§ 6. The infinitive as object of an adjective is sometimes found in a sentence pattern with it as a formal object of some verbs. They are commonly the verbs to feel, to find, to make and to think.

e.g. I find it difficult to believe that anyone can be that lazy.

The ing-form as Object

§ 1. The ing-form may be used as a direct object of a verb. It is lexically dependent in this function and found after the following verbs: to admit, to avoid, to begin, to cease, to consider, to continue, to delay, to deny, to endure, to enjoy, to escape, to finish, to forget, to give up, to go on, to hate, to intend, to keep, to keep on, to leave off, to like, to love, to mention, to mind (in negative and interrogative sentences), to neglect, to postpone, to prefer, to propose (= to suggest), to put off, to quit, to recall, to recollect, to regret, to remember, to resent, to resume, to risk, to start, to stop, to suggest, to try and some others.

e.g. English grammar is very difficult and few writers have avoided making mistakes in it

In addition to the verbs mentioned in the list above, the ing- form as object is used after certain modal phrases in the negative form: can't bear, can't face, can't fancy, can't imagine, can't resist, can't stand and can't help.

e.g. They can't bear being humiliated.

Besides, the ing-form is also used after the set phrase to feel like.

e.g. He felt like giving up the whole affair.

The subject of the ing-form in this function is the same as that of the predicate verb.

§ 2. The ing-form may also serve as a direct object of an adjective. It is lexically dependent in this case and found only after two adjectives — busy and worth.

e.g. The foreman was busy shouting orders and instructions.

He thought my idea was worth trying.

§ 3. As a prepositional object of a verb, the ing-form is also lexically dependent. It is found after verbs that take a prepositional object. These verbs may be divided into three groups:

1) verbs followed by one prepositional object,

2) verbs followed by a non-prepositional object and a prepositional object,

3) verbs followed by two prepositional objects.

1. The verbs of the first group are closely connected with a preposition whose meaning is often weakened. The following is the list of the most commonly used verbs: to admit to, to agree to, to aim at, to apologize for, to approve of, to believe in, to bother about, to care for, to come of, to come round to, to complain of, to confess to, to consist of/in, to count on, to despair of, to dream of, to end in, to forget about, to feel up to, to get to, to get down to, to go back to, to grumble about, to hesitate about, to insist on, to lead to, to long for, to mean by, to persist in, to plan on, to reckon on, to refrain from, to return to, to result in/from, to save from, to succeed in, to take to, to talk of, to tell of, to think of/about, to threaten with, to worry about and some others.

e.g. What did she mean by boasting like that?

Here also belong certain set phrases, such as: to find excuses for, to have no doubt about, to look forward to, to lose time in, to make a point of, to plead guilty to, to take pride in and some others.

e.g. I took pride in making my lodgings pretty and comfortable.

Special attention should be given to set phrases with the verb to be which are treated as verb equivalents.

e.g. Would you be up to playing with us this afternoon?

.

The subject of the action expressed by the ing-form is generally the person denoted by the subject of the sentence (see the examples above). But occasionally we find an ing-complex.

e.g. I don't in the least object to your playing practical jokes on other people..

The use of an ing-complex seems to be generally required by the verbs to approve of, to disapprove of, to grumble about and some others.

e.g. He could not approve of Guy's hiding himself away.

II. Verbs requiring a non-prepositional and prepositional object are in general less numerous. Besides, not all of them take an ing- form as their prepositional object (e.g. to explain something to somebody, to dictate something to somebody, etc.).

Of the verbs taking a non-prepositional and prepositional object expressed by an ing form, the most commonly occurring are: to accuse somebody of, to amuse somebody with, to ask somebody about, to charge somebody with, to coax somebody into, to give something to, to give something for, to invite somebody into, to keep some body from, to mutter something about, to persuade somebody into, to remind somebody of, to restrict oneself to, to save somebody from, to say something about, to stop somebody from, to suspect somebody of, to talk somebody into/out of, to tell something about and some others.

e.g- I am prepared for anyone to accuse me of being cowardly.

Of all the prepositions there is one that acquires particular importance in this construction as it may be found with a considerable number of verbs and is, consequently, of frequent occurrence. It is the preposition for. It generally serves to indicate the cause of the action denoted by the predicate verb.

For is found after the following verbs: to blame somebody, to excuse somebody, to forgive somebody, to hate somebody, to like somebody, to love somebody, to pay somebody, to reprimand some body, to reproach somebody, to scold somebody, to thank somebody and some others.

e.g. I thought you had just been blaming me for being neutral.

The subject of the ing-form in this sentence pattern is the person denoted by the direct object, as in She tried to talk him into doing it (see also the examples above).

After verbs of speaking we often find an ing-complex.

e.g. I told them about Gustav's wanting to come with me.

III. The number of verbs requiring two prepositional objects of which the second is an ing-form is limited. The ing-form is also introduced by the preposition for, as with some verbs above,

e.g. I entered the classroom and apologized to the teacher for be ing late.

§ 4. The ing-form as a prepositional object is also found after various kinds of adjectives — adjectives proper, predicative adjectives and adjectivized participles. The most commonly occurring of them are: absorbed in, (un)accustomed to, afraid of, amused at, angry with, annoyed at, ashamed of, aware of, (in)capable of, careful about/in, careless of, certain of, clever at, (un)conscious of, content with, delighted at, different from, embarrassed at, ex cited about, far from, fond of, fortunate in, frightened of, furious at, given to, good (better) at, grateful for, happy in/at, interested in, irritated at, keen on, miserable at, nice about, pleased at, proud of, responsible for, right in, scared at/of, set against, set on, sick of, skilled in/at, slow in, sorry for, successful in/at, sure of, sur- prised at, thankful for, tired of, touched at, upset at, (un)used to, worried about, wrong in, etc.

e.g. If only I were capable of doing that!

§ 5. The ing-form may serve as object of a verb in a special sentence pattern with it as a formal subject. The use of the ing- form in this sentence pattern is found after a very limited number of verbs and set phrases (which are verb equivalents) but it is typical of spoken English.

e.g- She was, as her colleagues said, "good on paper", but when it came to speaking in committees she was so apprehensive that she spent sleepless hours the night before.

§ 6. The ing-form may be used as a direct object of an adjective in a sentence pattern with if as a formal subject. This kind of object is also lexically ependent — it regularly occurs after it is worth.

e.g. It is worth remembering that he has once been a boxer.

Sometimes the ing-form is found after a number of other adjectives such as amusing, banal, comfortable, difficult, dreary, easy, great, hopeless, lovely, nice, odd, pleasant, strange, tough, useless, wonderful, etc.

e.g. It was difficult getting him to do it.

But the ing-form occurs after these adjectives only in spoken English, and such sentences are often emotionally coloured. As a general rule, we find an infinitive here