Gerund AND Infinitive

As you may know already, certain verbs are followed by infinitives or by gerunds. Some verbs can be followed by both with little or no change in meaning. Just when you thought things couldn’t get more confusing, there are a few verbs that can be followed by both AND whose meaning changes. This is the case with the following verbs: stop, forget and remember.

Take a look at the following example.:

I stopped smoking.

I stopped to smoke.

Can you figure out the difference? In the first sentence, I used to smoke but I don’t any longer. In the second one, I stopped whatever I was doing before in order to smoke later.

Now see if you can see the difference in the following sentences using forget: 

She forgets turning off the light.

She forgets to turn off the light.

In the first sentence, she turned off the light, but she doesn’t remember now that she did it. In the second one, she usually doesn’t remember to do it. 

She forgot writing her friend.

She forgot to write her friend.

In the first sentence, she wrote her friend but she didn’t remember it. And in the second one, she didn’t write her friend because she didn’t remember. Speaking of memory, let’s take a look at remember: 

He remembers to feed the fish.

He remembers feeding the fish.

In the first sentence, he usually remembers to feed the fish. In the second, he fed the fish, and now, he remembers having done it.

He remembered to call the plumber.

He remembered calling the plumber.

Likewise, in the first, he called the plumber, and the second, he called the plumber, and later, he remembered that he called

What a difference using to and -ing can make in meaning! It’s incredible but true!