Teaching guide Updated 2026-09-13

Gerunds and Infinitives: How to Teach the Difference

The difference between I enjoy reading and I want to read is not a rule learners can reason out — English chose the form verb by verb. What can be taught is the slot: which word comes before the gap, and what that word expects after it. This guide gives the three questions that sort most sentences, a three-lesson sequence, four activities that force production, and an error routine that lasts. For the full pattern list, keep the gerunds vs infinitives reference open beside it.

Why the list approach fails in class

A long list of verbs produces recognition, not much else. Learners tick the right option in a gap-fill on Friday and still say I enjoy to read the following week, because the list was never attached to a decision they make while speaking. Teach fewer verbs and recycle them more often: four high-frequency verbs per lesson, used for a fortnight.

The three questions that sort most sentences

Before naming any pattern, ask the class to look at the word directly before the gap.

• A preposition? Then the next verb is a gerund: good at swimming, instead of waiting. No exceptions worth teaching at this level.
• A main verb? Then that verb's own pattern decides: enjoy, avoid, finish, mind take the gerund; want, decide, hope, plan take the infinitive.
• A person between the two verbs? Then the infinitive follows: she asked me to wait. The gerund does not fit this shape.

Adjectives form a fourth slot, the easiest of all: happy to help, ready to start.

The patterns in one table

Two verbs deserve a lesson of their own because the choice changes the meaning: he stopped smoking and he stopped to smoke are different days in the same story.

A three-lesson sequence

Keep the mixed stage separate, in a later lesson or in homework, so learners meet the choice as a decision.

Four activities that force production

1. Sort before you name. Dictate twelve short sentences, half with gerunds and half with infinitives, and ask pairs to sort them without explaining why. The pattern surfaces from the data, and classes accept it faster once they have found it.
2. Sentence auction. Give each team ten sentences, some correct and some not, plus points to bid with. Teams bid for the sentences they believe are right; correct ones pay out, wrong ones cost them.
3. Find someone who. Prompts such as enjoys cooking, has decided to move, is good at fixing things. Learners mingle, then report back in the third person, which doubles the target forms in the room; more ideas are in our speaking activities collection.
4. Six-sentence exit ticket. Each learner writes six sentences before leaving: a gerund as subject, one after a preposition, one after enjoy-type verbs, one after want-type verbs, one with a person in the middle, one free choice.

Correcting errors without a grammar lecture

Mark the pattern, not the feeling. A quick V+G or V+to in the margin tells a learner which slot is wrong, and re-eliciting the sentence takes seconds. Keep a running class error list and recycle it as a warm-up, and where a whole class shares one error, plan five minutes for it at the start of the next lesson.

The mistakes to expect

• ✘ I enjoy to read. → ✔ I enjoy reading.

  Enjoy belongs to the gerund group, so the pattern has to be met until it is automatic.

• ✘ She suggested to go home. → ✔ She suggested going home.

  Suggest takes the gerund, unlike decide and agree, which take the infinitive.

• ✘ I look forward to meet you. → ✔ I look forward to meeting you.

  The word before the gap is a preposition, so the verb after it is always a gerund.

• ✘ He wants that I help him. → ✔ He wants me to help him.

  English uses verb + person + infinitive where many languages use a clause with that.

• ✘ We discussed about the plan. → ✔ We discussed the plan.

  Discuss takes a direct object, so there is no preposition and no gerund slot at all.

How to practise the patterns

Learners need the same forms twice: once slowly, with thinking time, and once at speed. Use the grammar drills for the first pass, then the timed challenge or mixed review, where the choice has to arrive before the sentence ends. The same sentences can be printed as a worksheet with an answer key or rebuilt in the worksheet builder.

Browse the grammar drills Build a worksheet Quiz of the Day

Frequently asked questions

How do I teach gerunds and infinitives without a long verb list?

Teach the slot, not the list. Ask what word comes before the gap: a main verb, a preposition or an adjective. Four high-frequency verbs per lesson, recycled for a fortnight, outlast twenty copied from a table.

Why do learners say I enjoy to read?

Because they are translating their own language's pattern, or they have learned that to plus verb is the default. English chose the gerund after enjoy centuries ago, so the fix is a pattern to notice rather than a rule to reason out.

What is the difference between stop to smoke and stop smoking?

Stop smoking means the habit ended. Stop to smoke means he paused in order to smoke, so the smoking still happens. The gerund looks back at the activity, the infinitive looks forward to a purpose, and the meaning changes.

Should gerunds and infinitives be taught in the same lesson?

Teach them apart first, then mix them. One lesson on verbs followed by the gerund and one on verbs followed by the infinitive keeps the patterns separate. A third lesson sets both together, where learners have to choose.

How can I check whether the class has learned the patterns?

Listen to free speech, not gap-fill answers. Set a two-minute pair task about plans or memories and note how often the target forms appear unprompted. If they appear only in written exercises, the class knows the exercise, not the pattern.

Keep reading

• Gerunds vs Infinitives: The Pattern Reference
• Relative Clauses: How to Teach Who, Which and That
• ESL Speaking Activities for Mixed Classes

Every guide on this blog is paired with a free drill: the same rules, applied question by question, with explanations and a printable worksheet.