[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":340},["ShallowReactive",2],{"exercise-grammar-gerund-infinitive-exercises":3,"exercise-index-for-related":235},{"slug":4,"skill":5,"topic":6,"title":7,"levels":8,"tags":11,"published":15,"updated_at":16,"is_premium":17,"meta_title":18,"meta_description":19,"rule":20,"examples":39,"exercises":55,"faq":211,"article":227},"gerund-infinitive-exercises","grammar","gerund-infinitive","Gerund and Infinitive Exercises",[9,10],"B1","B2",[12,13,14],"gerund","infinitive","verb-patterns",true,"2026-07-20",false,"Gerund and Infinitive Exercises — Free Practice with Answers | FluencyRoad","Practice gerunds and infinitives (enjoy doing vs decide to do) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and explanations of every verb pattern.",{"heading":21,"summary":22,"points":23},"Gerund or infinitive?","After one verb, English may require the -ing form (enjoy swimming), the to-infinitive (decide to go), or either — sometimes with a change of meaning (stop smoking vs stop to smoke).",[24,27,30,33,36],{"label":25,"text":26},"Gerund after","enjoy, finish, avoid, suggest, mind, practice, keep, can't stand + -ing",{"label":28,"text":29},"Infinitive after","decide, want, hope, plan, promise, agree, refuse, learn + to + verb",{"label":31,"text":32},"Either, same meaning","start, begin, continue, like, love (I like reading \u002F to read)",{"label":34,"text":35},"Either, different meaning","stop, remember, forget, try: I stopped smoking ≠ I stopped to smoke",{"label":37,"text":38},"After prepositions","always the gerund: good at drawing, interested in learning",[40,43,46,49,52],{"sentence":41,"note":42},"She **enjoys hiking** in the mountains.","enjoy + gerund",{"sentence":44,"note":45},"We **decided to postpone** the trip.","decide + to-infinitive",{"sentence":47,"note":48},"He **stopped smoking** two years ago.","stop + gerund = quit the habit",{"sentence":50,"note":51},"He **stopped to smoke** outside the office.","stop + infinitive = pause in order to do it",{"sentence":53,"note":54},"I'm interested **in learning** Japanese.","after a preposition, always -ing",[56,105,146,189],{"id":57,"type":58,"title":59,"instructions":60,"questions":61},"mc","multiple_choice","Choose the correct form","Select the correct option to complete each sentence.",[62,71,79,87,96],{"id":63,"prompt":64,"options":65,"answer":69,"explanation":70},"mc1","I really enjoy ___ new people at conferences.",[66,67,68],"to meet","meeting","meet",1,"'Enjoy' always takes the gerund: enjoy meeting.",{"id":72,"prompt":73,"options":74,"answer":69,"explanation":78},"mc2","They decided ___ a new house next year.",[75,76,77],"buying","to buy","buy","'Decide' always takes the to-infinitive: decided to buy.",{"id":80,"prompt":81,"options":82,"answer":69,"explanation":86},"mc3","Please remember ___ the door when you leave.",[83,84,85],"locking","to lock","lock","'Remember + to-infinitive' = don't forget to do it (future duty). 'Remember locking' would mean you recall having done it.",{"id":88,"prompt":89,"options":90,"answer":94,"explanation":95},"mc4","She's very good ___ complex ideas simply.",[91,92,93],"at explaining","to explain","at explain",0,"After a preposition ('at'), the verb takes -ing: good at explaining.",{"id":97,"prompt":98,"options":99,"answer":103,"explanation":104},"mc5","He avoided ___ the difficult question.",[100,101,102],"to answer","answer","answering",2,"'Avoid' always takes the gerund: avoided answering.",{"id":106,"type":107,"title":108,"instructions":109,"questions":110},"gap","gap_fill","Complete the sentences","Type the correct form (gerund or to-infinitive) of the verb in brackets.",[111,118,125,132,139],{"id":112,"prompt":113,"hint":114,"answers":115,"explanation":117},"gap1","She suggested ___ the meeting to Thursday.","move",[116],"moving","'Suggest' takes the gerund: suggested moving.",{"id":119,"prompt":120,"hint":121,"answers":122,"explanation":124},"gap2","We hope ___ you again soon.","see",[123],"to see","'Hope' takes the to-infinitive: hope to see.",{"id":126,"prompt":127,"hint":128,"answers":129,"explanation":131},"gap3","Do you mind ___ the window? It's hot in here.","open",[130],"opening","'Mind' takes the gerund: mind opening.",{"id":133,"prompt":134,"hint":135,"answers":136,"explanation":138},"gap4","He promised ___ me with the report.","help",[137],"to help","'Promise' takes the to-infinitive: promised to help.",{"id":140,"prompt":141,"hint":142,"answers":143,"explanation":145},"gap5","I'm looking forward to ___ from you.","hear",[144],"hearing","In 'look forward to', 'to' is a preposition — so the gerund follows: hearing.",{"id":147,"type":147,"title":148,"instructions":149,"questions":150},"reorder","Put the words in order","Click the words in the correct order to build the sentence.",[151,160,170,179],{"id":152,"words":153,"answer":158,"explanation":159},"re1",[154,155,156,157],"swimming","enjoys","she","in the sea","she enjoys swimming in the sea","Enjoy + gerund + place.",{"id":161,"words":162,"answer":168,"explanation":169},"re2",[163,164,165,166,167],"to travel","want","they","next summer","abroad","they want to travel abroad next summer","Want + to-infinitive + adverbials.",{"id":171,"words":172,"answer":177,"explanation":178},"re3",[173,174,175,176],"smoking","stopped","my uncle","last year","my uncle stopped smoking last year","Stop + gerund = quit the habit.",{"id":180,"words":181,"answer":187,"explanation":188},"re4",[182,183,156,184,185,186],"learning","interested","in","is","Arabic","she is interested in learning Arabic","Adjective + preposition + gerund: interested in learning.",{"id":190,"type":191,"title":192,"instructions":193,"questions":194},"tf","true_false","True or false?","Decide if each statement is true or false.",[195,199,203,207],{"id":196,"prompt":197,"answer":17,"explanation":198},"tf1","\"I enjoy to read\" is correct English.","False — 'enjoy' requires the gerund: \"I enjoy reading.\"",{"id":200,"prompt":201,"answer":15,"explanation":202},"tf2","'Stop doing something' and 'stop to do something' mean different things.","True — 'stop smoking' = quit the habit; 'stop to smoke' = interrupt what you're doing in order to smoke.",{"id":204,"prompt":205,"answer":15,"explanation":206},"tf3","After prepositions, verbs always take the -ing form.","True — good at drawing, tired of waiting, before leaving, without asking.",{"id":208,"prompt":209,"answer":17,"explanation":210},"tf4","\"I forgot posting the letter\" means I didn't post it.","False — 'forgot posting' means I posted it but don't remember doing so. \"I forgot to post the letter\" means it never got posted.",[212,215,218,221,224],{"question":213,"answer":214},"What is a gerund?","A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun: \"Swimming is great exercise\", \"I enjoy reading.\" It can be a subject, an object, or follow a preposition.",{"question":216,"answer":217},"Which verbs are followed by the gerund?","Common ones: enjoy, finish, avoid, suggest, mind, keep, practice, consider, imagine, miss, can't stand, give up. Example: \"She finished writing the report.\"",{"question":219,"answer":220},"Which verbs are followed by the to-infinitive?","Common ones: want, decide, hope, plan, promise, agree, refuse, learn, offer, expect, manage, afford. Example: \"He agreed to help us.\"",{"question":222,"answer":223},"Which verbs change meaning between gerund and infinitive?","The big four are stop, remember, forget and try. Stop doing = quit; stop to do = pause in order to do. Remember\u002Fforget + to-infinitive looks forward to a duty; + gerund looks back at a memory. Try + to-infinitive = attempt something difficult; try + gerund = experiment with a method.",{"question":225,"answer":226},"Why is it 'I look forward to hearing from you' and not 'to hear'?","Because in 'look forward to', the word 'to' is a preposition, not part of an infinitive — and prepositions are always followed by the -ing form. The same applies to 'be used to' and 'object to'.",{"heading":228,"paragraphs":229},"Gerunds and infinitives: making sense of verb patterns",[230,231,232,233,234],"When one verb follows another in English, the second verb's form is not free — it is dictated by the first verb. 'Enjoy' demands -ing, 'decide' demands to-infinitive, and there is no deeper logical rule that predicts which verb takes which pattern. This is why gerunds and infinitives frustrate learners: it feels like memorisation because, to a large extent, it is.","That said, useful tendencies exist. Verbs pointing forward in time — want, hope, plan, decide, promise, expect — overwhelmingly take the to-infinitive, which itself carries a sense of purpose and futurity. Verbs describing the activity itself or an attitude toward it — enjoy, avoid, mind, finish, keep, practice — prefer the gerund, which behaves like a noun naming the activity. These tendencies won't cover every verb, but they turn blind memorisation into educated guessing.","One rule, however, is absolute: after a preposition, always the gerund. Good at drawing, tired of waiting, interested in learning, before eating, without thinking. This rule explains the notorious 'look forward to hearing' — the 'to' there is a preposition, not an infinitive marker. Any time you can put a noun after the word (look forward to the weekend), a verb in that position must wear -ing.","The meaning-changing verbs are the advanced layer. With stop, remember, forget and try, both forms are grammatical but say different things. 'I stopped drinking coffee' ends the habit; 'I stopped to drink a coffee' interrupts a journey. 'Remember to send the invoice' is an instruction; 'I remember sending it' is a defence. Exam writers love these pairs precisely because they test meaning, not just form.","The most efficient way to learn verb patterns is in chunks: record each new verb together with its pattern and a personal example sentence — 'suggest doing: She suggested going out.' The exercises above cover the highest-frequency verbs from each group plus the classic meaning-change pairs, so completing them builds exactly the pattern bank you need for fluent, accurate English.",[236,249,252,262,272,279,287,294,301,309,318,325,333],{"slug":237,"skill":5,"topic":238,"title":239,"levels":240,"tags":242,"meta_description":247,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"future-tenses-exercises","future-tenses","Future Tenses Exercises",[241,9],"A2",[243,244,245,246],"tenses","future","will","going-to","Practice English future forms (will, going to, present continuous, present simple) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and explanations.",18,{"slug":4,"skill":5,"topic":6,"title":7,"levels":250,"tags":251,"meta_description":19,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},[9,10],[12,13,14],{"slug":253,"skill":5,"topic":254,"title":255,"levels":256,"tags":257,"meta_description":261,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"irregular-verbs-exercises","irregular-verbs","Irregular Verbs Exercises",[241,9],[258,254,259,260],"verbs","simple-past","past-participle","Practice English irregular verbs (past simple and past participle) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and memory-friendly explanations.",{"slug":263,"skill":5,"topic":264,"title":265,"levels":266,"tags":267,"meta_description":271,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"modal-verbs-exercises","modal-verbs","Modal Verbs Exercises",[241,9],[264,268,269,270],"can","must","should","Practice English modal verbs (can, could, must, have to, should, may, might) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations.",{"slug":273,"skill":5,"topic":274,"title":275,"levels":276,"tags":277,"meta_description":278,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"past-perfect-exercises","past-perfect","Past Perfect Exercises",[9,10],[243,274],"Practice the past perfect tense with free interactive exercises: sequencing past events, before\u002Fafter\u002Fwhen clauses — with instant feedback and explanations.",{"slug":280,"skill":281,"topic":282,"title":283,"levels":284,"tags":285,"meta_description":286,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"phrasal-verbs-exercises","vocabulary","phrasal-verbs","Phrasal Verbs Exercises",[9,10],[281,282],"Practice common English phrasal verbs with free interactive exercises: multiple choice, gap-fill, sentence building and true\u002Ffalse — with instant feedback and explanations.",{"slug":288,"skill":5,"topic":289,"title":290,"levels":291,"tags":292,"meta_description":293,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"present-perfect-continuous-exercises","present-perfect-continuous","Present Perfect Continuous Exercises",[9,10],[243,289],"Practice the present perfect continuous (have been doing) with free interactive exercises comparing it with the present perfect simple — instant feedback included.",{"slug":295,"skill":5,"topic":296,"title":297,"levels":298,"tags":299,"meta_description":300,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"present-perfect-exercises","present-perfect","Present Perfect Exercises",[241,9],[243,296],"Practice the present perfect with free interactive exercises: multiple choice, gap-fill, sentence ordering and true\u002Ffalse questions with instant feedback and explanations.",{"slug":302,"skill":5,"topic":303,"title":304,"levels":305,"tags":306,"meta_description":308,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"present-perfect-vs-past-simple-exercises","present-perfect-vs-past-simple","Present Perfect vs Past Simple Exercises",[241,9],[243,296,307],"past-simple","Learn to choose between the present perfect and the past simple with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations of every answer.",{"slug":310,"skill":5,"topic":311,"title":312,"levels":313,"tags":314,"meta_description":317,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"present-simple-vs-present-continuous-exercises","present-simple-vs-present-continuous","Present Simple vs Present Continuous Exercises",[241,9],[243,315,316],"present-simple","present-continuous","Learn to choose between the present simple and present continuous with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations of every answer.",{"slug":319,"skill":5,"topic":259,"title":320,"levels":321,"tags":323,"meta_description":324,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"simple-past-exercises","Simple Past Exercises",[322,241],"A1",[243,259],"Practice the simple past tense with free interactive exercises covering regular and irregular verbs, negatives and questions — with instant feedback and explanations.",{"slug":326,"skill":5,"topic":327,"title":328,"levels":329,"tags":330,"meta_description":332,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"simple-past-vs-past-continuous-exercises","simple-past-vs-past-continuous","Simple Past vs Past Continuous Exercises",[241,9],[243,259,331],"past-continuous","Practice choosing between the simple past and the past continuous (was\u002Fwere doing) with free interactive exercises, instant feedback and clear explanations.",{"slug":334,"skill":5,"topic":335,"title":336,"levels":337,"tags":338,"meta_description":339,"updated_at":16,"question_count":248},"simple-present-exercises","simple-present","Simple Present Exercises",[322,241],[243,335],"Practice the simple present tense with free interactive exercises: third-person -s, negatives, questions and adverbs of frequency — with instant feedback and explanations.",1785358988079]