Gerunds or Infinitives?

If you want to speak correct and natural English, you should know when to use gerunds, and when to use infinitives.

Deciding between a gerund and an infinitive as an object is much more difficult than subjects.  You must learn which verbs are followed by gerunds, infinitives, or both.   The tables show which verbs are followed by gerunds and which are followed by infinitives.

Verbs Followed by Gerunds

Admit	Delay	Give up	Quit	Suggest
Anticipate	Deny	Imagine	Recall	Tolerate
Appreciate	Discuss	Keep	Recollect	Understand
Avoid	Dislike	Mention	Recommend
Can't help	Don't mind	Mind	Report
Can't stand	Enjoy	Miss	Resent
Complete	Finish	Postpone	Resist
Consider	Get through	Practice	Risk

Verbs Followed by Infinitives

Agree	Claim	Expect	Know how	Prepare	Tend
Appear	Consent	Fail	Learn	Pretend	Threaten
Arrange	Decide	Forget	Manage	Promise	Try
Ask	Demand	Happen	Mean	Seem	Wait
Care	Deserve	Hesitate	Need	Struggle	Want
Choose	Desire	Hope	Offer	Swear	Wish

Verbs Followed by Both

Can afford	Choose	Hate	Plan	Stop
Allow	Continue	Hesitate	Prefer	Threaten
Attempt	Dread	Intend	Pretend	Try
Can bear	Expect	Like	Regret
Begin	Forget	Love	Remember
Can't stand	Go	Neglect	Start

Here is the full explanation:

Part I

The basic difference between gerunds and infinitives is the following:

Using a gerund suggests that you are referring to real activities or experiences. Using an infinitive suggests that you are talking about potential or possible activities or experiences.

So let's say you eat ice cream every day. This is an actual action you are doing. Then you could say: "I like eating ice cream". On the other hand, if you are on a diet, and you don't usually eat ice cream, then you are talking about a potential action. You could say: "I like to eat ice cream." When used before the main verb, gerunds tend to sound more like natural English. For example, the sentence "Playing tennis is a lot of fun" sounds more natural than "To play tennis is a lot of fun". The later sentence sounds more theoretical.