SAT® · Reading and Writing: Form, Structure, and Sense — Verbs and Verbals
Gerunds versus Infinitives
Some verbs demand a gerund after them, some demand an infinitive, and prepositions always take a gerund because only a noun can follow a preposition. The right choice depends on which word comes before the blank, not on sound.
A gerund is a verb wearing a noun costume: 'running' can be a subject or object just like 'the race' can. An infinitive, 'to run', points forward to a goal or purpose. That split explains why 'She enjoys to swim' fails: 'enjoys' needs a noun-like object, something you enjoy, so it wants 'swimming'. 'She hopes to swim' works because 'hopes' points at a future goal, which is exactly what an infinitive does. The verb before the blank sets the rule, and that rule does not bend for rhythm or preference.
This is memorization dressed up as logic: certain verbs (finish, enjoy, avoid, consider) pair with gerunds, others (agree, hope, decide, want) pair with infinitives, and a handful allow either with no change in meaning. Prepositions make the choice automatic. Since the object of a preposition is always a noun, 'without opening' is correct and 'without to open' is impossible, no matter the verb involved.
Occasionally both forms are grammatical but mean different things, which is where meaning, not flow, decides. 'He stopped smoking' means he quit the habit; 'smoking' is the noun object of 'stopped'. 'He stopped to smoke' means he paused some other activity in order to smoke; 'to smoke' names his purpose for stopping. This pair connects to the bigger idea of finiteness: an infinitive can never be the only verb in a sentence, since 'to smoke' has no subject-agreeing tense, so these forms also show up in questions testing whether a clause has a real main verb at all.
Key terms
- Gerund
- The -ing form of a verb used as a noun, such as 'swimming' in 'swimming is fun.'
- Infinitive
- The 'to + base verb' form, such as 'to swim,' often naming a purpose or goal.
- Finiteness
- Whether a verb form carries tense and agrees with a subject, letting it stand as a clause's main verb.
- Object of a preposition
- The noun or noun-like word that follows a preposition, such as 'opening' after 'without.'
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End of topic.