Grammatical pattern: VERB + INFINITIVE

The verbs in the list below follow this pattern strictly. They are followed by an infinitive and not a gerund.

ache, agree, aim, appear, arrange, ask, beg, care, chance, claim, come, condescend, consent, dare, decide, demand, desire, determine, elect, endeavor, expect, fail, get, go, grow, happen, hasten, have, hesitate, hope, hurry, leap, leave, live, long, manage, offer, opt, plan, pledge, prepare, presume, pretend, proceed, profess, promise, propose, prove, purpose, refuse, rejoice, request, resolve, say, seek, seem, shudder, strive, struggle, swear, tend, think, trouble, undertake, use, venture, volunteer, vote, vow, wait, wish, would like, yearn

The following verbs nearly always take the infinitive pattern, but there are certain exceptions wherein they can take the gerund pattern.

choose, forget, intend, learn, plan, threaten, want

The following verbs can take either the infinitive or the gerund pattern, sometimes with an important difference in meaning.

afford, attempt, bear, begin, bother, cease, choose, continue, deserve, dislike, disdain, dread, forget, hate, help, intend, learn, like, love, mean, need, neglect, omit, prefer, propose, regret, remember, stand, start, stop, threaten, try, want

The following verbs can take the infinitive, but do not usually. They are more often followed by the gerund.

dislike, dread

 

Click here for a fuller discussion of the difference between the pattern [VERB + INFINITIVE] and the pattern [VERB + GERUND].

See also the full discussion of the pattern VERB + INFINITIVE.