Verbs that can be followed by an infinitive ( ex : to do)

1- After verbs that  refer to a future event:

• want

• hope

• aim

• intend

• arrange

• attempt

• promise

• be determined

• plan

• consent

• decide

• demand

• deserve

• determine

• endeavor

• expect

• offer

• proceed

• promise

• threaten

• swear

• volunteer

• want

• would like

• would hate

• would love

Example:

" I want to finish my work early.

2- After certain other verbs, such as:

• afford

• agree

• help

• choose

• fail

• happen

• refuse

• manage

• need

• seem

• learn

• choose

• pretend

Example:

"She refused to forgive him."

3- After adjectives :  

• glad

• pleased 

• disappointed 

Example:

"I'm glad to know that you passed the exam."  "I'm pleased to meet you." "I'm disappointed to hear that you flunked maths."

4- After "too" & "enough":

too difficult easy enough

Example:

"It's too difficult to convince him to be helpful."  " But it's easy enough to fool him to get what you want."

Verbs that can be followed by both an infinitive and a gerund:

Some verbs can be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive. Here are some examples:

• start

• begin

• stop

• remember...

Example:

"I started smoking when I was young." "I started to smoke when I left the office."

The Gerund

What is a gerund?

The gerund always ends in ing.

Example:

• Swimming is my hobby

• Writing is more difficult than reading

However, it should be noted that the present participle also ends in ing.

Example:

• They were watching TV when I arrived.

• John will be teaching in that school for the next two years.

What is the difference between a gerund and the present participle?

You can differentiate between the gerund and the present participle as follows:

• Gerunds function as nouns.

• Gerunds can be a subject, direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions.

• Present participles, on the other hand, complete progressive verbs or act as modifiers.

Examples of gerund:

• Cycling is fun. (subject)

• I like cycling. (direct object)

• He gives fishing all his time.( indirect object)

• He has devoted all his life to fishing. (object of the preposition to)

Examples of present participle:

• They were eating when the bell rang. (eating is a present participle which is part of the past progressive tense "were eating")

• I bought a fishing book. (writing is a present participle modifying book)

Related material:

Too / Enough

Too and Enough

Too and enough indicate degree. They are used with adjectives.

• Too means more than what is needed.

• Enough means sufficient.

Examples

He is too old to play football with the kids. Dave is intelligent enough to do the write thing. You're not working fast enough  I don't have enough time.  He has too many friends. She has got too much patience

Use of too and enough

1.Enough precedes adjectives and adverbs:

He isn't old enough to watch this program.  We're not walking quickly enough.

2.Enough may also precede nouns:

We have enough money .  I have not got enough money to buy this computer.

3.Too comes before adjectives and adverbs:

It's too hot to wear that coat.  I was driving too fast.

4. Too may also come before nouns when it is used with the expressions too much and too many.

a. Too much is used before uncountable nouns.

There is too much salt in this food.

b. Too many is used before countable nouns

There are too many students in this classroom.

See more about countable and uncountable nouns