Gerund or infinitive?

begin ▪ start ▪ intend ▪ continue ▪ love ▪ like ▪ hate ▪ prefer

These verbs can be followed by the gerund or to + infinitive with little or no difference in
meaning. So you can say:

It has started raining. or It has started to rain.

John intends buying a house or John intends to buy a house.

exception 1: would + like/love/hate/prefer + infinitive

exception 2: like + gerund when you talk about hobbies or interests (mainly BE)

to stop
He stopped to smoke. (= He stopped in He stopped smoking. (= He didn't
order to smoke a cigarette.) continue smoking.)

stop do do sth.. = finish sth. so that you stop doing sth. = end an action
can so sth. else.
to remember
I remembered to lock the door when I I remember locking the door. (= I
left but I forgot to shut the windows. (= I locked the door, and now I remember this.
remembered that I had to lock the door
and so I locked it.) You remember doing something after
you have done it.
You remember to do sth. before you do
it.
to try
I was very tired. I tried to keep my eyes The photocopier doesn't seem to be
open but I couldn't. working.
Try pressing the green button (= press
the green button – perhaps it will help to
try to do sth. = attempt to do, make an solve the problem)
effort to do try doing sth. = do sth. as an
experiment or a test.
to go on
After discussing the economy the minister The minister went on talking for two
then went on to talk about foreign hours. It was really boring.
policy.
going on doing sth. = continue doing
go on to do sth. = do or say sth. new. the same thing
to mean
Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. (= Learning less means getting worse
Sorry, I didn't want/intend to hurt you. marks in school (= getting worse marks is
the consequence of learning less)

mean to do sth. = to intend/ want to do to mean doing sth. = one thing leads to
sth. another