Or. I'd like it. I'd love it

I'd love to sail if I

could afford it Also acceptable,

I'd hate disturbing him if...'

is doubtful,

You'd hate living on a desert

island is also acceptable.

I wouldn't like you thinking...'

is doubtful,

I like him to play the

guitar is also acceptable.

The fo-infinitive or the '-ing' form

Forget + to-infinitive refers to future actions (or to a 'future' action as seen from the past):

Don't forget to ask Tom I forgot to ask Tom Forget + -ing refers to the past:

Have you forgotten meeting/having met her? (i.e. you met her)

Regret + to-infinitive refers to future or present:

We regret to inform you that your account is overdrawn

Regret + -ing refers to present or past: / regret(ted) leaving the firm after twenty years (I regret(ted) having left would refer to the past only.)

Try + to-infinitive means 'make an effort':

You really must try to overcome your shyness Try + -ing means 'experiment':

Try holding your breath to stop sneezing

Stop + to-infinitive refers to purpose [> 16.12.1]: On the way to the station I stopped to buy a paper

Stop + -ing: -ing is the object of the verb, [compare > 16.42, 16.45.1]. When he told us the story, we just couldn't stop laughing

Go on + to-infinitive refers to doing something different: After approving the agenda we went on to discuss finance

Go on + -ing means 'continue without interruption' [> App 32.9.1]: We went on talking till after midnight

16.60 Adjective/noun + to-or + preposition [compare > 8.20]

Some adjectives and nouns can be followed by a to-infinitive or by a preposition [> App 27].

adjective + 'to-' adjective + preposition

interested to (do/be) interested in (doing/being)

sorry to (disturb) sorry for (disturbing)

noun + 'to-' noun + preposition

chance to (meet) chance of (meeting)

opportunity to (buy) opportunity of (buying)

Often there is little difference in meaning between the to- and -ing structures:

I'm sorry (not) to mention it (more likely)

I'm sorry for (not) mentioning it (less likely)

/ couldn't resist the opportunity to greet such a great actor I couldn 't resist the opportunity of greeting such a great actor.

Sometimes there are differences in meaning between the to- and -ing

structures:

I'm interested to hear your opinion (it interests me) I'm interested in emigrating to Canada (I might do this) I'm sorry to interrupt (= I'm sorry, but I'm going to interrupt) I'm sorry for interrupting (= I'm sorry for what has happened)

Appendix

Appendix 1 \> 1.9,1.10,112,4.16.2] Transitive and intransitive verbs

1.1 Verbs which are always transitive:

afford, allow, blame, bring, contain, deny, enjoy, examine, excuse, fetch, fix, get, greet, have, hit, inform, interest, let, like, love, make, mean, name, need, omit, owe, prefer, prove, put, question, remind, rent, rob, select, wrap

1.2 Verbs which are always intransitive:

faint, hesitate, lie (lied), lie (lay/lam), occur, pause, rain (it), remain, sleep, sneeze

1.3 Verbs which are transitive/intransitive:

answer, ask, begin, borrow, choose, climb, dance, eat, enter, fail, fill, grow, help, hurry, jump, know, leave, marry, meet, obey, pull, read, see, sell, touch, wash, watch, win, write

Appendix 2 [> 2.2]

Some common noun endings

2.1 People who do things: e g -ant: assistant, -an beggar, -eer: engineer, -ent: president, -er: driver, -ian: historian, -ist pianist, -or: actor

2.2 People who come from, etc: e g -an: Roman, -er: Londoner, -ese: Milanese, -ian: Athenian, -ite: Muscovite, socialite

2.3 Nouns derived from verbs: e g -age: postage, -al: arrival, -ance: acceptance, -ence: existence, -ery: discovery, -ion possession, -ment: agreement, -sion,: decision, extension, -Won: attention And note the -ing form running, etc [> 16 39 1 ]

2.4 Nouns related to adjectives: e g -ance/ence: abundance absence, -ancy/-ency: constancy, consistency, -ety: anxiety, -ity: activity, -ness: happiness

2.5 Nouns derived from other nouns: e g -cy: lunacy, -dom: kingdom, -ful: mouthful, -hood: boyhood, -ism: sexism

2.6 Nouns used to mean 'small': e g -en: kitten, -ette: maisonette, -ie: laddie, -let: booklet, -ling: duckling, -y: dolly

Appendix 3 [> 2.3]

3.1 Nouns/verbs distinguished by stress:

¹ abstract/'ab' stract ' impnnt/im' print
'conduct/con'duct ' permit/per' mjt
' contest/con' test 'produce/pro' duce

¹ "desert/de"'sert ' rebel/re'bel

¹ dispute/dis' pute ' record/re' cord

3.2 Nouns/verbs: same spelling
and pronunciation: e g

act, attempt, blame, book, call, climb, copy, cost, dance, drink, drive, fall, fear, help, joke, kiss, laugh, try, vote, wait, walk, wash, wish Noises bang, bark, buzz, grunt, hiccup, moan Jobs/Actions butcher, judge, model, nurse

Appendix 4 [>2.17]

Nouns not normally countable in English:

accommodation, advice, anger, applause, assistance, baggage, behaviour, bread,

business (= trade), capital (= money),

cardboard, cash, chaos, chess, china, clothing, coal, conduct, cookery, countryside courage, crockery, cutlery, damage, dancing, dirt, education, evidence, flu, food, fruit, fun, furniture, garbage, gossip (= talk about other

people), grass, hair {hairs = separate strands of hair, hair = all the hairs on the head),

happiness, harm, help, homework, hospitality, housework, information, jealousy, jewellery, knowledge, laughter, leisure, lightning, linen, luck, luggage, macaroni, machinery, meat, money, moonlight, mud, music, news, nonsense, parking, patience, peel, permission, poetry, the post (= letters), produce, progress, rubbish, safety, scaffolding, scenery, seaside, sewing, shopping, smoking, soap, spaghetti, spelling, steam, strength, stuff, stupidity, sunshine, thunder, timber, toast (= bread), traffic, transport, travel, underwear, violence, vocabulary, wealth, weather, work, writing

Appendix 5 [> 2.18.2,2.32]

5.1 Partitives: specific items or amounts:

a bar of chocolate/soap, a block of cement, a book of matches/stamps, a cake of soap, a cloud of dust, a flash of lightning, a head of hair, an item of news, a jet of water, a loaf of bread, a peal of thunder, a pile of earth, a portion of food, a roll of paper, a slice of meat