest in becoming a painter.

A preposition that follows a pronoun:

I forgive you for not telling the truth.

A preposition that follows a verb:

She is thinking about trying martial arts.

He looks forward to meeting his cousins.

A preposition that follows an adjective:

I am wary of going alone.

My mom is scared of flying.

There is one exception. Thankfully, it should be easy to remember!

The exception

“But” is a short word that connects two clauses of a sentence together. It is called a conjunction. Sometimes, “but” can also play a role of a preposition. When “but” is used as a preposition, it is the same in meaning as “except.”

If “but” or “except” are used like this, they need to be followed by an infinitive:

I had no choice but to follow her.
(I had to follow her.)

Mary made no stops on the way except to get gas.
(Mary only stopped to get gas.)

There is nothing left for me to do but to collect my money and go.
(I only have to collect my money and go.)

You may not see “but” and “except” used this way often. Just follow the rule of gerunds after prepositions, and you will get it right most of the time!



Gerunds and infinitives may be confusing, but they make your English speech more varied and colorful. It is very useful to study them and practice using them correctly. The more you notice gerunds and infinitives in your study of the English language, the easier it will get!

Sometimes you will be unsure if you need to use an infinitive or a gerund in a sentence. In this situation, try changing the sentence and saying what you want to say in a different way.

Practicing is how you become more fluent. It is important to practice.

Participle Phrases

Participle Phrases 
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What is a participle phrase?
Participles are words formed from verbs that can function as adjectives, as gerunds, or to form the continuous and perfect tenses of verbs. Past participles are often (but not always) formed by adding “-d” or “-ed” to the end of the verb, while present participles are always formed by adding “-ing” to the end.
When they function as adjectives, participles can form participle phrases (sometimes known as participle clauses) with any information that modifies or complements them. Because they function as adjectives, participle phrases modify nouns, noun phrases, or pronouns in a sentence.
Using participle phrases
We can form phrases using present, past, perfect, and passive perfect participles—each one changes the way the noun is modified. Where they appear in a sentence also impacts the sentence’s meaning, as well as the way in which they’re punctuated.
Present participle phrases
If we use the present participle in a phrase, we give the phrase an active meaning. In other words, the noun being modified is the agent of the action expressed by the present participle. For example:
“Singing in the shower, I was oblivious to the doorbell ringing.” (I was singing.)
“James, hiding under the bed, was completely silent.” (James was hiding.)
Past participle phrases
If we use the past participle to form an adjectival phrase, the noun being modified is either given a passive role in the action, or else is being described. For example:
“My car, destroyed in the accident, was taken away by the mechanics.”
“My sister, exhausted after a long day’s work, fell asleep on the sofa.”
In the first example, the noun phrase my car is not the agent of the action, but is being acted upon; it has been destroyed by another driver, and so it has a passive role. In the second example, my sister is also not the agent of the verb exhaust. Instead, exhausted is used to describe how she feels.
Perfect participle phrases
When we want to emphasize that one event happened before another, we can use the structure having + past participle—this is sometimes known as the perfect participle. Perfect participle phrases, like the present participle, designate that the noun being modified is the agent of the participle’s action. For example:
“Having seen the movie before, I wouldn’t want to see it again.”
“Having done so much exercise this morning, we should eat a big lunch.”
“She was exhausted, having stayed up all night.”
Passive perfect participle phrases
If we want to describe a noun that was passively acted upon in an event that happened before another one, we can use what is known as the passive perfect participle (sometimes called the perfect passive participle), which is structured as having + been + past participle. For example:
“Having been dismissed from class early, Thomas decided to explore the river by his house.”
“The turkey, having been burnt to a crisp, was thrown in the garbage.”
“The book is ancient, having been written nearly 3,000 years ago.”
This is similar to how past participle phrases are used, but the emphasis is placed on the first action happening further in the past. And whereas past participle phrases can be used to describe a noun or pronoun, passive perfect participle phrases stress the action being done to the noun—they cannot be used to create simple descriptions. For instance:
“My sister, exhausted after a long day’s work, fell asleep on the sofa.” (correct)
“My sister, having been exhausted after a long day’s work, fell asleep on the sofa.” (incorrect)
Sentence Placement
Where a participle phrase appears in a sentence changes the way we punctuate it, as does its importance to the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
Initial position
When a participle phrase occurs in the initial position, it is usually separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma. For example:
“Running to the car, the boy welcomed his father home after three months away.”
“Singing in the shower, I was oblivious to the doorbell ringing.”
“Scared, my sister slept with the light on.”
Middle position
When the phrase occurs in the middle position, and is not essential to the meaning of the sentence, it should be set apart from the rest of the sentence by two commas. For example:
“My sister, exhausted, has fallen asleep on the sofa.”
“James, hiding under the bed, was completely silent.”
“The turkey, having been burnt to a crisp, was thrown in the garbage.”
If we took the participle phrases out, each of the examples above would still mean the same thing, just with less descriptive detail.
However, if a participle phrase occurs in the middle position and is essential to the meaning of the sentence, it should not be set apart by commas. For example:
“The students finished with their work may have a break.”
“Jackets left behind will be donated.”
“Participants breaking the rules will be removed from the competition.”
If we took the participle phrases out of these examples, we would be left with completely different meanings, as each phrase describes an essential aspect about the noun to set it apart from others. To make it clear that this description is integral to the sentence’s meaning, we do not use commas to set it apart.
Final position
If the participle phrase occurs in the final position immediately after the noun that it modifies, it doesn’t need a comma. For example:
“We looked for hours and finally found James hiding under the bed.”
“The cat had no interest in the poor dog wagging its tail.”
“I was in such a hurry I didn’t notice my jacket left on the table.”
However, when it occurs in final position but not immediately after the noun that it modifies, it does need a comma. For example:
“It was obvious he really enjoyed the meal, having helped himself to more dessert.”
“My sister cried as she packed up her belongings, saddened at the idea of moving out of her childhood home.”
“Most of the puzzle pieces have disappeared, misplaced after so many years.”
Common mistakes
When we use participle phrases as adjectives, it’s important that the noun modified is clearly stated and that the phrase appears as close to it as possible. Otherwise, we run the risk of errors known as misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers.
Misplaced modifiers
A misplaced modifier can occur when there is more than one noun in the sentence. If we don’t place the participle phrase close enough to the noun that it modifies, it may seem that it modifies another noun. For example:
“Terrified after watching a scary movie, my father had to comfort my little sister.”
In the above sentence, the participle phrase terrified after watching a scary movie is supposed to modify my little sister. However, since my father appears closer to the participial phrase, it seems it is the father who is terrified. The sentence should be rewritten to correct the misplaced modifier. For example:
“My father had to comfort my sister, terrified after watching a scary movie.”
or:
“Terrified after watching a scary movie, my sister had to be comforted by my father.”
or:
“My sister, terrified after watching a scary movie, had to be comforted by my father.”
Dangling modifiers
A dangling modifier occurs when we don’t clearly state the noun that is supposed to be modified by the participle. For example:
“Walking down the road, the birds were singing.”
Because the sentence does not state who was walking down the road, is seems that it was the birds, which is probably not the intended meaning. The sentence needs to include another noun or pronoun being described by the phrase to correct the dangling modifier. For example:
“Walking down the road, I (or she, he, Mary, the couple, etc.) heard the birds singing.”

Compound Adjectives

Compound Adjectives

What is a compound adjective?

A compound adjective (also known as a compound modifieror a phrasal adjective) is created by two or more words that work jointly to modify the same noun; they always appear before the noun they modify, and they are usually joined together by a hyphen (or hyphens) to clarify that the words are working as a single modifying unit.

Creating compound adjectives

Compound adjectives are made up of multiple words, and, in various combinations, they can be composed of adjectives, nouns, quantifiers, participles, and adverbs.

Sometimes, other types of words are used to join two (or more) others. For example, the conjunction and is often used between two nouns or two adjectives to create a three-word compound adjective.

Let’s look at some examples of the different combinations we can make below.

Adjective + Adjective

When multiple adjectives are used to modify the same noun, they usually appear with commas between them or simply in a row with no punctuation, depending on the order of adjectives. If two or more adjectives are functioning together as a single unit, though, we must use hyphens. This most commonly occurs with colors or position, as in:

“She had bright, blue-green eyes.”“His orange-yellow skin looked very unhealthy.”“Look in the top-right corner of the screen.”“The scissors are in the bottom-left drawer.”

More often, adjectives are paired with other parts of speech to create compound nouns, as we shall see.

Adjective + Noun

It is very common to follow an adjective with a noun to create a compound adjective:

“They went on a wild-goose chase.”“I can only find part-time work at the moment.”“The dog is a short-hair breed.”“I know this is a last-minute suggestion, but hear me out.”It is equally common to use nouns before adjectives, as in:“I’d love an ice-cold soda right about now.”“Do you have any sugar-free cookies?”

Quantifiers

When we use a quantifier (a kind of determiner) with a noun to create a compound adjective, we often pair the quantifier with a noun of measurement (length, height, weight, age, or time). For example:

“It is the only 10-storey building in the town.”“We bought a three-foot sandwich to share.”“The eight-pound bag fell to the floor.”“This is a very nice 12-year whiskey.”

When indicating age, we often add the adjective old to the end, as in:

“His 11-year-old niece is coming to visit.”

(Note that we also use this same hyphenation when making a compound noun from an age, as in “My 11-year-old is coming to visit.”)

When we indicate cost, we normally use quantifiers with symbols of currency, such as $, £, €, etc. When the currency is spelled out, however, we must use hyphens to form compound adjectives. Likewise, we use hyphens if the numerals are spelled out as well. For example:

“He bought a $5,000 computer.”“He bought a 5,000-dollar computer.”“He bought a five-thousand-dollar computer.”

We can also use quantifiers with other nouns, too:

“There was an 11-car pileup on the highway.”“The theater has a 400-person capacity.”

Participles

Past and present participles can be paired with adjectives, nouns, and adverbs to form compound adjectives. For example:

With nouns

“Many legends still survive about man-eating whales, but they are simply untrue.”“It’s another record-breaking race for the Kenyan runner.”“There are many mouth-watering items on the menu.”“I won’t spend another night in this dust-ridden house.”“The crocodile-infested waters are particularly dangerous.”

With adjectives

“The table is made from rough-hewn wood.”“My old-fashioned aunt would never approve.”“There are several delicious-sounding things on the menu.”“He has an expensive-looking car.”

With adverbs

“This company runs like a well-oiled machine.”“Our eyes had to adjust in the dimly-lit corridor.”“There are a only few well-running cars to choose from.”“We need some forward-thinking individuals for the job.”“My early-rising brother always baulks at me when I sleep in late.”

Prepositions

Prepositions are also used to form compound adjectives, as in:

“You need an up-to-date computer to run this software.”“I’ve lived in too many run-down apartments.”

Other cases

And

When the conjunction and is used between two words (usually nouns) to join them as a single modifier, we must hyphenate all three words. For example:

“I find her salt-and-pepper hair very attractive.”“These old stone-and-mortar buildings have stood the test of time.”

Proper nouns

We sometimes use a multi-word proper noun to identify a noun as belonging to a particular person or brand. In this case, we do not hyphenate the words. For example:

“Can you play any Elton John songs?”“Did you see the Arthur Miller play on Broadway?”

Pronouns

Occasionally it is possible to use pronouns (especially personal pronouns) to form compound adjectives, though this is not very common. For example:

“It turned into a he-said-she-said situation.”

Adverbs before adjectives

Adverbs are often used in conjunction with adjectives to jointly modify a noun, but they are not really considered to be compound adjectives and they usually do not require a hyphen—the fact that they work together with the adjective is implied. For example:

“It was a very brave thing to do.”“She is an exceptionally talented girl.”

Quiz

1. Which punctuation mark do we use to create compound adjectives?

a) comma
b) semicolon
c) hyphen
d) period

2. Which of the following cannot be used to form compound adjectives?

a) participles
b) verbs
c) nouns
d) prepositions

3. Which of the following are not hyphenated when functioning as compound adjectives?

a) proper nouns
b) adjectives
c) quantifiers
d) pronouns

4. Identify the combination used to create the compound adjective (in bold) in the following sentence:
“It was my well-educated apprentice who saved the day.”

a) adjective + noun
b) adverb + past participle
c) adjective + past participle
d) noun + adjective