This grammar request was posted on my Forum’s Facebook Gateway: “Please discuss for everyone which sentence is correct: (1) ‘I’m looking forward to meeting my old buddy again’ or (2) ‘I’m looking forward to meet my buddy again.’” Since this matter touches on a very instructive aspect of English grammar, I took the opportunity to discuss it at some length in the Forum itself.
Both sentences—the first uses the gerund phrase “meeting my old buddy again” and the second the infinitive phrase “to meet my buddy again”—are grammatically correct and have practically identical sense. Functionally, though, the gerund phrase in Sentence 1 is the object of the preposition “to,” through which that gerund phrase indirectly receives the action of the phrasal verb “looking forward.” The infinitive phrase “to meet my buddy again” in Sentence 2, in contrast, is the direct object of that same phrasal verb.
Recall that both the gerund and infinitive are verbals—verb forms that function as nouns—and this means that each can serve as subject, object, or complement in a sentence. In performing these functions, however, gerunds and infinitives aren’t freely interchangeable and mutually equivalent. In particular, some operative verbs can take either a gerund or infinitive as direct object, but other verbs balk and just won’t take an infinitive as direct object.
For instance, a sentence that has “continue” as operative verb can have either a gerund phrase or infinitive phrase as direct object (or as object of the preposition). Consider this sentence: “They continued
paying for her tuition without letup.” The gerund phrase “paying for her tuition without letup” works without any hitch as direct object of the verb “continued,” but so does its infinitive phrase equivalent “to pay for her tuition without letup” in the sentence “They continued
to pay for her tuition without letup.” Take note that both sentences have the same sense, too.
IMAGE CREDIT: CHOMPCHOMP.COMLike “continue,” the following operative verbs can take either a gerund phrase or infinitive phrase as direct object: “attempt,” “begin,” “start,” “leave,” “stop,” “continue,” “love,” “like,” “dislike,” “hate,” “remember,” “forget,” “neglect,” “regret,” “intend,” “plan,” “permit,” “plan,” “prefer,” “propose,” “try,” and “mean.” This can be verified by using them as operative verbs of sentences with different sets of gerund phrases or infinitive phrases as direct object. (Do that as an exercise now to sharpen your sense for this functional duality.)
IMAGE CREDIT: CELLCODE.USIn contrast, some operative verbs that can only take a gerund or gerund phrase—never an infinitive or infinitive phrase—as direct object. Among them are “admit,” “advise,” “appreciate,” “anticipate,” “avoid,” “consider,” “delay,” “deny,” “discuss,” “enjoy,” “excuse,” “finish,” “keep,” “mind,” “miss,” “postpone,” “practice,” “quit,” “recall,” “recommend,” “regret,” “resent,” “resist,” “resume,” “risk,” “tolerate,” “try,” “understand,” and “imagine.”
Take “anticipate” as operative verb. It works perfectly with the gerund phrase “receiving the next shipment in a week” as direct object” in “We anticipate
receiving the next shipment in a week,” but makes an epic fail with the equivalent infinitive phrase in “We anticipate
to receive the next shipment in a week.”
The operative verb “consider” encounters the same problem. It works perfectly with the gerund phrase “taking a short-cut to their destination” as direct object in “They considered
taking a short-cut to their destination,” but likewise makes an epic fail with the equivalent infinitive phrase in “They considered
to take a short-cut to their destination.”
Now the big question is this: Is there a known formula for finding out whether a gerund phrase or infinitive phrase will function properly as direct object of a particular operative verb? Other than a good working knowledge of how gerunds and infinitives work in sentences, there’s actually no such simple ground rule. We just have to play it by ear when constructing sentences using specific operative verbs.
(Next:
Let’s get acclimatized to the country’s weather terminology) February 28, 2019
This essay, 1,132nd of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the February 21, 2019 print edition of The Manila Times
, © 2019 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
