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Gerunds and Infinitives Chapter 14

News Story: Cat Tries to Pull a Fast One

on Firefighters

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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-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 timehave fun

+ Verb -ing

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-ing form follows certain special expressions.

They had a hard time trying to catch the cat.

have trouble/difficultyhave a hard timehave a difficult time

+ -ing

They had trouble trying to catch the cat.

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Some verbs are immediately followed

by an infinitive.

The firefighters wanted to find the cat quickly.

The cat refused to budge.

want to refuse to intend to

hope to need to promise to

plan to offer to seem to

like to agree to pretend to

decide to appear to ask to

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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)

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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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CREDITS

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