About, of, in, to, after, by, for, on, at, without

 

e.g. We talked about going (go) to France for our holiday.

 

1. I look forward ______ (see) you again next year.

2. She's tired ______ (work) for the company.

3. I'm very happy ______ my parents ______ (come) home.

4. ______ (open) the front door, I walked slowly through it.

 

5. We got into the house ______ (climb) through a window.

6. I'm looking forward ______ (work) with you.

7. Are you interested ______ (join) the committee?

8. I'm tired ______ (come) to the same place every week.

 

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9. He's very keen ______ (swim) at the moment.

 

10. I'm worried ______ Jane _____ (get) to the airport on time.

11. I'm not interested ______ (hear) your excuses.

12. She's very good ______ (listen) to what people say.

13. This is used ______ (cut) metal.

14. The car drove off ______ (stop).

 

NOTE: preposition + -ing: special cases

 

We use by...ing to say how – by what method or means – we do something. We use for...ing to give the purpose of something – to say what it is used for.

 

On doing something (formal) means ' when / as soon as you do something'.

e.g. You can find out somebody's phone number by looking in the directory.

e.g. He made his money by buying and selling houses.

e.g. I've bought some special glue for mending broken glass.

 

e.g. 'What's that funny knife for ?' ‘ Opening letters.'

e.g. On hearing the fire alarm, go straight to the nearest exit.

 

7. Find the answers in the box; write them with by...ing:

 

look in a dictionary; oil it; play loud music; rob a bank; stroke it; switch on the ignition; take an aspirin; use an extinguisher

 

1. How do you make a cat happy? – By stroking it.

2. How can you annoy your neighbours?

3. How can you get money fast?

4. How do you stop a door squeaking?

 

5. How do you find out what a word means?

6. How can you cure a headache?

7. How can you put a fire out?

8. How do you start a car?

 

The gerund is used after the following expressions: It’s (no) good, It’s no use, There is no point in,

It’s (not) worth, have difficulty, be busy, a waste of money / time, spend / waste time:

e.g. It’s no good trying to persuade me. You won’t succeed.

 

8. Join the following sentences starting with the words in italics.

 

1. Don’t complain about it. It’s no good. It’s no good complaining.

2. Don’t worry about it. It’s just not worth it. _____________________

3. Don’t try to persuade him. There’s no point in it. _________________

4. Why apologize? What’s the use of it? __________________________

5. I owe a lot of money. There’s nothing worse than that. _____________

 

We use go + gerund for a number of activities (especially sports): e.g. I’d like to go skiing.

 

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9. Complete these sentences with one of the following (with the verb in the correct form): go skiing, go shopping, go swimming, go sailing, go riding:

 

1. Barry lives by the sea and he's got a boat, so he often goes sailing.

2. There's plenty of snow in the mountains so we'll be able to ___________.

3. It was a very hot day, so we _________________ in the river.

4. Margaret has got two horses. She often ___________________.

 

5. The shops are shut now. It's too late to ____________________.

 

Infinitive

 

In modern English the infinitive has the following forms:

 

	Active	Passive
Indefinite	to write	to be written
Continuous	to be writing	‒
Perfect	to have written	to have been written
Perfect Continuous	to have been writing	‒

 

The to- infinitive is used after certain verbs: offer, agree, refuse, decide, plan, arrange, hope, aim, learn, deserve, afford, forget, attempt, manage, fail, promise, threaten, etc.

 

1. Complete the sentences, using a verb below. Use each verb once: