<p>How would you explain the differences between usage of gerund vs infinitive?</p>
<p>I can use them correctly from just being a native speaker of English, but how would you discretely define the two?</p>
<p>infinative is "
the preposition "to" plus a "verb"</p>
<p>I want to go to the store.</p>
<p>Infinitive "to go".</p>
<p>My question isn't asking that.</p>
<p>It's asking differences usage wise. I think everyone here knows the definition of an infinitive.</p>
<p>don't really know any usage rules off the top of my head. both can be used as nouns.</p>
<p>A gerund is a verb form used as a noun. Like nouns, gerunds can be used as subjects, direct objects, objects of prepositions, predicate nominatives, and appositives. The gerund ends in -ing.</p>
<p>Jogging is a popular excercise. (Jogging is a gerund, used as a subject)</p>
<p>Their big mistake was trusting the Communists. (Trusting is a gerund, used as a predicate nominative)</p>
<p>An infinitive is a verb form used as a noun, adjective, or adverb. Like nouns, infinitives can be used as subjects, direct objects, objects of prepositions, predicate nominatives, and appositives. The infinitive is usually preceded by the word to.</p>
<p>Jessica likes to listen to opera. (To listen is used as the direct object)</p>
<p>They have a truckload of tomatoes to sell. (To sell is used as an adjective to modify the noun tomatoes)</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>Okay, so I did some thinking on this matter, and I have come to the conclusion that gerunds are used to indicate the activity (the event of doing the action, ie: swimming, running, playing) while infinitives are used more for indicating the action itself and not the event of doing it.</p>
<p>I want swimming (on the schedule).</p>
<p>vs</p>
<p>I want to swim.</p>