Monday's assignment

GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

Task 1:

Click on this link to get more practice on the use of gerunds and infinitives. Finish two exercises; repeat them till you get them all right. 

Task 2: 

Complete the text using the correct form of the verb in brackets.

Farmer Jones met Jane when he was just a young man. He couldn’t help (1 fall) in love with her immediately and asked her to marry him. She said yes although she knew it would mean (2 get) up early to milk the cows for the rest of her life. “Love means never (3 have) to get up early to milk the cows”, said Farmer Jones, and explained that he would continue (4 get) up early to milk the cows so Jane could sleep late every day. Everything went well until they tried (5 increase) their profits by buying some chickens. The first night, a fox ate one of the chickens. Farmer Jones decided (6 build) a fence to protect the chickens. But the ground was too hard so he couldn’t. He tried (7 use) an axe to break the ground but it was much too hard. So he went to the local shop and tried (8 buy) a gun. But he didn’t have any identification so he couldn’t buy one. He tried (9 borrow) one from his neighbours but they were all worried about the fox too. “I regret not (10 buy) one when I had those rabbit problems”, he told Jane. So Jane went to the shop and bought a gun. That night she tried (11 stop) the fox. At first she tried (12 scare) the fox by shooting into the air but it didn’t work. So she tried (13 hit) the fox but she missed. She called her husband and he ran after the fox to try (14 catch) it but he wasn’t fast enough. They tried (15 shout) at the fox and they tried (16 throw) things at it and they tried (17 leave) other food for the fox but nothing worked. Soon they had only 1 chicken left. They tried (18 ask) their neighbours for help and one of their neighbours told them to try (19 put) tiger dung on the ground. So they went to the local zoo to try (20 buy) some tiger dung. They put the dung on the ground and they never saw the fox again. 

Task 3

Answer the questions based on the summaries below. Use either a gerund, an infinitive, or a simple form in your answer.

One Life to Live

Maggie, who teaches children at a school for the deaf, meets Max when she comes to Llanview to visit her cousin, Andrew. Max, a friend of Andrew’s, is a widower with one-year-old twins. After Maggie spends some time with the twins, she suspects that one of them, Frankie, is partially deaf. She tells Max that he must take Frankie for testing. Max refuses to believe that his son is deaf and tells Maggie to stay out of his family’s business. Maggie, who grew up with a deaf brother, pursues the matter, even setting up an appointment for Frankie without Max’s knowledge. When Max finds out about the appointment, he is furious at Maggie.

a. Why did Maggie come to Llanview?

b. Why is Max angry at Maggie?

c. What is Maggie determined to do?

Task 4:

Follow the same pattern, now write a short paragraph with the same title and make sure to use either a gerund, to-infinitive or infinitive without to in your short story. Ask a friend to edit your work.