Do you know all four?

Alice Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute Grammar with me, Alice.

Finn And me, Finn. Hello.

Alice Today we’re talking about verb patterns.

Finn Yes: we’re looking at what happens when we use two verbs together in English.

Alice We’ll be looking at four verb patterns - and there’s a quiz at the end of the programme - so listen carefully!

Finn So, on with the show! Our first pattern is: verb plus gerund .

Alice A gerund is the i-n-g form of a verb - words like seeing , complaining and giving are all gerunds.

Finn And here’s Catherine to give us some examples of the pattern verb plus gerund. Catherine.

Catherine I really enjoyed seeing Rachel again last night.

Jackie kept complaining , so I went home.

Would you mind giving me a lift to the station?

Finn Thanks Catherine. So we had the verb enjoy plus the gerund seeing …

Alice We had keep plus complaining …

Finn And the verb mind plus the gerund giving .

Alice Good. Enjoy seeing; keep complaining; mind giving . Other verbs that can be followed by gerunds include: finish , practise , suggest , and recommend .

Finn So I can say: I suggest keeping a list of verbs that take gerunds.

Alice Haha, good example.

Finn Thank you.

Alice Now for the second pattern: verb plus infinitive . An infinitive is the word to plus a base verb, for example: to see , to drive , to study . Some examples please Catherine?

Catherine I really want to see the football tonight.

My brother’s learning to drive .

Mario’s hoping to study medicine.

Finn So that’s: want to see , learning to drive , hoping to study … Other verbs in this group are agree , decide , choose and learn. Now for the third pattern: these verbs can be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive - without changing the meaning. Some examples please Catherine.

Catherine I’ve started learning Arabic - and my boyfriend’s started to learn French.

Finn So started learning and started to learn have more or less the same meaning. Now, another example please?

Catherine Snow will continue to fall in the mountains and temperatures will continue falling throughout the night.

Finn So continue to fall and continue falling have the same meaning.

Alice OK. Time for pattern 4.

Finn Yes - and this one’s a bit tricky. With some verbs, you can use either a gerund or an infinitive afterwards, BUT…

Alice …and it’s a big but…

Finn Yes… the meaning changes from gerund to infinitive.

Alice So if I say… I stopped drinking coffee last week.

Finn Well, I probably wouldn’t believe you…

Alice Yes, well… this means I drank coffee regularly in the past, but last week, I decided to give up coffee. I completely stopped and now I never drink coffee.

Finn But, if I say, on my way home yesterday, I stopped to have a cup of coffee…

Alice This means that yesterday you interrupted your journey and you went into a cafe for a cup of coffee.

Finn So, very different meanings.

Alice Yes. Here’s an example, with the verb remember :

Catherine We remembered closing the door.

We remembered to close the door.

Finn OK, in the first one, we formed a picture in our mind of us closing the door. The second example means we didn’t forget to close the door.

IDENT You’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

Alice And it’s time for a quiz. Question one. Which is correct: a) They decided taking the train - or b) They decided to take the train.

Finn OK, so this is: b) They decided to take the train. After decide, we need the infinitive.

Alice Number 2: a) Catherine hates cooking in the evening. b) Catherine hates to cook in the evening.

Finn And that’s a trick question. They are actually both correct, because after hate, you can use either a gerund or an infinitive.

Alice Yes you can. Finally, number 3: is it a) Do you want to go for a coffee? Or b) Do you want going for a coffee?

Finn This one is: a) Do you want to go for a coffee? Because after want you need the infinitive… but Alice?

Alice Yes?

Finn You said you’d stopped drinking coffee?!

Alice Oh yes I did. Never mind. Thanks for listening and don’t forget - there’s more about this on our website at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Grammar.

Both Bye.

Finn Time for a coffee?

Alice Maybe later.

Both Bye.