Verb + -ing or to ... 1

Some Verbs Take -ing, Some Take to

Not every verb works the same way. Some verbs are followed by -ing, and others are followed by to ….

Verbs + -ing	Verbs + to …
admit, avoid, consider	afford, agree, arrange
deny, enjoy, fancy	decide, fail, forget
finish, imagine, keep (on)	hope, learn, manage
mind, postpone, risk	offer, plan, promise
stop, suggest	refuse, deserve, tend

• She enjoys working from home on Fridays.
• We can’t afford to hire more staff this quarter.
• He suggested moving the meeting to Thursday.
• They agreed to extend the deadline by two weeks.

Remember

The meaning changes depending on whether you use -ing or to.

Remember doing something = you did it, and now you have the memory of it. You look back at something that already happened.

• I remember locking the office door. I’m sure I did it.
• She remembers signing the contract — it was a big moment for the team.

Remember to do something = you don’t forget to do it. You think of it before you do it.

• *Remember to send the invoice before Friday.*
• I remembered to back up the files, but I forgot to update the shared folder.

	You look …	Example
remember doing	… back (after the action)	I remember saving the document.
remember to do	… forward (before the action)	Remember to save the document.

Regret

Regret doing something = you did it, and now you wish you hadn’t.

• I regret saying what I said in the meeting. It was unprofessional.
• Do you regret not applying for the promotion?

Regret to say / to tell you / to inform you = a formal way to say you are sorry about what you are about to tell someone. This is common in official letters and emails.

• We regret to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful.
• I regret to say that we are unable to accept your proposal.

Go on

Go on doing something = continue doing the same thing.

• The manager paused for a moment and then went on talking.
• We can’t go on spending more than our budget allows.

Go on to do something = move to something new, do or say the next thing.

• After discussing Q3 results, the director went on to talk about hiring plans.
• She finished the presentation and went on to answer questions from the audience.

	Meaning	Example
go on doing	keep doing the same thing	He went on explaining the same point.
go on to do	do something different next	He went on to explain the next point.

No Difference in Meaning: begin, start, continue, intend, bother

With begin, start, continue, intend, and bother, you can use either -ing or to — the meaning stays the same.

• It started raining. or It started to rain.
• She intends buying a new laptop. or She intends to buy a new laptop.
• Don’t bother printing the report. or Don’t bother to print the report.

One small rule: avoid using -ing right after -ing.

• It’s starting to rain. (not It’s starting raining.)

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