1. Marcos Cordeiro Fleury

2. Some errors
1.

Write letters in English is not so difficult for me now, but I used to have a lot of
problems.
2. I am so sorry for not to inform you about what has happened to me in the past
few days, but I have been extremely busy.
3. We were tired, so we stopped to drive. After taking a rest, we then drove all the
way home.
4. Thanks for wrote an e-mail to me. I can’t tell you how happy I was to receive
your news.
5. I want that you to eat dinner with me tonight.

3. Form and Function

Noun
Infinitives Adjective Gerunds
Adverb
IMPORTANT: Verb ≠ Verb Form

4. Subject

Gerund Infinitive
Usual Formal
“Speaking three languages is hard.” “To speak three languages is hard.”

5. Show Purpose or Reason

Purpose
To achieve their goal, the officials quickly hired a new manager.

6. Do I use an infinitive or a gerund?

Gerunds
Different
Same
Verb + meaning
Meaning
Infinitives
Noun/Pronoun
Pages 203, 204 and 205
“We may dread visiting the dentist’sdecidedwillwatch TV by
“I intended to to cook/cooking but I dinner but we cannot avoid
Page 204. like you tolast night, now, office, to be ready
“I you begin study help me tonight.”
“Ifwould
going there.”
instead.
7:30.”

7. Make, Let, Have, Help

Base form
Verb + Noun/Pronoun +
Infinitive
“She made the children eat their vegetables.”

8. Prepositions

Preposition + Gerund
“Thank you for doing this favor for me.”

9. Common ELL mistakes

1. Do not use infinitives after verbs that take gerunds ( and vice versa).
wrong: Many parents avoid to give sweets to their kids.
correct: Many parents avoid giving sweets to their children.
2. The most common verb form for the subject of a sentence is a gerund.
wrong: Drive to Boston is more dangerous than fly there.
uncommon: To drive to Boston is more dangerous than to fly
there.
correct: Driving to Boston is more dangerous than flying there.
3. Don’t use a plural verb form with a gerund or infinitive as subject.
Don’t be tricked by a plural object after the gerund. The object of a
gerund does not affect the verb.
wrong: Eating green vegetables are good for your health.
correct: Eating green vegetables is good for your health.

10. Portuguese interference

• In English, some verbs are followed by infinitives, and other are
followed by gerunds. No other language requires this
grammatical distinction.
• ELLs overuse that-clauses instead of infinitives when the first
verb expresses a command or strong desire. Common errors
include *I want that you help me or *She told that I arrive at
noon.

11. Class plan

• Separate the students in pairs and give each pair a piece of paper
with a question like “What do you enjoy doing?”, “What do you
need to do today?” and “ Do you prefer _____ or _____ ?”.
• Separate the verbs in three rows and ask the students the
differences between them.
• Correct any mistakes and give more examples of verbs followed
by gerunds, infinitives or by both.