Verbal Phrases before Gerunds
He talks about leaving.
Commenting on activities
Verbs vs. Verbal Phrases Followed by Gerunds
| VERB FOLLOWED BY A GERUND | VERBAL PHRASE FOLLOWED BY A GERUND |
|---|---|
Jack discussed leaving his job. |
Jack talked about leaving his job. |
Jack continued working overtime. |
Jack kept on working overtime. |
Jack doesn't like doing the accounting. |
Jack doesn't care for doing the accounting. |
Jack postpones taking a vacation. |
Jack puts off taking a vacation. |
Two- and three-word verb expressions
A verbal phrase with a preposition is followed by a gerund (even if it ends in to).
| ABOUT | FROM | ON |
|---|---|---|
argue about We argued about spending money. |
refrain from I refrained from saying anything. |
concentrate on I concentrate on getting experience. |
care about We care about recycling things. |
stop from He was stopping from going in. |
congratulate_on We congratulated them on getting married. |
complain about He complains about getting old. |
IN | continue on He continued on sleeping all day. |
forget about She forgets about calling us. |
believe in She believes in being well-educated. |
depend on We depend on getting help. |
talk about He talks about getting married. |
interest in He is interested in being a scientist. |
go on / keep on We keep on working. |
think about We are thinking about joining them |
succeed in He succeeded in winning the race. |
insist on He insists on coming too. |
worry about She worried about getting lost. |
specialize in He will specialize in making wine. |
plan on She plans on taking a course. |
dream about He dreams about playing ball. |
give in/into I won't give into his complaining. |
rely on We rely on their assisting us. |
| AGAINST | LIKE | OVER |
decide against We decided against buying a car. |
feel like Do you feel like going out? |
think over He is thinking over moving away. |
warn against They warn against giving out info. |
OF | talk over We talked over buying a new home. |
| AFTER | accuse of He was accused of lying. |
TO |
look after I will look after buying the tickets. |
approve of They approved of doing that. |
adjust to I adjusted to living in the U.S. |
| FOR | dream of He dreams of playing ball. |
look forward to I look forward to seeing you. |
blame for I was blamed for losing the game. |
in charge of He is in charge of collecting tickets. |
object to I object to doing all the work. |
care for I don't care for wearing shorts. |
take care of I took care of making reservations. |
get used to/ be used to We are used to hearing traffic. |
apologize for I apologized for being late. |
think of We thought of being ghosts for Halloween. |
WITH |
|
OFF | agree with He agrees with exercising daily. |
|
put off He put off going to business school. |
cope with She copes with working long hours. |
Commonly Confused Verb Expressions
| VERB PHRASE | VERB PHRASE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
care about |
I care about helping people to help themselves. |
care for |
Do you care for watching game shows? (like) |
feel guilty about |
I feel guilty about not calling home more often. |
be guilty of |
He was guilty of stealing other people's credit card numbers. (He was convicted of it.) |
Think
CONSIDER |
You should think about your future. |
PREDICT / |
I didn't think of the possible problems at that time. |
FOCUS ON |
Try not to think about your problems right now. (ignore them) |
HAVE AN OPINION |
What did you think of that movie. |
Practice 1
Complete the Verbal Expression
- Select the preposition that best completes each sentence (about, against, after, for from, in, like, of, off, on, over, to, with)
- Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button to the right.