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by Liz Walter
In my last post, I discussed the importance of learning verb patterns. In this post, I will look at a few slightly more advanced points.
I’ll start with verbs of perception, such as feel, see, watch and notice. These are most often followed by -ing verbs, but bare infinitives (infinitives without to) are also possible:
I felt the sun warming/warm my skin.
We watched the children playing/play in the park.
When students first learn the verbs like, love, and hate, they also learn to follow them with an -ing verb. This is by far the most common verb pattern and you will always be correct if you do this. However, it is also possible to use a to-infinitive, especially if we are talking about things we do regularly:
I like reading/to read before bed.
There is a small group of very common verbs where the verb pattern depends on the meaning of the verb. For example, look at this pair of sentences with the verb remember:
I remembered to lock the door when I left.
I remember locking the door when I left.
In the first sentence, remember is used in the sense of not forgetting something that you need to do. In the second, it is used in the sense of having the memory of doing something.
Verb patterns for forget work in a similar way:
I forgot to bring my passport.
I’ll never forget meeting the king.
The verb need is usually followed by a to-infinitive, but you can also say that ‘something needs doing’ to mean that an action should be performed on something:
I need to mend my coat.
My coat needs mending.
The most common verb pattern to use with stop is an -ing verb, but if we are talking about ending an action in order to do something else, we use a to-infinitive:
We couldn’t stop laughing.
We stopped to admire the view.
With the verb try, the most common pattern is to-infinitive, but when we use try in the sense of testing an action to see if it works well, we use an -ing verb:
I try to go running at least three times a week.
I tried opening the windows, but it was still stuffy in the room.
Finally, we’ll look at the verb mean. In the sense of ‘intend’, it is followed by a to-infinitive, whereas in the sense of having a particular result, it needs an –ing verb:
I didn’t mean to upset you.
Taking the job would mean moving to a new city.
I hope this post was useful, but remember that you can also get help on verb patterns by looking at the examples in the Cambridge Dictionary.