Content
Preposition + verb + ing
Watch the following video: Community Report Takes a look at Male Hair Stylist Pt.1, is your chart the same or different?
Did you change your opinion after watching the video? What do you think about this person?
Expressing likes and dislikes
• I like pizza.
• love sun-bathing.
• People enjoy taking their dog for a walk.
• We adore watching horror movies.
On the other side, if you dislike something:
• You don’t like cooking very much.
• I can’t stand jealous people.
• I hate wasting time.
However, in this topic, we will introduce a different way to express your preferences.
Let’s learn new expressions!
Look at the following phrases to express likes and dislikes, if you need to check a definition, click on the word.
Let’s continue with the information:
Now let’s check the structure and some examples:
You can use these phrases to express an opinion or attitude about something:
Verb/adjective + preposition + noun
E.g.
- Men are crazy about sports.
- She is interested in science.
- I am into technology.
The verb or adjective takes a preposition, and its complement is a noun. In this case, the preposition is followed by a noun: i.e. sports or science. This is called a prepositional complement with a noun.
Check the following information about gerunds.
When you want to express your opinion or attitude about doing something, the verb or adjective takes as a preposition complement a gerund (verb in –ing form). This is called a prepositional complement with gerund. The structure is the following:
Verb/adjective+ preposition+ gerund (-ing)
E.g.
- Men are crazy about watching sports.
- She is interested in reading science.
When the prepositions in, at, with, of, for, about and so on are used before a verb/adjective, the verb must use – ing. All prepositions are followed by a gerund as, despite, from, for, with, to, by, in, on, at, up, through, after, etc.
Note that the preposition does not belong to the verb, but rather complements it, in other words, it completes the idea expressed by the subject and the action.
Besides, this structure helps you to be more specific about the activities you like or dislike, look at this examples:
If you say: “I like sports” (this could be general)
I’m fond of watching sports, but I’m not that into practicing them.
Or a classical: I like eating food not cooking it.
In these examples you are specific about the activities related to the things, because you are not only talking not only the thing, but the specific actions.
Let's wrap up with:
For most of the verbs we make the –ING form by simply adding –ING at the end of the verb:
eat- eating
cook- cooking
stay- staying
work- working
Verbs ending with ‘-e’ (except verbs ending in ‘-ee’ and ‘ie’) -Drop the ‘-e’ and add –ING
hope- hoping
ride-riding
make- making
write-writing
Verbs ending with ‘-ee’: -Just add –ING
agree – agreeing
see- seeing
flee- feeing
Verbs ending with ‘-ie’: -Change the ‘-ie’ to ‘y’ and add –ING
die- dying
lie- lying
tie- tying
Verbs ending ‘vowel-consonant’ (except w,x, y) -for one syllable verbs:
Double the consonant and add –ING
jog- jogging
sit- sitting
plan- planning
run-running
swim- swimming
stop- stopping
- for two syllable verbs:
answer- answering
listen- listening
visit- visiting
- if the second syllable is stressed, double the consonant and add –ING
answer- answering
listen- listening
visit- visiting
Exercise 1. Checking gerunds
Once you have checked the structure of gerunds, you are going to practice them.
You can try this exercise as many times as necessary since it is for practice not for evaluation.
Select the best option for each sentence.
Exercise 2. Communication.
Remember that expressing likes and dislikes is an essential aspect of communication. In this exercise, you will explore vocabulary in context.
Complete the sentences for each situation using –ing form in the verb and the word in parenthesis. Look at the following example:
