THE GERUND and THE INFINITIVE

THE VERBS + GERUND

The gerund is the base form of the verb + ing. Like

going,eating,reading,swimming,watching….However,in the sentence the gerund does not really function as a verb because there is the main verb of the sentence.For example , in these sentences the verbs are underlined:

Ø I love swimming.

Ø My hobby is reading.

Ø Playing foot-ball is wonderful.

Ø Go ahead; continue reading.

Ø The thief admitted stealing.

So, you know of course that the main verb in any sentence needs a subject, an object or a complement.

Therefore the verbs “love, is, is” in the examples above need these elements too.So in the first example “swimming” is the object of the verb “love”: I love what? I love “swimming”. In the second example “reading” is the complement of the verb “to be” “is”.And in the last example “playing foot-ball” is thesubject of the verb “ is”.

So, “swimming”, “reading” and “playing”don’t function as verbs. They are therefore “NOUNS”.

As you can notice some verbs in English like “love is,admit,continue,like….” Are followed by the gerund in case what comes after them is a “verb”.

Look at this exercise for example: 1* “I can’t help (to open) the window because it’s very hot here.

As you can see, you have two verbs: “can’t help’’ and “to open”. So the second one must be in one of two forms: gerund or infinitive. Therefore, in English “can’t help” when followed by another verb, the second verb must be in the gerund form. In this sentence “opening” is the object of the verb “can’t help”.

SO—- 1*“I can’t help opening the window because…” is the correct sentence.

What are the English verbs which must be followed by the gerund?

There are a lot of course. There are no rules as to which verb must be + gerund and which one must be + inf.To know which form to use comes from practice: reading, reading and writing. Here are examples of verbs which are followed by the gerund:

Admit-can’t help-can’t see –complete-finish -deny-enjoy-keep-mind-anticipate-mention-appreciate-avoid-miss-practice-recall-suggest…….

Examples:

Ø I can’t bear looking at explosions.

Ø I have completed/finished answering all the questions.

Ø The criminal admittedstealing the bank.

Ø My friend has mentioned going on a picnic.

Ø Most people appreciate travelling in summer.

Ø You should practice reading and writing long texts.

Ø Keep working! You will enjoy your reading a lot.

So one thing you have to remember is that when one verb follows another one in English, the second one must be in the gerund ifthe first verb is one of those above. Do a web search for more examples.Some other verbs,however,in English must be followed by the infinitive.

THE VERB+INFINITIVE

Some verbs in English must be followed by the
infinitive. For example,

ØRashid invited me to have dinner in the restaurant.

Ø I agreed to go with him. But I refused to use his car.

Ø We decided to eat couscous.

Ø But it started to rain and we didn’t go.

As you can see all the yellow verbs above must be followed by the infinitive.

The infinitive verbs above play the role of object of the verbs in yellow.

Sometimes the infinitive can be the subject of the sentence. I have said above that a “gerund” can be subject.So we cansay :

ü To smoke is what makes me angry a lot.

ü To play foot ball is what I love a lot.

The infinitive can also be the complement of the verb.

ü My aim is to pass my baccalaureate exam.

ü My ambition is to become a pilot.

Some verbs in English as in the examples above must be followed be the infinitive in case there is another verb after them. These verbs include: invite-agree-decide-star-accept-refuse-ask-fail-succeed-plan-begin –neglect…..

Examples:

Ø Youness agreed to help me with myEnglish.

Ø Our sciences teacher has decided to take us to the gorges.

Ø Fred has failed to get a good mark in the test.

Ø Latifa asked the teacher to explain more.

Ø We are planning to have a travel to Agadir.

Notice that some of the verbs above are followed by an object and then the infinitive.Verb+object+infinitive: Rashid has agreed to give me his.

The gerund after certain phrases with prepostion

Notice that the gerund can also be used after some phrases with prepositions:These include the following:

1-In addition to reading, I can also write a very good English.

2-Most students are interested in knowing more about the topic of “sustainable development’’.

3-I have no objection to helping you to get a good grade in the exam.

4-Do the exercise without making a lot of noise.

5-A lot of my students are good at reading but they have problems in dealing with grammar exercises.

6-I am against saying that terrorism has social causes. I am with believing that terror should be eradicated.

7-Most brain drainers are thinking of coming back…

8-I am tired of repeating this. But, you should do a lot of exercises about this particular lesson.

9-Most students who love grammar will have difficulty in understanding this lesson.

10-Any way I am looking forward to receiving your comments on this lesson. It might be difficult.

11-How about having an excursion newt week?

These are examples. There are still many others. But, you should know that what is important in this lesson is not really to memorize all the verbs/expressions which are followed by the gerund or the infinitive.
But you should be able to recognize and understand that in English, in addition to the tenses, some verbs may take the infinitive or the gerund form. When they are in the gerund form, they are “nouns” and they function as subject, object or complement of another verb.

HERE IS A PRESENTATION FROM MY COLLEAGUE REDA OULAD:

Infinitive_Vs_Gerund

Thanks Reda for your valuable contribution.Keep it up!

WATCH A VIDEO SUMMARY HERE:

1Use the verbs between brackets in the gerund or the infinitive:

1-I regret (inform) ………………..you that you are not appointed for the job.

2-While we were in the mountains yesterday, Rashid stopped (smoke)……………………. He smoked at least five times.One of our friends was injured while he was climbing the mountains. We tried (call) ………………………the ambulance, but there was no network coverage in the mountains. Despite that small problem, we continued (walk)…………………..

3-Do you remember (give) ……………………………me your dictionary yesterday. I looked up the definition of the word I wanted.

4-Our English teacher found a student (cheat)…………………………….in the test last week.

5- I am looking forward to (hear)……………………….your answers.

6-I really don’t care for (do)………………………………a lot of work.

7- Oh I am sorry, I meant (give) ………………………………you a photocopy of this lesson. But the photocopying machineis not working.

8-You should keep (work)…………………………..despite difficulties. Enjoy (do)……………………..a lot of revisions and make it fun

9-Have you finished (do)………………………………the exercise.

10 -My teacher insists on (write)……………………………..many articles every week.

1 1-I advise you (read) ……………………………..articles on sustainable development.

12-When the rain started, the players ceased/stopped (play)………………………………….

13-Our school doesn’t allow (use)……………………………..mobile phones during classes.

14-Don’t forget (make)……………………………a list of the verbs which are followed by a gerund.

15- I am used to (stay)…………………………………late at night.

16-I am sorry for (say)…………………………………….that.It was my mistake.

Download a pdf file here:Use the verbs between brackets in the gerund or the infinitive

Check your answers here:Use the verbs between brackets in the gerund or the infinitive_answers sheet.

Education Collocations

Choose a word from ‘’ A ‘’ and match it with one from ‘’B’’ to form collocations.Then,usethem in the text below.

A	B
Ø * Formal Ø *Priority Ø *Public Ø *Formally-organised Ø *Continuing Ø *State-supported Ø *Vocational Ø *To eradicate Ø *Governmental Ø *Sustainable Ø *To fight Ø *Higher Ø *Mixed Ø *University Ø *Free Ø *Adult Ø *Private Ø *School *educational	ü Access ü Support ü Issue ü Education ü Illiteracy ü Degree ü Development ü Literacy ü School ü Subject ü System ü Institution

Education is a p……….……… i.…………… in Morocco. F……………. e…………………….is that type of education which students get in a f……………..……-…..……………..s…………………. This type of education gets complete g……………… s………..…. In nonformal education, the government aims mainly to f……………..……. i……………………….. It is the a………….…………… l……………………… That is, most people who attend these classes are old. In most Moroccan schools we have m……………e…………This means both boys and girls study together. In the Moroccan e……………… s………………,everybody has f…………… a………… to education, which means that you can attend a p………… s……………… if you don’t have money to go to a p……… i………… Both the students who attend public and private schools do h………………… e …………………… and they get a u…………………. d………………… upon their graduation. Both private and public schools in Morocco are s………………… s…………………. That is the Moroccan government gives its help and support to the p……………i……………… as well as the public ones. Without a good education,s………………………..d…………….……………….. would be impossible to achieve. CHECK YOUR ANSWERS HERE: education collocations answers

RELATIVE CLAUSES

RELATIVE  CLAUSES.

1-What is a relative clause?

A relative clause is a part of a sentence. This means it looks like a sentence,but it can’t stand by itself. This means if we use it alone, it will not have any meaning, simply because it is not a complete sentence but it depends on another one to complete its meaning.

For example: Obama,who is the president of America, is a famous person.

The relative clause is “who is the president of America”.It is not an independent sentence because if you put it alone, it will not have any meaning.

So a relative clause in fact is a “sentence” because it contains a SUBJECT + VERB +….. But; it is not independent.

2-What do relative clauses do?

Relative clauses, as you can see in the example above,give more (additional) information about a noun. This noun can be the noun of a place, a person or a thing.

In the example above, the relative clause: ” who is the president of America’’ gives more information about “Obama”.It says that he is the president of America.

3-How do we make a relative clause?

A relative clause is linked (related) to the noun before it by a relative pronoun/adverb.

In the example above: (Obama,who is the president of America,is a famous person.) normally we have two sentences. They are:

a- Obama is a famous person

b- He (Obama) is the president of America.

So, what do we do then?

Very simple! To avoid the repetition of the word “Obama”, we just link (relate) the second sentence to the first.

And we get : “Obama, who is the president of America,is a famous person.”

You can see that nothing is really changing in the second sentence. We just take out“he” and put in its place “who”.This is therelative pronoun:”who”.

4-How do we decide which relative pronoun/adverb we use?

Very simple indeed. Just think about the words we use in asking questions.They are called the “wh-words”.So,what are they?

ØTo ask a question about a place/thing we use the word—————-which”

For example, we say: which car do you drive to work?/which book do you prefer?/which foot-ball club do you like? Which Moroccan city do you love?

ØTo ask a question about a person we use the word ————————-“who”

For example, we say: A: who is your teacherof English? B: Mr Redouan is my teacher of English.

ØTo ask a question about an adverb of place,we use the word—————-“where”.

For example, we say: A: where do you live? B: I live in Tinghir.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOK! The place here in this example is different from the first example above in which we use ”which”.

What is the difference?

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THIS EXAMPLE THE PLACE IS PRECEDED BY (مسبوقةب) A PREPOSITION.THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT AN ADVERB of place.

We have “In Tinghir”; not “Tinghir”**********REMEMBER THEN: If you have a place preceded by a preposition that’s an adverb of place. Then you should use the relative adverb” where” in the relative clause. You will have an example below.

We say for example: A: where is the bank?

B: the bank is behind the post office.

So the preposition (in, behind, on, under,at, after, below…) makes the name of the place an adverb in the sentences above.

That’s why we have to use “where” when we are relating a sentence containing an adverb of place to another sentence.

ØTo ask a question about an adverb of time,we use the word—————– “when”.

For example, we say: “when do you go to school?” B:” I go to school at nine o’clock.”Loooooooooooooooook!again: what makes “nine o’clock” an adverb here is just the preposition which comes before: “at”.

So, when you have a preposition (on, in, at,before….) + a time word (9:00-Monday-2010-1976-march…) = adverb of time.
You should then use the word” when” to link this time adverb to another sentence. You will have an example below.

ØThere is still another “wh-word” which we use in questions.

We say for example: A: “whose book is this one? B:” it is ahmed’s book”.//B: ” it is the book of Ahmed”.

Or still B :” it is my/your/her… book”.So this is what we call the “possessive”. This means “Aof B” or “B’s A”.You can sometimes have also a possessive adjective:” mybook/ your book/ her book/ his book/ their book/ its head”.

So whenever you have a noun followed by another noun
and there is a relation of possession between the two nouns, use the word “whose” to link the second noun to the first one. You will see an example below.

NOW REMEMBER THIS AND GO WITH ME TO THE NEXT PART:

TO REPLACE A	FUNCTION IN THE SENTENCE.	WE USE
person	subject	Who/that
person	object	Whom/who
thing	subject	Which/that
thing	object	Which/that
place	adverb	where
time	adverb	when
Possessive(ahmed’s/his/my/her/Morocco’s…)		whose

5-How do we form relative clauses?

Now remember the words above and try to link the sentences below using the correct word:

1- A- Messi is an Argentinean player.

B- Messi plays for F.C Barcelona.

Look! the word which is repeated is” Messi”. “Messi” is a person and it is the subject of the sentence B so we should use “who”.

Don’t forget that the relative pronoun/adverb must be immediately AFTER the word it refers to/replaces.

So we will say: 1-Messi, who plays for F.C Barcelona, is an Argentinean player.

2- A- Messi is an Argentinean foot-ball player.

B- I love Messi a lot.

Look now! The word which is repeated is “Messi” again. But this time it has a different function in sentence B. Compare the sentences and see the difference. “Messi” in sentence 1B is SUBJECT (Messi plays…….).But, in sentence 2B it is OBJECT (I love Messi).

SO REMEMBER THAT NOW THE WORD WHICH WE MUST USE TO REPLACE “Messi”IN THE SECOND SENTENCE IS “Whom”.

We use “who” when the person we are replacing is “subject” and “ whom” when it is the OBJECT as in 2B.

The sentence then will be:

2-Messi, whom I love a lot, is an Argentinean foot-ball player.

(NB in some references using “who” for a person object is also correct.so: -2-Messi, who I love a lot, is an Argentinean foot-ball player. –is acceptable as well)

3- A- F.C Barcelona is very famous in Morocco.

B- F.C Barcelonais a Spanish team.

Now the repeated word is “F.C Barcelona”. What is it? It is a club –not a person. What about its function in sentence 3? It is SUBJECT. So to replace something which is subject, we use “which”.

The sentence 3 will then be:

3-F.C Barcelona, which is a Spanish club, is very famous in Morocco.

To replace a word which is something like:team/club/book/house/my country/English…..) we use “which”.

4- A- F.C Barcelona is very famous in Morocco.

B- I watch F.C Barcelona a lot.

The word which is repeated again is F.C Barcelona. But now it is different again. How? in sentence 3B “F.C Barcelona “is SUBJECT. But now in sentence 4B it is not subject; it is “OBJECT”: “I watch F.C Barcelona”.

So, to replace a word which is something/subject, we use “ which” AND to replace a word which is something/OBJECT we use “which” also. In both cases use “WHICH”. The sentence 4 A and B will then be:

4-F.C Barcelona, which I watch a lot, is very famous in Morocco.

5- A- Morocco is a wonderful country.

B- I live in Morocco.

Now remember what I said above about a preposition + noun of place = ADVERB OF PLACE.
So when we have an adverb of place we use the relative adverb”where”. Sentence 5 then will be:

5-Morocco, where I live, is a wonderful country.

6- A- The UN was formed in 1945

B- the World War 2 ended in 1945.

The repeated word now is an EDVERB OF TIME: in 1945.Remember that preposition + time = an adverb of time.

So to replace an adverb of time, we use the relativeadverb”when”.Sentence 6 will then be:

6-The UN was formed in 1945, when the World War 2

ended.

7- A- Morocco is in North Africa.
B- The people of Morocco are friendly.//Its people are friendly.

As you can see, in the sentence B we have the possessive in the three examples.So when you have the possessive, we use the relative pronoun “whose”.

To join the two sentences A and B above then, we will say:

7-Morocco, whose people are friendly, is in North Africa.

Another example about the use of “whose” is:
A- English is an international language.
B- Its speakers are numerous.

We will say then:English, whose speakers are numerous, is an international language.

Now an example with a “person”:
A-Rashid is my best friend
B- His (Rashid’s) father is a teacher.

Rashid whose father is a teacher is my best friend.

6-What about the comma (,)?

You may have noticed that in most of the examples above, I have used a comma before and after the relative clause.

But, look to the last example about Rashid and you will see that I haven’t used a comma.Why?Is the comma important? Of course to use a comma (,) or not to use it is very important.

****When do we use a comma?
We use a comma in relative clauses when the clause is not important;when you can take it out without having any problem in the meaning of the sentence.

For example, in the sentence: F.C Barcelona, which is a Spanish club, is very famous in Morocco.
We have a comma before the relative clause and another one after because everybody knows FC Barcelona, so we really don’t need the relative clause.

We can just say: “F.C Barcelona , which is a Spanish club, is very famous in Morocco.” Without having any problem in the meaning of the sentence.

So the relative clause here is “non-defining”; it doesn’t define the word”FC Barcelona”.So we can simply delete it.

REMEMBER: relative clause is not important = use the commas.

****When shouldn’t we use the commas?

Just have a look at the last example above: “Rashid whose father is a teacher is my best friend.”

As you can see, there is no comma before or after the relative clause. WHY?
Because it is very important

for the understanding of the word “Rashid». We have a lot of Rashids.

So imagine I say:     A:“Rashid is my best friend.” What will you say? You will say: B:”who is this Rashid?”

And I will answer: A:“Rashid whose father is a teacher”.

So the relative clause is very important. It is a “defining” relative clause.It defines which Rashid I am speaking about; not Rashid who is a taxi driver/not Rashid whose father is a doctor, but I am speaking about Rashid whose father is a teacher.

Go and revise the examples above and pay attention to the comma(,)

Download a pdf of this lesson:RELATIVE CLAUSES lesson

Click for exercises and national exam questions: http://englishbrahim.wordpress.com/grammar-lessons/relative-clauses/

Click here to check your answers: http://englishbrahim.wordpress.com/grammar-lessons/relative-clauses-with-answers/

Prepared by Brahim Ait Hammou.(still under review and remarks are welcome)