Gerunds and Infinitives: -ing or To?
Which verbs take -ing, which take to, and the handful that take both with a change of meaning.
When one verb follows another, English forces a choice: -ing or to. There is no rule that predicts it — the pattern belongs to the first verb — so the useful thing is to learn the groups.
Verbs followed by -ing
enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, consider, imagine, practise, deny, admit, risk, miss, keep, give up
I enjoy cooking. She avoided answering the question. Would you mind waiting?
Verbs followed by to + verb
want, hope, plan, decide, promise, agree, offer, refuse, manage, learn, afford, seem, expect, pretend
We decided to leave early. He promised to call. I can't afford to buy it.
After prepositions: always -ing
This one has no exceptions and catches everyone.
She is good at solving problems. Thanks for helping. I'm interested in learning more.
Watch "to" as a preposition:
I look forward to hearing from you. (not to hear) I'm used to working late.
If to belongs to a phrase like look forward to or be used to, it is a preposition, and -ing follows.
Both, with a change of meaning
remember / forget
I remembered to lock the door. (I remembered, then locked it) I remember locking the door. (I have a memory of doing it)
stop
He stopped smoking. (he quit) He stopped to smoke. (he paused in order to smoke)
try
Try to open the window. (make an effort) Try opening the window. (as an experiment — it might help)
The pattern: to points forward to a purpose or intention; -ing points back to the action itself.
Both, with no real change
begin, start, continue, like, love, hate, prefer — either form works.
It started to rain / started raining.
Test yourself
The quiz below includes the meaning-changing pairs.