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Ask for help > To Infinitive or Gerund
To Infinitive or Gerund
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sally259
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To Infinitive or Gerund
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Hello
Please can you help me with a problem I have with explaining when to use the infinitive or when to use the gerund with the following type of sentence.
He suggested bringing the picnic.
I wanted to bring sandwiches.
I can �t seem to explain it well enough for my student to understand. Also she keeps making sentences that are similar but not part of this grammar topic, for example she used.
My husband suggested that we bring a picnic.
Sorry it �s not explained very well - I haven �t taught this area before.
Thank you for any help.
Sally |
19 Jun 2014
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nasreddine Sarsar
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Hi Sally,
There are some verbs that are followed by the full infinitive such as want, agree, decide, etc. For example, we can say all of the following:
1. she wanted to live in another area of the city.
2. The boy agreed to accompany his mom to the shopping mall.
3. Jack decided to look for another job.
Suggest is unlike other English verbs. We can say all of the following:
1. She suggested going to the beach. (suggest + gerund)
2. She suggested (that) we should go to the beach.
3. She suggested we go to the beach.
All these forms are possible with little or no difference in nuance,
although the subjunctive form, suggested we go, is a touch
more formal.
Suggest
is one of those verbs of advice that cannot be followed by the more
usual pattern of object + infinitive but has to be followed
by a that-clause with should + infinitive or with present subjunctive form verbs.
1. I suggest she see a doctor (and not sees!). Reference to the present.
2. I suggested she see a doctor. Reference to the past.
To help your students see the difference, you give them a list of verbs that are followed by the full infinitive, gerund, or both. As for suggest, you should teach the verbs that express advice such as insist, demand, recommend, ect.
I hope this humble explanation will be of some help to your students.
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19 Jun 2014
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Prese1
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Hi Sally,
Are you teaching from a coursebook? Sometimes they have a list of the verbs that are followed by gerunds and another list of verbs followed by infinitives.
If students do exercises looking back at these lists, when needed, it helps. Teaching them a few at a time also helps.
"My husband suggested that we bring a picnic" As you were saying ...tell the student that the sentence is correct but in this case we are neither talking about gerunds or infinitives. We want to focus on the G and I.
I hope that helps
P |
19 Jun 2014
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yanogator
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nasreddine has some good stuff there, but I �m puzzled by the last example, "I suggested she saw a doctor". I don �t know if it is grammatically correct, but we in the US wouldn �t say it. Bruce |
19 Jun 2014
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almaz
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Exactly, Bruce; �saw � in the example is a simple past indicative, so it doesn �t make a lot of sense with �suggested � here. ( �suggested � with a simple past can mean - among other things - imply, as in: "When I suggested he dyed his hair, he went bananas")
Alex |
19 Jun 2014
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nasreddine Sarsar
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Bruce and Alex, sorry. That was a typo. I edited the post. Thanks for your remarks. Just keep cool and don�t go bananas! |
19 Jun 2014
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sally259
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Thank you all for your replies and private messages - I really appreciate your help. You �ve all given me a lot of ideas and information to work with.
Regards Sally |
19 Jun 2014
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