Gerund or infinitive?
In last week’s episode, Tim talked about whether to use the gerund or the base form. This week, Tim shifts his focus to how to choose the gerund or the infinitive. There is a hack for choosing the gerund or the infinitive that works most of the time: infinitives are used in situations where an action is not yet completed.
You can see this in three situations:
1. In the expression “about to”:
-I’m about to fall asleep.
2. To talk about the goal or purpose of an action:
-She’s saving money to buy a car.
3. With verbs which give the verb that follows them a future or potential meaning:
-want to, need to, have to, plan to.
Of course, you need to practice if you want to correctly choose the gerund or the infinitive- so listen to this episode to hear plenty of examples!