Welcome to this 10 minute video lesson on English verb patterns.
English verbs are often followed by another verb or by an object plus a verb. Depending on what the first verb is, the pattern that follows can be completely different from one verb to the next. It’s an area that many students find tricky. Check out our video lesson below, written for IELTS students but useful for anyone at intermediate to advanced level interested in practising this area of English.
Transcript for ‘Verb Patterns’
Welcome to this 10 minute video lesson on the subject of verb patterns.
As you’ll know only too well, in English, verbs are often followed by another verb or by an object plus a verb. Depending on what the first verb is, the pattern that follows can be completely different from one verb to the next.
Take the verb ‘suggest’ for example. Is it ‘suggest to do something’, ‘suggest doing something’, ‘suggest someone does something’? With so many verbs each following a particular pattern, it’s no wonder students end up making mistakes.
For example, mistakes like these, with the verbs ‘prefer’ and ‘recommend’.
I’m not really interested in TV. I prefer listen to music.
I’d recommend to come to my country in the autumn.
Of course, we don’t say ‘prefer listen’ or ‘recommend to come’. But do you know what the correct patterns are?
Yes, well done if you know these should be ‘prefer to listen’ and ‘recommend coming’. You could also say ‘recommend you come’. And if you’re still wondering about ‘suggest’ from the previous screen, that also follows this pattern, so ‘suggest doing something’ or I suggest you do something’.
With all these possibilities you won’t be surprised to learn that students trying our online IELTS Speaking practice tests make the occasional mistakes with verb patterns. Here are some examples. Can you spot the mistake in each sentence? Stop the video now and start it again when you’re read to continue.
I don’t regret to not go to university.
My teacher advised doing IELTS.
I think some people would like retiring early.
Our government tell to us to use our cars less often.
When I was younger I used to living in Athens.
Schools don’t make people to learn another language.
Hopefully you found most of them. Before we correct them let’s look at some common verb patterns that we can use to work with to try and find out where the mistakes are.
We’ll look at these combinations in this lesson. The first one is ‘verb + ‘ing’ or what’s termed the gerund. We’ll also look at ‘verb + to’ . There are some verbs that can take both of these patterns and one or two that have a different meaning depending on which one we use. We’ll have a look at some of these in a minute. There are a number of verbs that are followed by a preposition and then the ‘ing’ form of the verb, like ‘interested in’. And then finally we’ll look at the pattern, ‘verb + object + to’, for example, the verb ‘tell’ takes this pattern as in ‘I told someone to do something’.
So, let’s look at the first pattern, ‘verb + ing’. In this case the main verb is followed by the gerund or ‘ing’ form of the second verb.
I really enjoy travelling and I quite fancy visiting friends in Australia next year.
So in this example, the verbs ‘enjoy’ and ‘fancy’ are both followed by verbs in the ing form.
Here are some more common verbs that take this pattern.
- imagine
- suggest
- keep
- consider
- practise
- regret
- cannot stand
- miss
- avoid
- feel
- like
Are there any in the list that you don’t use very often or you’re not sure of the pattern? Stop the video now and practise making statements using any of these verbs.
OK, let’s turn now to ‘verb + to’. There are lots of verbs that take this pattern and here are two common examples. ‘Decide’ and ‘hope’, both of which are followed by ‘to + verb’.
I’ve decided to continue my English studies after the exam as I hope to become an English teacher.
Here are some more examples of verbs that take this pattern. Some of them can actually be followed by an indirect object, a pattern we’ll look at in a minute. But even if this is the case, they will still followed the ‘to + verb’ pattern. For example, ‘I need to do something’ or ‘I need you to do something’.
- choose
- decide
- plan
- need
- promise
- prefer
- offer
- expect
- hope
- intend
Are there any verbs here you need to practise? Again stop the video now and make up some true statements about yourself using any of these verbs.
As I said earlier, there are some verbs that take ‘to’ or ‘ing’. In some cases the difference in meaning is virtually the same such as here, where ‘prefer’ can take the ‘ing’ or ‘to’ pattern.
I prefer living/to live in the city as there so much to do than in the countryside.
However, there are a small number of verbs where the meaning changes.
Take the verb ‘stop’ for example. In the first example below, the person stopped eating because they were feeling ill.
I stopped eating as I was feeling rather sick.
I stopped to eat something for lunch.
However, in the second example, the person stopped whatever it was they were doing in order to eat, in order to eat lunch.
‘Remember’ is another verb that has a different meaning depending on which pattern is used.
I remembered to do my homework.
I don’t remember seeing John at the party.
In the first example here, the speaker didn’t forget to do the homework. So the meaning of remember in the first sentence is that the speaker didn’t forget. But in the second example, the speaker is saying that have no memory of seeing someone at a party. So when it’s followed by the ‘ing’ form of the verb like like this, the meaning is ‘to have a memory or recollection of something’. You’ll be pleased to hear that there aren’t too many verbs like this.
Let’s turn now to another common pattern, ‘verb + preposition + ing’. Some verbs are followed by a preposition such as ‘interested in’ or ‘guilty of’. Prepositions are generally followed by the ‘ing’ form of the verb so we would say ‘believe in working’ or I’m thinking of taking up’.
I don’t believe in working extremely long hours.
I’m thinking of taking up Chinese.
There are lots of verbs with dependent prepositions that take this pattern such as these.
- agree with
- apologise for
- cope with
- plan on
- look forward to
- succeed in
- guilty of
- rely on
- worry about
- depend on
Once again, stop the video and make some statements using any verbs you think you need to practise.
Finally, let’s look at one last pattern, ‘verb + object + to’. With this pattern, the main verb is followed by an indirect object and the ‘to’ form of the verb.
I need someone to practise speaking skills.
My teacher persuaded me to do the exam.
So in these examples we have ‘need someone to practise’ and ‘persuade me to do something’
Here are some examples of verbs that take this pattern.
- advise
- allow
- ask
- beg
- force
- invite
- remind
- tell
- want
- warn
Of course if there isn’t a direct object the ‘to’ form of the verb is used on its own, such as ‘I was advised to see a doctor’ or ‘I was allowed to leave early’.
A very common mistake is with the word ‘use’.
We used to spend out holidays on the coast.
I’m not used to getting up early.
In the top example, ‘used to’ is a verb and refers to something you did in the past, so ‘We used to spend our holidays on the coast’. Here, ‘used to’ is followed by the infinitive form of the verb without to – ‘used to spend’. However in the second example, ‘used’ is an adjective and is followed by the ‘ing’ form of the verb. If you’re ‘not used to doing something’ you’re not familiar with it or accustomed to it and this meaning requires the ‘ing’ form.
So let’s look again at those 6 statements and try to correct the mistakes using any of these patters.
I don’t regret to not go to university.
Regret is followed by the ‘ing’ form of the verb. So this first statement should be ‘I don’t regret not going to university’.
My teacher advised doing IELTS.
The mistake here is of course that ‘advise’ is followed by the indirect object then ‘to + verb’. So this should be: ‘My teacher advised me to do IELTS’.
I think some people would like retiring early.
Now this next one shouldn’t be ‘would like retiring’ but ‘would like to retire’. Remember that verbs like ‘love’, ‘hate’, ‘like’, etc. always take the ‘to’ form when they are used with ‘would’. so ‘would like to’, ‘would hate to’.
Our government tells to us to use our cars less often.
Well done if you spotted the next one. ‘Tell’ is followed by the indirect object ‘+ to’, not the other way around. So this should be ‘Our government tells us to use our cars less often’.
When I was younger I used to living in Athens.
Hopefully you’ve remembered that ‘used to’ is followed by the infinitive without to and so this statement should be: ‘When I was younger I used to live in Athens’.
Schools don’t make people to learn another language.
We’ve seen how some verbs are followed by an object + to, such as plan to do something. Well, just to make things even more complicated, here are some verbs that have the pattern ‘verb + object + verb without to’, and ‘make’ is one such verb. So this should be: ‘Schools don’t make people learn another language’.
‘Let’ and ‘help’ are two more verbs that follow this pattern. So ‘let someone do something’ or ‘help someone do something’. ‘Help’, of course can also be followed by ‘to’, so ‘help someone to do something’.
OK, that’s the end of this quick lesson on verb patterns.