Grammatical pattern: VERB + GERUND
Verbs in the list below follow this pattern strictly. They are followed by gerund and not an infinitive.
abhor, acknowledge, admit, advise, advocate, allow, anticipate, appreciate, avoid, cause, celebrate, complete, consider, contemplate, defer, delay, deny, despise, detest, discontinue, discuss, disdain, dispute, dread, encourage, endure, enjoy, entail, escape, excuse, explain, fancy, fear, feign, finish, forbid, forgive, imagine, include, involve, justify, loathe, mention, mind, miss, pardon, permit, picture, postpone, practice, prevent, quit, recall, recollect, recommend, regret, report, resent, resist, resume, risk, save, suggest, tolerate, understand, warrant
The following verbs nearly always take the gerund pattern, but there are certain exceptions wherein they can take the infinitive pattern.
The following verbs can take either the gerund or the infinitive 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
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 + GERUND.