learning or to learn

Question

Hi everybody, How do you write:

 I like "learning" new things such as "to learn" to play a guitar       or

 I like "to learn" new things such as "learning" to play a guitar

I know: like+verb+ing but I have seen too: like+infinitive.

and if it´s an activity: ......to learn to play a guitar or learning to play a guitar?

Thank you

Answer 1

like + Ving is british, like + infinitive is american, both are correct.

after such as, you can only put Ving because here as is a preposition that has to be followed by a gerund.

so the correct version is: I like to learn / learning new things such as learning to play the guitar.

and you need the not a before the guitar because we need to put the definite article before musical instruments.

cheers.

Answer 2

Hi, dear. There are some verbs in English that must have been followed by -ing. Those are, for example, deny, discuss, finish, mention, pratice, quit, resist, suggest, etc.

There are some verbs which can be followed by a verb + -ing or an infinitive verb. Examples: Like, love, stop, etc.

"I like learning\to learn new things such as learnING to play the guitar."

(After as, use the gerund form of the verb, because a verb that follows a preposition must be in the gerund. And everytime you want to talk about musical instruments, always use THE before them.)

You know, I would say your sentence like this:

"I like learning\to learn new things such as playing the guitar."

It sounds better.

I hope I have helped you.

:D

Answer 3

1vote

Bridget Bytheway 3250

Cecil has confused me with this: "There are some verbs in English that must have been followed by -ing. Those are, for example, deny, discuss, finish, mention, pratice, quit, resist, suggest, etc. There are some verbs which can be followed by a verb + -ing or an infinitive verb. Examples: Like, love, stop, etc. "

You can deny, discuss, finish, mention etc without the -ing, it all depends on the context.

commented

Bridget I have got confused about what you said. Could you explain it more detailed, please?

What I meant was that after those verbs (deny, discuss, finish, mention, pratice, quit, resist, suggest), an upcoming verb must be in the -ing form. (At least, that's been the way I've learned in my English course):

Exs.:

Sarah has blamed me for breaking her vase. When I see her again, I'll deny doing that, because who did it, actually, was Marcus.

We had discussed going to the party, but we arrived to the conclusion that it was not going to be funny.

Marianna suggested taking English classes if I want to speak it fluently.

Notice that

You can use a verb + a noun(or an object pronoun) and infinitive in that last case:

Marianna suggested ME TO TAKE English classes if I want to speak it fluently.

(Maybe you could have mentioned this in your comment, but anyway, I'd like to hear it from you :D)

Hope it has helped you. :)

commented

Oh, I see what you mean now, yes, what you say is correct. I thought you meant you couldn't say denying/suggesting/whatever. sorry. But I should add that you can use those verbs without an -ing verb afterwards, for example Richard denied that he had ever been rude to her The team wanted to discuss the option to buy the building I haven't finished what I wanted to say I should mention the need to punctuate properly Fred loves to practice his violin Lisa has quit her tennis lessons The boss will resist any ideas that cost money Why not suggest a different activity?

and separately, where you say "but we arrived to the conclusion that it was not going to be funny.", it should read "but we arrived at the conclusion that it was not going to be fun."

Hope this is more useful.

Answer 4

0vote

Christine Pether 960

BOTH ARE CORRECT. I AM LEARNING TO PLAY THE GUITAR. I LOVE PLAYING THE GUITAR.

learning or to learn