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.

subject

The firefighters tried jacking up the car.

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.

object of preposition

The firefighters were worried about hurting the kitty. object of

preposition
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PRACTICE 1 Complete each sentence with a preposition and a form of the verb in parentheses.
1. Firefighters are accustomed (catch) __________ to catching cats quickly.

2. Firefighters usually succeed (rescue) ___________ in rescuing lost cats.

3. They were tired (search) _____________ of searching for the kitty. 4. They were worried (hurt) ______________ about hurting the scared cat. 5. After 4 hours, no one would blame the firefighters (end) ___________ for ending the search for the kitty.

6. But the firefighters insisted (find) __________ on finding the lost cat.
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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 didnt 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 cats

owner thanked them over and over for bringing his cat to
safety.
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-ing form follows certain special expressions.

have a good time have fun

+ Verb -ing

The firefighters were not having a good time searching for the cat. The firefighters were not having fun searching for the cat.
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-ing form follows certain special expressions.

have trouble/difficulty have a hard time have a difficult time

+ -ing

They had a hard time trying to catch the cat.

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 hope to plan to like to decide to refuse to need to offer to agree to appear to intend to promise to seem to pretend to ask to
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PRACTICE 2 Gerund or Infinitive?

1. The firefighters had a difficult time (rescue) rescuing the cat. _________
2. The cat seemed (avoid) _________ to avoid the men intentionally.

hurting the 3. They were worried about (hurt) ________ kitty.

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PRACTICE 2 Gerund or Infinitive?

4. In the end, it required three people (catch) to catch the cat. _________
5. The firefighters refused (stop) ________ to stop the search for the cat.

hiding in 6. Finally, they found the cat (hide) ______ their own truck.
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Some verbs can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerundwith 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.

Remember

Forget

Regret

Try

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.)
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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 cats owner: I regret to tell you that we couldnt catch your cat.
(sorry to tell someone bad news right now)

After they found the cat, the firefighter said, I dont regret spending so much time on the search for the cat.
(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 15 car.

CREDITS

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education and its licensors. All rights reserved. Images used under license from: Shutterstock, Inc.

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