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3. 

FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

 by

Betty Schrampfer Azar

Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1985

 (Excerpts presented for the Longwood College ESL Web Page)

Reprinted with Permission

Copyright Page--

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

AZAR, BETTY SCHRAMPFER, (date)

Editorial/production supervision and interior design: Barbara Alexander Illustrations: Don Martinetti

Cover design: Ben Santora Manufacturing buyer: Harry P. Baisley

1985 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9

ISBN 0-13-338500-0 01

PRENTICE-HALL INTERNATIONAL, INC., London

PRENTICE-HALL OF AUSTRALIA PTY. LIMITED, Sydney

EDITORA PRENTICE-HALL Do BRASIL, LTDA., Rio de Janeiro

PRENTICE-HALL CANADA INC., Toronto

PRENTICE-HALL HISPANOAMERICANA, S. A., Mexico

PRENTICE-HALL OF INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, New Delhi

PRENTICE-HALL OF JAPAN, INC., Tokyo

PRENTICE-HALL OF SOUTHEAST ASIA PTE. LTD., Singapore

WHITEHALL BOOKS LIMITED, Wellington, New Zealand

Azar-English Grammar

Chapter 7

Gerunds and Infinitives

(p. 143) 

7-1 GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES: INTRODUCTION

(a) I enjoy music. (noun)

(b) I enjoy listening to music. (gerund)

(c) I enjoy listening to music. (gerund phrase)

====

Subject--- Verb--- Object

I enjoy something. (something = the object of the verb).

The object of a verb is usually a noun or pronoun, as in (a).

The object of a verb can also be a gerund. A gerund is the -ing form of a verb.* It is used as a noun.

In (b): listening is a gerund. It is the object of the verb enjoy.

====

(d) I want a sandwich. (noun)

(e) I want to eat a sandwich. (infinitive)

(f) I want to eat a sandwich. (infinitive phrase)

 

Subject--- Verb--- Object

I want something. (something = the object of the verb.)

In (d): The object of the verb is a noun (a sandwich).

The object of a verb can also be an infinitive. An infinitive

is to + the simple form of a verb. In (e): to eat is an infinitive.

It is the object of the verb want.

 

 ===

 *NOTE: The -ing form of a verb can be used as a present participle:

 I am listening to the teacher right now. (listening = a present participle, used in the present progressive)

The -ing form of a verb can be used as a gerund:

I enjoy listening to music. (listening = a gerund, used as the object of the verb enjoy)

(g) I enjoy going to the beach. (h) Bob wants to go to the beach.	Some verbs (e.g., enjoy) are followed by gerunds. (See 7-2.) Some verbs (e.g., enjoy) are followed by gerunds. (See 7-2.)
	Some verbs (e.g., want) are followed by infinitives. (See` 7-4).
(i) It began raining. It began to rain.	Some verbs (e.g., begin) are followed by either gerunds or infinitives. (See 7-5.)

(p. 144)

7-2 VERB + GERUND

--Gerunds are used as the objects of the verbs in the following list. The list

also contains two-word verbs that are followed by gerunds.

COMMON VERBS FOLLOWED BY GERUNDS

enjoy

(a) I enjoy working in my gardon.

finish

(b) Bob finished studying at midnight.

stop	(c) It stopped raining a few minutes ago.

quit	(d) David quit smoking.

postpone1

(e) postponed doing my homework.

put off2

(f) I put off doing my homework.

keep	(g) Keep working. Don't stop.

Keep on

(g) Keep on working. Don't stop.

consider3

(h) I'm considering going to Hawaii for my vacation.

think about

(i) I'm thinking about going to Hawaii for my vacation.

discuss4

They discussed getting a new car.

talk about

They talked about getting a new car.

===

1(e) and (f) have the same meaning

2(g) and (h) have the same meaning

3(i) and (j) have the same meaning

4(k) and (l) have the same meaning

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