Gerunds and Infinitives: Expressions with Gerunds

We need to put a noun after a preposition. Gerunds act as nouns, so after a preposition, we can also put a gerund.

There are many expressions that are commonly followed by a gerund. Let’s take a look at the most common ones.

Here are some expressions that use “be verbs”. The “be verb” can be used in any verb tense and can be made negative by using the word “not”.

be excited about	be worried about
be responsible for	be interested in
be accused of	be capable of
be incapable of	be tired of
be accustomed to	be committed to
be opposed to	be used to

All of these examples have a gerund after the preposition.

• She is excited about going to the party.
• I am not worried about losing my job.
• We are not responsible for dealing with customer complaints.
• She is interested in joining our company.
• He was accused of stealing the watch.
• We will be capable of handling twice as much data after the new system is implemented.
• She is incapable of feeling sorry.
• I am tired of working here.
• I am not accustomed to working at a large corporation.
• I was always committed to doing my best.
• She is opposed to allowing people to own guns.
• He is used to waking up early.

Here are some expressions that use action verbs.

complain about	dream about/of
talk about/of	think about/of
apologize for	make an excuse for
have a reason for	believe in
participate in	succeed in
take advantage of	take care of
insist on	look forward to

• She complained about having to work last weekend.
• I have never dreamed of living in a different country.
• We talked about hiring another employee.
• I am thinking about quitting my job.
• He apologized for being late.
• She always makes an excuse for not doing her work.
• We have a reason for coming here today.
• We believe in helping others.
• We will participate in recruiting new members.
• The company succeeded in implementing the new system.
• We need to take advantage of not having to work next week.
• I will take care of organizing the documents.
• She insisted on coming.
• I look forward to meeting you.

There are some expressions that require an object (something or somebody) in between the verb and preposition.

blame (something/somebody) for	forgive (something/somebody) for
thank (something/somebody) for	keep (something/somebody) from
prevent (something/somebody) from	stop (something/somebody) from

• She blamed me for ruining her party.
• He can’t forgive her for lying to him.
• I want to thank you for helping us.
• We need to keep our boss from getting angry and saying something stupid.
• The weather prevented us from going to the beach.
• Don’t stop her from enjoying her weekend.

The best way to become a great English speaker is to practice a lot. Look at the words in the three tables above and practice making your own sentences. Say them aloud to practice your speaking, pronunciation, and fluency. This simple practice will help you learn English faster and become better at speaking English.

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