Basic and effective Uses of Gerund and Infinitive

What is Gerund and Infinitive ?

Gerund is ‘ing’ form of a verb used as a noun and a verbal noun. Infinitive is a base form of verb and occurs without inflections used as a noun .

Gerund and Infinitive is included in Grammar for Std 9, Std 10, Std 11,Std 12.You will understand what is gerund and what is Infinitive after studying this post. Gerund and Infinitive are explained with their examples. There is an exercise on gerund and infinitive. Note down the difference between Gerund and infinitive.

Explanation of Gerund and Infinitive

When the —’ing’ form of a verb is used as a noun, it is known as a gerund and a verbal noun. 

 1. The fighting went on. 

Here, we see that the —’ing’ form of the verb ‘fight’ is used as a subject in ‘The fighting went on’. It does a work of a noun.

2. I like swimming.

In this sentence ‘swimming’ is used as object of the verb ‘like’ . It performs the function of noun. So it is gerund. Subject and object are either noun or pronoun.

Gerund can be used as subject, object and complement.

3. My hobby is gardening. 

Here gardening is gerund because it is used as complement i.e. noun.

4. I enjoy reading stories.

Here reading is an object of the verb enjoy so it performs the function of noun. The word reading has its own object ‘stories’ ( reading what?) so it performs the function of verb. Here it performs two functions : verb and noun so it is called verbal noun. It is also derived from verb.

5. I am fond of reading.

Used as an object of a preposition 

Examples of gerunds 

Gardening is an art. 

Cooking is a science. 

I enjoy reading poems.

He entered the shop for buying books.

I like reading more than writing.

Dying is better than surrendering.

The duck was excellent in swimming.

She likes swimming.

Now read the following sentences and fill in the blanks appropriately using gerund foms of the verbs given below:

sing, shine, buy, play, study, ski, sell

• Chandan is not at all a keen student. He prefers……… to…….
• My mother is fond of music. ………. is her pastime activity.
•  I like ………. my shoes.
• ………….is a winter sport in Kashmir.
• ………….and………… is the profession of any shop keeper.

Infinitives

Sometimes the form of a verb in a sentence names the action but does not change according to tense, number or person. Such a form is known as a non-finite form or an infinitive. An infinitive is used with or without ‘to’.

Infinitive is a base form of verb and occurs without inflections. 

Examples: How did people first begin to drink tea? Can you name the beverage?

Like gerund Infinitive also performs the functions of noun and verb.

Exercise on Infinitive

Underline the infinitive in the following sentences.

To die is better than to surrender.

To collect stamps is my hobby.

It was funny to read words that stood still.

Can I read the book?

To be or not to be – that is the question.

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.

We travel to bring what little we can,…..

Yet one of the subtler beauties of travel is that it enables you to bring  new eyes to people you encounter.

I stand here to thank Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

India’s present epoch maker has come here to bless the state.

The State of Maharashtra is going to last forever.

Let its brightness grey.

Bare Infinitive

Modal auxiliaries ‘will’, ‘shall’, ‘would’, ‘should’, ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’ and ‘must’ are followed by bare infinitives (infinitives without ‘to’)

Verbs like ‘let’, ‘make’, ‘see’, ‘hear’, ‘feel’, ‘watch’ and ‘notice’ are usually followed by object + bare infinitive.

Now fill in the blanks by using the appropriate infinitive:

i.The driver was arrested for failing ——(report, to report) the accident.

ii My father made me (go, to go) for a walk.

iii. Ramesh was made ———(pay, to pay) back the money.

iv. Sarika did not let me ————(see, to see) what she was doing.

Rewrite underlined gerund as Infinitive.

1. Begging is a curse on humanity. 

Ans : To beg is a curse on humanity.

2. I like swimming.

Ans : I like to swim.

Developing Writing Skills

Rewrite sentences using gerund forms of bold words .

1. We stopped under a Kusum tree to take a break.

Ans : We stopped under a Kusum tree for taking a break.

2. But there was no other soul to listen to my sound.

Ans : But there was no other soul for listening to my sound.

3. I like to collect stamps.

Ans : I like collecting stamps.

Active Voice and Passive Voice

Examples of gerund and Infinitive