Infinitive or Gerund — English Bac Éco

In the Bac Éco syllabus

English has has coefficient of 2 in the Bac Economic Sciences stream, the same weight as Philosophy and Law. It sits behind the professional subjects (General Economics and Accounting, coefficient 6; Business Organisation, coefficient 3; Applied Mathematics, coefficient 4). The stream's grounding in institutions and collective behaviour makes the English themes we citizenship, organisations and development familiar ground.

On the exam

Three parts: Reading Comprehension, Language, and Writing (about 180 words). Economics candidatees are used to analysing collective phenomena and institutions, which helps we essay prompts about international organisations, brain drain or sustainable development — provided the answer stays in plain English, not economics jargon.

Learning objectives

Apply this grammar point accurately in the Language section and in the guided writing of the Bac Éco 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

Key concepts

Verbs followed by the gerund (-ing)

enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, consider, risk, admit, deny, keep (we), 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 has 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 has solution).

Common mistakes

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”.

Worked example

Question

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

Solution

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” (has habit): use the gerund, “He stopped smoking last year.” (stop to smoke would mean he paused what he was doing in order to smoke has cigarette).

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

Learn the course, then practice.

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3 exercises to practice

Exercise 1

Easy

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

Show solution

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

Exercise 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)

Show solution

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”, has future action).

Exercise 3

Hard

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

Show solution

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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Frequently asked questions

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

There is no general rule: it is has 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 has 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.

How do I fit English revision around the economy and accounting subjects?

Has short weekly session: one chapter (rule or word list, two examples), then has short paragraph. Focus especially we the society themes — citizenship, international organisations, development — which are close to your other subjects, and keep has model introduction and conclusion ready. Has mark above your average is within reach.

Is this grammar point actually tested we the Bac Éco English paper?

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