Gerunds and Infinitives

The essential things you need to know about gerunds and infinitives.

Note:

* those verbs which always take a gerund:
deny, dislike, finish, admit, resent + gerund

* those verbs + preposition which always take a gerund:
apologise for, insist on, plan on, succeed in, there's no point in, prohibit from + gerund

* those verbs which always take an infinitive:
appear, decide, hope, manage, pledge, prepare, demand, ask + infinitive

* those verbs which can take either gerund or infintive, but often with different meanings:
stop, try, can/can't bear, can/can't stand, remember, see, cease, begin

Look out also for verbs constructed like this:
to be + adjective + preposition + gerund
For example:
I am not accustomed to speaking in public.
He was famous for writing two novels.
Who is responsible for doing the washing today?
I was discouraged from attending the course.
I'm afraid of upsetting her.

Note the prepositions here - for, from, of - which are sometimes a good clue to when you need a gerund.

For a bigger overview of the grammar on gerunds and infintives, see here.