Verbs followed by infinitives or gerunds - Unit 07

Some verbs can be followed by an infinitive and gerund, but sometimes the meaning of the sentence changes.

We are going to see some example, and how in these sentences the meaning change.

Forget:

           I forgot to meet him.

In this sentence means: I didn't meet him, because I forgot it. 

           I forgot meeting him.

In this one means: I don't have memory of meeting him before. The meaning changes if we are using an infinitive or gerund.

Remember:

                 She remembered to visit her mom.

It means: She didn't forget to visit her mom.

                 She remembered visiting her mom.

It means: She had memories of this times.

Stop:

        I stopped to call you.

It means: I interrupted another action in order to call you.

        I stopped calling you.

It means: I stopped this action because I had something important to do. 

Try:

     I tried to open the window.

It means: I attended this action but I didn't succeed

     I tried opening the window.

It means: This was an option I sampled, maybe the room was too hot.

Reflections:

In the examples above, we could appreciate the differences in meaning when we use an infinitive or gerund. It is so important to understand how and when we have to use an infinitive or a gerund... 

Sometimes we can use both and the sentence would have the same meaning but there are some cases in which the meaning of the sentence will change according if we use an infinitive or a gerund. the only way to learn them is to memorize the partner verbs. If we could dominate them, we will have a better level of English (principally grammar and fluency).