After some verbs, the next verb takes the -ing form (the gerund): I enjoy swimming. She avoided answering. Have you finished eating? These verbs usually talk about an activity itself: liking it, avoiding it, finishing it. Common ones: enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, keep, consider, practise, miss, can't stand.
I enjoy swimming in the sea.
The -ing form is the activity itself, used like a noun: you enjoy it, avoid it or finish it.
| Likes and dislikes | enjoy, don't mind, can't stand, fancy: I don't mind waiting. |
|---|---|
| Avoiding and stopping | avoid, finish, quit, give up, put off: She gave up smoking. |
| Thinking and saying | consider, suggest, imagine, admit, deny, recommend: He suggested going by train. |
| Continuing | keep, carry on, practise: Keep trying! |
| Others | miss, risk, involve: I miss living by the sea. |
After suggest, use -ing or a that-clause, never to: He suggested going or He suggested that we go, not He suggested to go.
I can't stand waiting in queues.
Your feelings about the activity in general.
Have you finished writing the report?
The activity was going on, and now it ends.
She suggested taking a taxi.
Suggest, recommend, consider and imagine talk about the idea of an activity.
He kept talking during the film.
Keep and carry on mean the activity goes on, often again and again.
Common expressions worth learning as they are.
I really enjoy _____ new recipes.
Which verbs take -ing, which take to, and which change meaning.
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The -ing form of a verb used like a noun: Swimming is fun. I enjoy swimming. It looks like the -ing in I'm swimming, but here it names the activity.
There's a tendency: -ing often refers to the activity itself or to something real or already done, while to + verb often points to a goal or the future. The tendency helps, but the common verbs are still worth learning one by one.