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Grammar & Usage

Exceptions to the Noun + Infinitive Rule

Tanya TruslerOctober 16, 2014

Have your students spent enough time studying gerunds and infinitives?

Gerunds and infinitives are many students’ worst nightmare. Certain verbs are followed by the ‑ing form of a verb (gerund), and others are followed by to + base verb (infinitive). Students often feel that hours of memorization are required to keep gerunds and infinitives straight.

Luckily, there are four rules that are almost always true:

  1. noun + infinitive
  2. adjective + infinitive
  3. preposition + gerund
  4. subject = gerund

(See Gerunds and Infinitives: Helpful Teaching Tips for more information and examples.) However, almost all English grammar rules have exceptions.

While the noun + infinitive rule is very useful for students, there is an important exception involving time that is common enough to warrant pointing it out to students.

The Noun + Infinitive Rule

If there is a noun or pronoun following the main verb, it should be followed by the infinitive form. Examples:

  • I asked my friend to help me move next Saturday.
  • She wanted him to call her.
  • My coworkers need me to finish the project on time.
  • The teacher advised her students to study for the test.

The last example with the verb “advise” shows just how useful this rule is. Advise is usually followed by a gerund (Our teacher advised studying for the test), but when you add a noun/pronoun object, the noun + infinitive rule takes precedence (The teacher advised her students to study for the test).

The Exception

Spend/Waste Time + Gerund

While the noun + infinitive rule works in almost every case, there is a common exception involving time. When the phrases spend time or waste time are used, the noun “time” is NOT followed by an infinitive. A gerund always follows these phrases. Also note that the noun “time” can be replaced by an amount of time (using the nouns months, days, hours, minutes, etc.) and a gerund is still required. Examples:

  • I spent time working on my project last night.
  • He wastes a lot of time watching TV.
  • My sister is spending five hours helping out at the auction.
  • They have wasted four days arguing about it.

But be careful! If the noun “time” is not part of the spend time/waste time phrase, the normal noun + infinitive rule applies.

  • I have time to help you today.
  • They need more time to finish the test.

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Comments (6)

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RoadToGrammar (Guest)

Definitely a tricky one, but worth a few minutes explaining it to a class, because they do make mistakes with it.

'spend times' is another mistake that my students often make.

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Tanya Trusler(Author)

That's a great point. Students often say the plural by mistake, when 'time' is an uncountable noun in this context.

Noah S.(Teacher)

What about reporting some action? I saw him going into the store.... I heard him singing along with the radio... I see him walking his dog every day. Maybe this is only for the senses.

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Tanya Trusler(Author)

Hi Elaine, good question! That pattern is usually one we see when an adjective clause is reduced to an adjective phrase (e.g., I saw a man who was going into the store > I saw a man going into the store / She stayed in a hotel that was overlooking the river > She stayed in a hotel overlooking the river). But since your examples involve pronouns, I'm not sure this is the case.

My copy of Understanding and Using English Grammar (Azar) tells me that gerunds are common in the pattern "find/catch + noun/pronoun + gerund" (e.g., When I got home, I caught my kids eating the cookies for the bake sale). Perhaps this rule could also apply to the sense verbs as you mention. I found another answer in a Google search that said we use the base verb for completed actions and a gerund for incomplete actions with the sense verbs (e.g., I heard him sing at the concert last night / I heard him singing along with the radio as I drove by). Thanks for asking about this! It seems like an interesting exception, and I'd like to find some more information about it.

Fernando V.(Teacher)

Hey!

I was teaching the Low Int class about "Going to the Supermarket" to a student and when doing one of the Role-Play activities at the end, we came across the expression "I'm having trouble finding...".

I struggled to explain why this is an exception to the N + Inf rule. I Google searched it, but the explanation of "finding" being in the noun position doesn't make sense to me.

Any thoughts?

Thank you!

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Tanya Trusler(Author)

Hi Fernando,

Great question! It turns out that "have + trouble" is another expression that always takes a gerund. This exception is similar to "spend/waste + time + gerund," but different in that the noun "trouble" can be changed for other synonyms such as "difficulty/difficulties" or "a problem/problems" that would also take a gerund when used with the verb "have."

For example:
- I had trouble starting my car this morning.
- I had difficulty/difficulties starting my car this morning.
- I had a problem/problems starting my car this morning.

I would explain it to my students as another common exception that must be memorized:
- spend/waste + time + gerund
- have + trouble/difficulty/problem + gerund

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