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 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.