Two verbs in one sentence - "to" or ~ing
I always have troubles remembering and determining if I have to use "to" + Infinitive or rather verb + ~ing in two verb sentences (not sure how English native speakers call such phenomena). But guess I found the general rule I can remember. But... is this correct?

- use verb + ~ing when you could place "that" in between - example: "If you decide (that) playing the game is a nice hobby... (then something)"
- use "to" + Infinitive when you can't place "that" in between - example: "If you decide to play the game, ... (then somehing)".

Question

Two verbs in one sentence - "to" or ~ing
I always have troubles remembering and determining if I have to use  "to" + Infinitive or rather verb + ~ing in two verb sentences (not sure how English native speakers call such phenomena). But guess I found the general rule I can remember. But... is this correct?

- use verb + ~ing when you could place "that" in between - example: "If you decide (that) playing the game is a nice hobby... (then something)"
- use  "to" + Infinitive when you can't place "that" in between - example: "If you decide to play the game, ... (then somehing)".

Answer

-ing verbs are participles.

I was running. I am running. I will be running.

You can also have words with an -ing ending that are not verbs, but are gerunds. These will function as subjects or objects of sentences.

I exhausted myself running.
Driving makes me tired.

-ing words can also be used as adjectives.

The running boy.
The howling dog.

Answers · 2

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