Gerunds are the -ing form of a verb, and infinitives are the to + base form. These words can be confusing; they combine the meaning of a verb with the grammar of a noun. My father asked me to phone ...

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript. Do you have a question you want us to answer? You can send us your questions to learningenglish@bbc.co.uk Rafael has sent us a question. He wants to ...

Sentence one is with the gerund, is the correct one . This is because we can only use a gerund after the verb ‘suggest.’ In the same way, some verbs can be used only with infinitives, whereas some ...

Last week, to answer a question from an Iran-based English teacher, I started laying out the basis for why the full infinitive “to take” is the correct answer in this multiple-choice statement: “Peter ...

A few weeks ago, I mentioned here a CNN article “about the president making an unannounced stop.” Two readers emailed with the same question. Here’s Bill in Niskayuna, N.Y.: “I was taught that a noun ...

An "infinitive" in English is a verb preceded by the word to, as in to study. Many English verbs can be followed by a grammatical structure that contains an infinitive and is known as an "infinitive ...

Reader Don in Los Angeles County wrote recently with a question about a well-known grammar issue called a “split infinitive.” “I learned about them 50 years ago and I am somewhat sensitive about them ...