Gerunds and Infinites
At the beginning of the semester we’ve studied the use of verbs in the gerund and the infinitive forms along with an object serving as another verb’s complement. It’s important to remember that we have different ways of expressing the infinitive. Most of the times, we’ll use to + verb but there are times when verb + ing is applied.
Today we’ll study complex gerunds and infinitives and some other uses of those forms.
Complex Gerunds and Infinitives
1- We use a passive gerund (being done) OR a passive infinitive (to be done) to describe actions done to the subject.
- She loves being told how pretty she is.
- I’m tired of being lied to. I want the truth.
- It’s very difficult to get promoted in this company.
- My car needs to be serviced.
2- We use a perfect gerund (having done) or a perfect infinitive (to have done) to emphasize that an action is completed or in the past.
- He thanked them for having helped him.
- Having studied one language before makes it easier to learn another.
- How wonderful to have finished all our tests!
3- We use the perfect infinitive after would like, would love, would hate, would prefer and would rather, to talk about an earlier action.
- I would like to have seen your face when they told you you won the competition!
- We would rather have stayed in a more central hotel, but they were all full.
OBS: check the difference between the use of the infinitive and the perfect infinitive:
I would like to visit Bali. ( = when I got to Indonesia in the future)
I would like to have visited Bali. ( = I was in Indonesia, but I didn’t visit it.)
4- We use a continuous infinitive (to be + verb + -ing) to say that an action/event is in progress around the time we are talking about.
- I’d like to be lying on the beach right now.
- She seems to be coughing a lot – do you think she’s OK?
Other uses of Gerunds and Infinitives
1- We use the gerund after certain expressions with it or there – It’s no use, There’s no point, It’s not worth, etc.
- It’s no use worrying. There’s nothing you can do.
- Is there any point in asking him? He never has anything useful to say.
- It’s no good talking to my dad because he doesn’t listen to me.
2- We use the infinitive with to:
- after nouns formed from verbs that take the infinitive (like agree, plan, hope, etc)
- We had an agreement to share the costs.
- Our plan is to leave on Saturday.
- after expressions with quantifiers (enough, too much, a lot, plenty of, etc)
- You can’t visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a day – there’s too much to see.
- There wasn’t enough snow for us to ski.
- after something, anywhere, etc
- Is there anything to eat? There’s nowhere to go at night.
- after question words (except why)
- I don’t know where to go or what to do.
- after superlatives and first, second, last, etc
- He’s the youngest player ever to play for Brazil.
📝 Let's exercise!
🎧 Listen to the audio
Audio Homework 1
Rewrite the sentences with the bold word and send an audio to your teacher reading them:
- We don’t have many eggs so we can’t make an omelet. ENOUGH
We ________________________________________ make an omelet. - Are you sorry you didn’t have more children? REGRET
________________________________________ more children? - Don’t get angry. That won’t help. POINT
________________________________________ angry. - I really wish I’d been able to go to your birthday party. LOVE
I ________________________________________ to your birthday party.
🔊 Learning Through Text (LTT)
Look at some commonly-held beliefs related to health and medicine. Which ones do you think are true?
l = interviewer, Dr = doctorI: We have in the studio Dr. Linda Blakey, who is helping us separate the medical facts from all the myths and old wives' tales that are out there. So, my first question, Linda, is there any truth in the belief that if you eat a large meal in the evening, you're more likely to gain weight than if you eat the same amount of food earlier in the day?
Dr: Well, there's a clear answer to that: if you're watching your weight, what matters is what you eat, not when you eat it. A calorie at midday is no different from a calorie at midnight, and the idea that your metabolism slows down in the evening is actually a myth. As a matter of fact, there is a medical condition called "night-eating syndrome," which affects two percent of the population, and people who suffer from it eat very little during the day, but often wake up and eat during the night. These people on average are no more overweight than people who do not suffer from this syndrome.
I: So l can go out for a big meal in the evening and not feel guilty about it?
Dr: Absolutely - as long as you don't have a big lunch, too.
I: Well, that's good. The next question l'd like to ask you about is catching colds. It's always seemed obvious to me that if you stay out in the cold and wind, you're more likely to catch a cold. But l also remember reading somewhere that this was a myth. What's the truth about that one?
Dr: Well, colds, we know, are caused by viruses, which you catch from an infected person, for example, when they cough or sneeze. Now for many years doctors believed that the only reason why it was more common to catch a cold in the winter was because people stayed indoors more, and so they infected one another. But recent research has found that being exposed to cold temperatures does in fact lower our body's defenses, so that means that if you get cold, you're more likely to become infected by a cold virus, or to develop a cold if you've already been infected. It's not a myth, it's true.
I: OK. That all makes sense to me. Now something my parents used to tell me was that it's dangerous to take a bath or a shower during a thunderstorm, because I might get electrocuted. I've always thought it was crazy. Is it an old wives' tale?
Dr: In fact, that's actually true. Between ten and twenty people a year get an electric shock while taking a bath or shower during a thunderstorm, and some of them die as a result. It's due to the fact that metal pipes are excellent conductors of electricity, as is tap water. So even though statistically it's not very likely to happen to you, especially if you live in a grounded building, you should probably avoid showering during a storm.
I: OK. I'll remember that! Now the next one is something I'm they can read perfectly well. But reading in dim light must be bad for their eyes, right?
Dr: Well, that's one that parents around the world have been telling their children for generations, but it actually has no real scientific basis. Reading in the dark or in dim light can cause a temporary strain on the eyes, but it quickly goes away once you return to bright light.
I: Well, now I know. Now the next one affects me directly. Every summer in the mosquito season, I get really badly bitten, even when 1 put insect repellent on, but my wife never gets bitten at all. She says that mosquitoes don't like her. Is that possible?
Dr: It's irritating, isn't it? As a matter of fact, it seems to be true. Female mosquitoes, which are the ones that bite, are attracted to the carbon dioxide we exhale, our body heat, and certain chemicals in our sweat. But some lucky people produce chemicals that either prevent mosquitoes from detecting them or that actually drive them away. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those lucky people either, but your wife obviously is.
I: The last thing I would like you to clarify for us is the idea that bottled water is purer than tap water. Now I know it's one thing to drink bottled water if you're traveling in a country where the water hasn't been treated or isn't safe to drink. But what about here in the United States?
Dr: We're all a bit suspicious of what comes out of our taps, and that's why sales of bottled water have risen so much over the last decade. But what many people don't realize is that bottled water isn't subjected to the same regular testing that tap water is, and in some tests a third of the samples of bottled water analyzed were contaminated. In any case a quarter of all bottled water sold is just filtered tap water.
🎧 Listen to the audio
💬 Conversation
Guess the sentence!
Look at the sentences your teacher gave you and try to imagine what the missing phrase could be.
Read your sentences to your partner. Try different possibilities until you get all the sentences exactly right. Your partner can help you with tips.
Now listen to your partner’s sentences and help them until they get it exactly right.
Audio Homework 2
Send an audio to your teacher telling them about something you thought was true, but later on found out was a myth.
