Look at this list. Check the things you think are important to make and let a teenager do. Compare and discuss your list with a partner.
q stay out until midnight on weekends
q stay over at a friend’s house
q travel alone to a foreign country
q get a part-time job
q dye his or her hair another colour
q smoke
q drink alcohol
q take care of younger children
q learn to drive
q study every day, including weekends
q exercise
q go to the dentist every year
q learn another language
q pay part of the bills
Example:
A:I think it’s important to make your kids come home before midnight – even on weekends.
B: I’m not so sure. I think parents should let their children stay out late one night a week. It gives them a sense of responsibility. …
/from Focus on grammar, Marjorie Fuchs, Margaret Bonner/
Language review Verb patterns
When you use two verbs together in English you need to decide whether the second verb should be the infinitive with or without to, or the –ing form. The structure you use depends on the first verb.
1. Verb + to + infinitive
These verbs are followed by to + infinitive:
Many of these are reporting verbs: ask, tell, encourage, warn:
She asked him to speakmore quietly.
Itold her not to leave the room until I came back.
3. Verb + object + infinitive without to:
Make and let are followed by an object + infinitive without to:
My mother made me wear the most awful clothes.
She let me stay out later than most of my friends though.
4. Verb + -ing form
These verbs are followed by the –ing formof the second verb:
avoid can’t help can’t stand consider deny enjoy
feel like finish give up hate imagine keep like love
mind practise prefer put off suggest
encourage recommend forbid permit allow advise
We can group some of these verbs like this:
Like and dislike verbs: like, love, mind, can’t stand, enjoy, hate, prefer:
I don’t like getting up early.
Time verbs: start, stop, continue, begin, put off:
I began taking singing lessons as a child.
5. Verbs that can take to + infinitive or –ing form
Some verbs – like, love, begin, start, continue – can be followed by either the infinitive or the
-ing form.
I like sailing. / I like to sail.
She began having lessons. / She began to have lessons.
With some verbs, different meanings are expressed through these two structures:
Verb
+ to + infinitive
+ -ing form
go on
They went on to talk about their travel arrangements. (They did something new.)
They went on talking after the waiter brought the bill. (They continued doing the same thing.)
need
I need to repair my washing machine. (I will do the job.)
My washing machine needs repairing. (Someone else will do the job.)
remember / forget
I remembered to buy the milk. (I remembered and then I bought the milk.)
I remember buying the milk. (I bought the milk and now I remember doing it.)
stop
He stopped to talk to me. (He stopped in order to talk to me.)
He’s stopped talking to me. (He’s not talking to me any more.)
try
I’m trying to lose weight. (I’m trying something difficult.)
I’m trying eating just fruit for breakfast. (I’m trying something new.)
6. Sense verbs: hear, see, feel, notice
These verbs can either be followed by the infinitive without to or the –ing form but there is a difference in meaning. Compare:
I heard a dog bark, and then a car started and drove off. (I heard the whole of the barking.)
I heard a dog barking as I went past the house. (I heard part of the barking.)
7. Other points
· With some of these verbs there is a choice of negative with different meanings. Compare:
I didn’t ask him to leave (I didn’t ask him, but he left) and I asked him not to leave (I said, ‘Please don’t leave.’).
· We use the –ing form after a preposition: We talked about starting earlier.
/from Developing Grammar in Context, Mark Nettle, Diana Hopkins/
