Gerunds and Infinitives
Gerunds and Infinitives can be either the subject or object of the sentence. In this case they act as nouns in the sentence.
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GERUND |
INFINITIVE |
|
VERB + ING Example: Read = Reading |
TO + VERB Example: Read = To Read |
Subjects
Gerund Running is fun.
Infinitive To run is fun.
It is better to use a gerund as the subject of the sentence. An infinitive is very formal and doesn’t sound very good. It can sound poetic, philosophical, or classical literature
Objects
Gerund I like running.
Object I like to run.
Deciding between a gerund and an infinitive as objects is much more difficult than subjects. You must learn which verbs are followed by gerunds, infinitives, or both. The list below shows you the differences.
