Infinitive or Gerund — English Bac SMB

Dans le programme du Bac SMB

English carries a coefficient of 2 in the Bac Sciences Maths B (SMB) stream, level with Philosophy. Mathematics dominates the stream (coefficient 9), followed by Physics-Chemistry and Engineering Sciences (coefficient 7 each), so English can look marginal — but it and Philosophy form the narrow margin where rankings and honours are actually decided. Reading, language and guided writing are all assessed.

À l'épreuve

Three parts: Reading Comprehension, Language, and Writing (a guided text of about 180 words). SMB candidates, trained to be rigorous and systematic, do well on the Language section if they treat each grammar point as a rule with a fixed structure; the risk is a dry essay that ignores vocabulary range and register, which the Writing section also scores.

Objectifs d'apprentissage

Apply this grammar point accurately in the Language section and in the guided writing of the Bac SMB English exam (coefficient 2)
Recognise verbs always followed by the gerund (enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, consider, risk, admit, deny)
Recognise verbs always followed by the to-infinitive (want, decide, hope, plan, promise, agree, refuse, manage, afford)
Distinguish the meaning of stop to do / stop doing and remember to do / remember doing
Apply the rule: every preposition is followed by the gerund, never the infinitive

Notions clés

Verbs followed by the gerund (-ing)

enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, consider, risk, admit, deny, keep (on), imagine + verb-ing. E.g. “I enjoy swimming.”, “She suggested going to the cinema.”

Verbs followed by the to-infinitive

want, decide, hope, plan, promise, agree, refuse, manage, afford, seem + to + base form. E.g. “He decided to leave.”, “They agreed to help.”

Dual-construction verbs, different meaning

stop to do (stop in order to do something) vs stop doing (give up a habit); remember to do (not forget to do it, before the action) vs remember doing (recall having done it, after the action); try to do (make an effort to succeed) vs try doing (experiment with a solution).

Erreurs fréquentes

Putting to after enjoy / avoid / finish / suggest: “I enjoy to swim” is wrong — use “I enjoy swimming”.

Confusing stop to do and stop doing: “He stopped to smoke” means he stopped (walking, for example) in order to smoke, not that he gave up smoking (stop smoking).

Forgetting that prepositions are always followed by the gerund: “interested in to learn” is wrong — use “interested in learning”.

Exemple corrigé

Énoncé

Correct and justify: “She suggested to go to the cinema. He stopped smoke last year.”

Correction

suggested to go. Suggest is followed by the gerund, never by to + infinitive: “She suggested going to the cinema.”

stopped smoke. The intended meaning is “he gave up smoking” (a habit): use the gerund, “He stopped smoking last year.” (stop to smoke would mean he paused what he was doing in order to smoke a cigarette).

Corrected sentence. “She suggested going to the cinema. He stopped smoking last year.”

Le cours, puis l'entraînement.

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3 exercices pour t'entraîner

Exercice 1

Easy

Choose the right form: “I look forward to (see / seeing) you soon.”

Voir la correction

seeing — in look forward to, “to” is a preposition here (not the infinitive marker), so it is followed by the gerund: “I look forward to seeing you soon.”

Exercice 2

Medium

Complete with the correct form of close: “I clearly remember ___ (close) the window before leaving.” (the memory is of an action already done)

Voir la correction

closing — remember + gerund describes recalling an action already done: “I clearly remember closing the window before leaving.” (remember + to + infinitive would mean “not to forget to close”, a future action).

Exercice 3

Hard

Correct: “He denied to steal the money, but he admitted to lie about it later.”

Voir la correction

Deny and admit are followed by the gerund, never by to + infinitive: “He denied stealing the money, but he admitted lying about it later.”

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Questions fréquentes

How do I know whether a verb takes the gerund or the infinitive?

There is no general rule: it is a list to learn verb by verb (enjoy / avoid / finish / suggest → gerund; want / decide / hope / promise → infinitive). Learning the lists in meaning groups makes them easier to remember.

What comes after a preposition (in, at, about, for)?

Always the gerund, never the infinitive: “She is interested in learning French.”, “He apologised for being late.” This rule has no exceptions.

stop to do and stop doing — how do I tell them apart in the exam?

stop doing = give up an action or habit (the more frequent meaning). stop to do = pause (from doing something) in order to do something else: “He stopped to answer the phone” means he stopped (walking, working…) in order to answer.

A maths-stream student often dislikes English — how do they raise the mark?

Treat it as structure. Every writing task = introduction + argument + counter-argument + conclusion; every grammar point = one rule + one correct example + one typical mistake. Memorise that framework, apply it to the 31 chapters with two example sentences each, and 12/20 is reachable without eating into the heavy maths programme.

Is this grammar point actually tested on the Bac SMB English paper?

Yes — in the Language section as gap-fill, sentence-joining or error-correction, and indirectly in Writing, where the same structures decide whether a sentence is marked as accurate. One rule, two examples and one typical mistake per point is enough to cover both.