Глаголи, които позволяват ing-form или infinitive

03/02/2023 | Граматически урок

Едно от трудните части в английската граматика е изборът на инфинитивна или ing форма на глагола. Тази част е трудна, защото залага предимно на заизустяване на специфичните предпочитания на водещите глаголи или конструкции.

Съществува логично правило за следните пет глагола, които допускат и двете форми на глагола, но същите не са синонимни:

Regret
Forget
Remember
Try
Stop

TRY

TRY + INF V1

В този случай се предполага, че влагаме усилие в извършване на съответното действие. Резултатът от положеното усилие най-често е отрицателен.

Пример:

I tried to open the window but it was stuck.

TRY + V + ING

EXPERIMENT

В този случай се предполага, че експериментираме в търсене на вярното решение.

Пример:

I couldn`t sleep last night so I tried drinking some milk.

STOP

STOP + INF V

Преустановявам дадена дейност, за да правя нещо друго

I stopped to eat some chocolate.

STOP + V + ING

I stopped eating chocolate.

Преустановяваме дадена дейност с намерението завинаги.

REMEMBER, FORGET, REGRET

REMEMBER

REMEMBER + inf V

Do you remember to buy some bread?

Фокусът е към бъдещето, а именно дали си се сетил да направиш нещо, което предстои да бъде направено.

REMEMBER + v + ING

I don`t remember reading that book.

Нямам никакъв спомен дали съм чел книгата.

Фокусът е миналото – нямам спомен за нещо от миналото.

REGRET

REGRET + INF V

Съжалявам за нещо, което предстои да бъде направено.

I regret to tell you the news.

Съжалявам, че трябва да ти кажа новината.

Regret + V + ing

I regret telling you the news.

Съжалявам, за дето ти казах новината.

Forget

FORGET + INF V

Забравям за нещо, което предстои да направя в бъдещето

I forgot to buy some bread.

FORGET + V+ ING

Нямам спомен за нещо, което съм правил в миналото

I forgot buying some bread.

Забравих, че съм купил хляб.

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Examples:

Remember + gerund

This is when you remember something that has happened in the past. You have a memory of it, like being able to see a movie of it in your head.

I remember going to the beach when I was a child. (= I have a memory of going to the beach).
He remembers closing the door. (= He has a memory of closing the door).

Remember + to + infinitive

This is when you think of something that you need to do. (And usually, you then do the thing).

I remembered to buy milk. (= I was walking home and the idea that I needed milk came into my head, so I bought some).
She remembered to send a card to her grandmother.

Forget + gerund

This is the opposite of remember + gerund. It's when you forget about a memory, something that you've done in the past.

Have we really studied this topic before? I forget reading about it.
I told my brother that we'd spent Christmas at Granny's house in 1985, but he'd forgotten going there.

Forget + to + infinitive

This is the opposite of remember + to + infinitive. It's when you want to do something, but you forget about it.

I forgot to call my mother. (= I wanted to call my mother, but when it was a good time to call her, I forgot. I was thinking about something else, and the idea to call my mother didn't come into my head).
She keeps forgetting to bring his book back.

Try + gerund

This is when you do something as an experiment. The thing you do is not difficult, but you want to see if doing it will have the result that you want.

I wanted to stop smoking, so I tried using nicotine patches. (= Using nicotine patches was easy, but I wanted to know if it would help me stop smoking).
She tried giving up chocolate, but it didn't help her lose weight. (It was easy for her to give up chocolate. She gave it up to see if it would help her lose weight, but it didn't).

Try + to + infinitive

This is when the thing you do itself is difficult. In the present tense or future tense, this means you might not succeed in doing it. In the past tense, it means that you made an effort to do the thing, but you did not succeed.

I'll try to carry the suitcase, but it looks too heavy for me.
She tried to catch the bus, but she couldn't run fast enough.

Look at the difference:

I tried giving up chocolate (it was no problem to stop eating chocolate) but it didn't make me feel more healthy.
I tried to give up chocolate, but it was too hard. I always ate some when my friends offered it to me.
It was too hot in the room. I tried opening the window (it was easy to open the window). It didn't help though, because it was very hot outside too.
I tried to open the window, but I couldn't because it was stuck.

Stop + gerund

When we stop doing something it means the verb in the gerund is the thing that we stop. It can mean 'stop forever' or 'stop at that moment'.

I stopped working when I was expecting a baby. (Working is the thing I stopped).
My grandmother stopped driving when she was 85. (Driving is the thing she stopped).
My boss came into the room, so I stopped browsing the internet.
There was a fire alarm, so I stopped eating and went outside.

Stop + to + infinitive

In this case, we stop something else in order to do the verb in the infinitive.

I stopped to eat lunch. (I stopped something else, maybe working or studying, because I wanted to eat lunch.
She was shopping and she stopped to get a cup of coffee. (She stopped shopping because she wanted to get a cup of coffee).

Look at the difference:

I stopped smoking. (I gave up cigarettes OR I threw away my cigarette at that moment).
I stopped to smoke. (I stopped doing something else because I wanted to have a cigarette).

Regret + gerund

This is when you are sorry about something you did in the past and you wish you hadn't done it.

I regret going to bed so late. I'm really tired today.
She regrets leaving school when she was sixteen. She wishes that she had studied more and then gone to university.

Regret + to + infinitive

We use this construction when we are giving someone bad news, in quite a formal way. The verb is almost always something like 'say' or 'tell' or 'inform'.

I regret to tell you that the train has been delayed.
The company regrets to inform employees that the London office will close next year.

Останалите глаголи следва да бъдат заизустени.

Verbs followed by gerund (verb+ing)

anticipate – We didn’t anticipate winning this match.
avoid – Let’s avoid being late.
can’t help – I can’t help counting those calories.
complete – He completed baking the apple pie.
consider – She never considered moving to England.
delay – We delayed moving to the new house until spring.
deny – He will deny stealing that car.
despise – She despises asking for favours.
discuss – We discussed buying a bigger apartment.
dislike – She dislikes cooking and baking.
enjoy – She enjoys reading.
fancy – I fancy having chicken for dinner.
finish – She finished eating before everyone else.
forgive – Can you forgive me for not fixing the car?
imagine – Can you imagine living on the moon?
involve – The new project involves writing many reports.
keep – She keeps coming late!
mention – I never mentioned meeting him.
mind – Will he mind switching rooms?
miss – I miss chatting with you.
postpone – Let’s postpone going out of town.
practise – He practises playing the guitar daily.
recommend – The doctor recommends resting in bed.
report – They reported seeing her leave with a stranger.
resent – He resents doing it all by himself.
resist – I can’t resist liking him.
resume – They resumed talking after the teacher left.
risk – Would you risk losing everything?
suggest – I suggest not taking him too seriously.
tolerate – We can’t tolerate being screamed at.
understand – He couldn’t understand her leaving so suddenly.
worth – It’s worth visiting the cathedral if you have time.

Verbs followed by infinitive (with “to”)

afford – He has no money so he can’t afford to buy a car.
agree – They agreed to give him a try.
appear – He appeared to know everything.
arrange – I have arranged to meet him on Monday.
ask – She asked to see her doctor.
choose – We chose to ignore it.
claim – He claims to be an expert.
decide – She decided not to go to the party.
demand – I demand to see the person in charge!
deserve – He deserves to win the contest.
expect – He expected to be home sooner.
fail – They failed to follow the instructions.
get – It’s not fair that she gets to see him first.
happen – I happened to pass by, so we had a chat.
hesitate – Don’t hesitate to call.
hope – I hope to see you soon.
intend – She didn’t intend to hurt you.
learn – He learned to speak Spanish very quickly.
manage – We managed to finish everything on time.
offer – He offered to go for a walk.
prepare – We were preparing to leave when he arrived.
pretend – She pretended not to hear a word.
promise – She promised to take us with her next time.
refuse – I refuse to cooperate.
seem – It seems to be broken.
swear – He swore to take revenge.
tend – These plants tend to grow slowly.
threaten – He has threatened to hurt us.
wait – The runners were waiting to start.
want – I want to speak with you in private.
wish – I wish to change my address.
would like – I would like to make a comment

Verbs followed by bare infinitive (without “to”)

can – I can help you if you have any problems.
could – When I was young I could play the piano.
had better – You had better finish your homework before it’s too late.
let (+object +verb) – My parents never let me go out late when I was young.
make (+object +verb) – The boss made her employees stay late.
may – I may go to the party, but I’m not sure.
might – They might make money with the new business plan.
must – You must renew your passport before travelling abroad.
should – You should try the new restaurant in the centre.
would rather – I would rather cook at home than eat out.