ShadowingKoreanto do or doing — English verb patterns
The verb in front decides. There is no logic to discover, but there is a short list worth knowing, and four pairs where the choice changes the meaning.
Two lists, and one absolute rule
Some verbs take to + verb, others take verb + -ing. The membership is arbitrary. The one place there is no choice at all is after a preposition.
| want · hope · decide · plan · need · promise · agree | → to do |
| enjoy · finish · avoid · mind · suggest · keep · practise | → doing |
| good at swimming · interested in learning | after a preposition it is always -ing |
| ✗ — no exceptions to that one |
to is the trap in that last rule, because to is sometimes a preposition: I look forward to seeing you, I'm used to getting up early. If you can put a noun there, it's a preposition — and then -ing follows.
You will hear that -ing is the past and to is the future
It is a real tendency and a useful hint: I remember meeting him looks back, I want to meet him looks forward. But it is not a rule — I enjoy meeting people is not about the past, and I hope to have finished by then is not simple future.
Use it to remember pairs you have already met. Do not use it to predict a verb you haven't.
Four pairs where the meaning changes
For a handful of verbs both forms are grammatical and mean genuinely different things. These are worth memorising exactly.
| I stopped to smoke. / I stopped smoking. | stopped in order to smoke / quit smoking |
| I remembered to lock it. / I remember locking it. | duty done / memory of doing |
| I forgot to call. / I'll never forget calling. | failed to do it / the memory stays |
| Try to open it. / Try opening it. | make the effort / experiment with it as a method |
stop is the one that reverses completely, and it appears constantly. If you remember only one line from this article, make it that one.
Verbs that take an object first
A large group needs a person before the to. Leaving the person out is one of the most common intermediate errors.
| I told him to wait. | not |
| She asked me to help. | |
| They want me to come. | not |
| make / let him go | these two drop the to entirely |
-ing where you might expect a noun
An -ing form can act as a full noun — subject, object, anything. This is how English says what many languages say with an infinitive.
| Swimming is good for you. | subject |
| I hate waiting. | object |
| Learning a language takes years. | subject with its own object |
| This shirt needs washing. | means it needs to be washed — an odd but standard pattern |
Five to check
I enjoy to read.→ I enjoy reading.I look forward to hear from you.→ to hearing — that to is a prepositionHe suggested to go.→ He suggested going.I want that you come.→ I want you to come.I stopped to smoke five years agowhen you quit → I stopped smoking.
How to learn a list that has no logic
Do not study the lists. Store the verb with its complement as one item — enjoy doing, decide to do, avoid doing — and always meet it in a sentence. A list of thirty verbs learned as a list stays a list; the same thirty met inside sentences become reflexes.
All guides
- English word order — position is the grammar
- a, an, the — and when to use nothing
- Countable and uncountable — information, advice, furniture
- Present perfect — I have done vs I did
- Modal verbs — how sure you are, and who says so
- who, which, that — attaching a sentence to a noun
- English conditionals — if, would, would have
- because, so, although — joining two ideas
- in, on, at — containers, surfaces, points
- Phrasal verbs — give up, put off, run into
- English pronunciation — what to fix first
- How to shadow English — the method that works