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Teaching Gerunds and Infinitives: Lesson Plans
Day Two Part 1: Gerunds & Infinitives As Direct Objects [Allow students time to take notes as you go along]
- Begin by putting the verb like on the board. [like is a good verb to start with because it is transitive & it can have either a gerund or an infinitive follow it as a direct object.]
- Next, write a sentence on the board with the verb like followed by a gerund or infinitive. For example,
Tom likes to swim with sharks [Tom's a little on the dim side.]
- Ask students to identify the verb, and then ask them to identify the direct object. [Semantically (based on meaning), the direct object is to swim with sharks.]
- Ask them how we know that to swim with sharks is the direct object. [If no one suggests it, guide them by reminding them of the direct object question they learned for identifying a D.O.]
What does Tom like? [He doesn't just like to swim. He likes to swim with sharks.]
- Substitute a gerund [swimming with sharks] and ask students if it's still a good sentence and whether the meaning has changed. [It is and it hasn't.]
- So far it seems pretty simple, but what happens if we use a different verb?
Tom wants to swim with sharks [Ask them if it's still a good sentence and then change the infinitive to a gerund.]
Tom wants swimming with sharks [Is it still good? No. So, why not?]
- Make the point that some verbs can have either an infinitive or gerund after them while others can have only one or the other.
Day Two Part 2 - Day Three Part 1: Give Students a List to Practice With [Allow students time to take notes as you go along]
- Before class, create a list of around 12 verbs and one adjective that you can use to teach the concepts and students can practice with. There are four categories of verbs when it comes to gerund/infinitive objects:
- Verbs that can only take a gerund after them. [represented as verb + gerund]
ex: consider, detest, enjoy, finish, postpone, quit, recommend, regret,...[Choose five that you like]
Tom considers swimming with sharks.
- Verbs that can only take an infinitive after them. [represented as verb + inf]
ex: decide, expect, intend, plan, refuse,...[Choose three that you like]
Tom decides to swim with sharks.
- Verbs that can only take a noun + infinitive after them. [represented as verb + N +inf]
ex: convince, invite, remind, tell,...[Choose three that you like]
Tom convinces Anna to swim with sharks.
- Verbs that can take either a gerund or an infinitive after them. [represented as verb + both]
ex: begin/start, continue, love/like/hate, try,...[Choose one that you like]
Tom begins swimming/to swim with sharks.
- I suggest listing each verb one-by-one grouping them into each of the four categories as you go along. As you present each verb, elicit definitions, guesses as to what each is followed by [gerund, inf, N +inf, both], and example sentences.
- List an adjective of emotion following verb #12
ex: happy/sad, excited, disgusted,...[Choose one that you like]
Tom is happy to swim with sharks.
Special notes: Adjectives always take an infinitive while prepositions always take a gerund.
Tom doesn't care about swimming without sharks.
Special notes: A few verbs that can take either a gerund or infinitive after them, actually have different meanings with each...
Tom stops swimming with sharks.
Tom stops to swim with sharks. -[He stops doing some activity & starts swimming.]
Other verbs include: practice & remember
Practice One: For each of the 12 verbs you gave them, ask students to make a sentence of their own using a gerund or infinitive as a direct object. Also, make a sentence with the adjective you gave them too.
Practice Two: Make a handout in which you ask students to make a sentence of their own using a gerund or infinitive as a direct object [like in practice one]. However, this time make them use each of the 12 active verb tenses in their practice [Use a different tense for each verb.] [
Sample Practice Handout]
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