Gerund and Inf 7

Firefighters tried jacking up the car and taking off a wheel, but the feline was scared of being hurt.. She kept avoiding the men.[r]

Gerunds and Infinitives

Chapter 14

News Story:

Cat Tries to Pull a Fast One

on Firefighters

Recently in Florida, a typical “Cat Avoids Getting Rescued” story had an unexpected twist Catching a scared cat is no easy task as the firefighters from the South Florida city of

Weston were well aware, but extracting a kitty from under the frame of a car in heavy rain is even harder Firefighters tried

jacking up the car and taking off a wheel, but the feline was scared of being hurt She kept avoiding the men At some

point, the cat escaped undetected This caused the crew to

continue searching for another hour They began by peering

into the bushes and scouring a nearby parking lot The

firefighters were used to catching a kitty in a short amount of

time This was taking much too long Eventually, they gave up

trying to find the cat and headed back to the station

A gerund can be used as the subject of a sentence or the object of a verb.

Catching a scared kitty is no easy task

The firefighters tried jacking up the car

subject

object of the verb

A gerund can be used as the object of a

preposition.

The kitty was scared of being hurt

The firefighters were worried about hurting

the kitty.

object of preposition

object of preposition

1 Firefighters are accustomed (catch) cats quickly

2 Firefighters usually succeed (rescue) _ lost cats

3 They were tired (search) _ for the kitty

4 They were worried (hurt) the scared cat

5 After 4 hours, no one would blame the firefighters (end)

_ the search for the kitty

6 But the firefighters insisted (find) the lost cat

PRACTICE 1

Complete each sentence with a preposition and a form of the verb in parentheses.

to catching

in rescuing

of searching about hurting for ending

on finding

Five hours later, the elusive cat reappeared at the

station, in the fire truck's rear wheel well The firefighters were

not having a good time searching for the cat They had spent

a lot of time trying to catch the cat, but they decided to give it one more try This time, firefighters used food to try to lure

the cat out It didn’t work The cat refused to budge, so the

crew resorted to a successful three-person attack: one poked the feline gently in the backside with a stick, another used a

hose to push it into an open area, so the third could grab it

and pull it out The cat was dirty but unharmed The cat’s

owner thanked them over and over for bringing his cat to

safety

-ing form follows certain special expressions.

The firefighters were not having a good time

searching for the cat.

The firefighters were not having fun searching

for the cat.

have a good time

have fun + Verb -ing

-ing form follows certain special expressions.

They had a hard time trying to catch the cat.

have trouble/difficulty have a hard time

have a difficult time

+ -ing

They had trouble trying to catch the cat.

Some verbs are immediately followed

by an infinitive.

The firefighters wanted to find the cat quickly.

The cat refused to budge .

PRACTICE 2

Gerund or Infinitive?

1 The firefighters had a difficult time (rescue)

_ the cat.

2 The cat seemed (avoid) _ the men

intentionally.

3 They were worried about (hurt) the

kitty

rescuing

to avoid

hurting

PRACTICE 2

Gerund or Infinitive?

4 In the end, it required three people (catch)

_ the cat.

5 The firefighters refused (stop) the

search for the cat.

6 Finally, they found the cat (hide) in

their own truck.

to catch

to stop

hiding

Some verbs can be followed by either an

infinitive or a gerund…with no difference in meaning.

The crew continued searching for the cat.

same meaning

The crew continued to search for the cat.

Some verbs can be followed by either an

infinitive or a gerund, but the meaning is

different.

Firefighters tried jacking up the car and taking off

a wheel.

(They were able to jack up the car.)

Firefighters tried to jack up the car and take off

a wheel.

(They were NOT able to jack up the car.)

Remember Forget Regret Try

Some verbs can be followed by either an

infinitive or a gerund, but the meaning is

different.

A firefighter said to the cat’s owner: “I regret to tell you that we couldn’t catch your cat.”

After they found the cat, the firefighter said, “I

don’t regret spending so much time on the

search for the cat.”

(sorry to tell someone bad news right now)

(sorry or not about something that already

happened)

PRACTICE 3

Check Your Knowledge

1 Who went (running, to run) after the cat?

2 The men spent too much time (catching, to catch) the

cat.

3 They remembered (searching, to search) for a lot of

other cats on other rainy days.

4 They caught the cat (hiding, to hide) in the fire truck.

5 They tried (finding, to find) the cat for a long time

6 It is dangerous for cats (hurting, to hide) under a car.

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