What Is an
Infinitive?
Infinitive is the
verb form which has “to” at the starting. For example,to work,to speak,to do,to
make etc are the pure example of infinitive. It is the very easiest and
simplest verb form which you have to modify to fit into sentence.
For make these clear
I have shown some examples,Nazzar makes,He does,He goes,She cooks etc no longer contains the infinitive of the verb
“to sleep.”Despite of,it has been conjugated into the simple present third person
form of the verb “to sleep”sleeps.According to the “sleep” others will follow
same process regarding infinitive.
So Infinitives are
easy! Lets next!
What is a Gerund?
Gerunds are consist
of adding “ing” to the verb.Example,sleeping,drawing,swimming,going
etc are pure examples of gerund. But they are not the “ing” verb forms that you
see in the present or past continuous tense. They look the same,but gerunds are
actually verb forms used as nouns.Remind that gerund only uses as noun,nothing
else.
Let’s take the
infinitive of the verb “to cook” and use it in two different sentences.
I am cooking.
Its clear,it is a present continuous. “cooking” here is
part of the verb.It is not a gerund.Here’s the second sentence.
I don’t like cooking.
This is present
simple,but it contains a gerund. “cooking” is the direct object of this
sentence.
On the other hand,Gerunds
can be used as a subject of a sentence.Some example have given below for clarifying.Take
a look at some examples.
Swimming is good for
your health.
Making friends has
become more difficult since I moved to a new city.
Becoming a
millionaire is a dream of many young people today.
Here,the gerunds
are part of the sentence subjects (walking,making friends,becoming a
millionaire). All three sentences sound like normal,everyday English.
Now read these two
special sentences.
“To be or not to
be—that is the question.”
“To mourn a mischief
that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on.”
(Follow here,Both
sentences are quotes from William Shakespeare’s works.)
They sound formal,don’t
they?They are poetic,aren’t they? Shakespeare is one of the greatest authors of
all time,but his English is famously difficult to understand. And that’s
because it is literature.It is formal and it is an art.
In those two quotes,
the infinitives “to be” and “to mourn” are used as the sentence subjects.So, it
is possible to use both infinitives and gerunds as subjects,but gerunds are
much more commonly used as subjects.Just pay attention to how the choice
reflects on the tone and meaning of your sentences.
No more today!
Thank You.