Verbs Followed by the Gerund

When one verb is followed by another, the second verb is not always in the
infinitive. You can say I want to travel but not I enjoy to travel. Enjoy is
usually followed by the gerund, and so are quite a number of other verbs. The
most common are:

admit appreciate avoid delay deny dislike dread (=dread to think) enjoy escape excuse feel like finish forgive give up hate imagine involve keep (on) like love mind (=object) miss pardon postpone practice prevent prefer put off recollect remember (=recollect) resent resist risk stop (=cease) suggest understand

The gerund is also used after the expressions:
can’t help can’t stand to burst out crying/laughing it is no
use/good it is useless to spend/waste time/money to be worth
to be busy

Examples of verb + gerund sentences:

He admitted taking the money.
Avoid over-eating.
She dreads getting old.
He escaped being eaten by wolves.
Putting in a new window involve cutting away part of the roof.
He kept complaining.
I can’t understand his/him leaving his wife. (See 111)
Is there anything worth buying?
He was busy packing his things.
It’s no good/use arguing.

Note that:

1. Some verbs (e.g. admit, deny, imagine, understand) can also take that-clauses.

2. Some verbs (e.g. remember, stop and others) can be followed by the
infinitive with the difference in the meaning.

4. Verbs + Possessive Adjective/Pronoun Object + Gerund

A. If the verb or verb plus preposition is followed directly by the gerund, the
gerund refers to the subject of the verb:
Tom insisted on reading the letter. (Tom read it.)

But if we put a possessive adjective or pronoun before the gerund, the gerund
refers to the person denoted by the possessive adjective/pronoun:
He insisted on my/me reading it. (I had to read it.)

B. The most common verbs and expressions which can take either construction
are:

dislike dread fancy involve like (negative) mind propose recollect remember resent save stop suggest understand approve of disapprove of insist on it’s no good/use there’s no point in what’s the point of

He doesn’t like working late.

He doesn’t like me/my working late.

I object to paying twice for the same thing.
I object to his/him making private calls on this phone.

C. Excuse, forgive, pardonand prevent are not followed directly by the
gerund but take either possessive adjective/pronoun + gerund or pronoun +
preposition + gerund:
Forgive my/me ringing you up so early.
Forgive me for ringing you up so early.
You can’t prevent his/him spending his own money.
You can’t prevent him from spending his own money.

appreciate usually requires a possessive adjective or passive gerund:
I appreciate your giving me so much of your time.
I appreciate being given this opportunity.

D. In formal English the possessive adjective is used with the gerund. But in
informal English we very often use the pronoun. So, there is a choice of
forms but it is recommended to use the pronoun.

In very formal English the possessive case is used:
We are quite used to William’s grumbling.
But it is much more usual to omit the ‘s:
We are quite used to William grumbling.
However, the genitive can be used in cases when the gerund is the subject
of the sentence:
I am sure William’s sitting up so late is bad for his health.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 718