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MaXmOuSe

#99067 Fri, 13 May 05 10:40 PM

forget with infinitive and when with gerunds ?

MaXmOuSe

Joined on Sun, Apr 24 2005

Bulgaria

Full Member (200)

High aims, high achievements!

Gerunds

Maripinky

#99074 Fri, 13 May 05 11:20 PM

forget/remember + inf = something that has to be done
forget/ remember+gerund = something that happened in the past

examples:

Don't forget to lock the door (=You have to lock the door)
Please remember to pick up the children (=You have to pick up the children)
I can't remember locking the door (=I don't know if I did or not)

Maripinky

Joined on Mon, May 2 2005

Spain

Junior Member (54)

Gerunds

khoff

#99355 Sat, 14 May 05 07:45 PM

Maripinky - Your first post is great - it would have taken me a long time to come up with that rule, but once you say it, it obviously works. Welcome to the Forum! -- khoff

"I forgot to remember to forget you" -- Elvis Presley

khoff

Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005

Denver, Colorado, USA, Earth

Senior Member (2,616)

Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

MaXmOuSe

#99363 Sat, 14 May 05 08:01 PM

I forgot to remember to forget ! Very elaborate example . Don't you think ! you forgot to remember isn't it a thing that happened in the past ?

MaXmOuSe

khoff

#99370 Sat, 14 May 05 08:17 PM

I probably should not have put in the Elvis quote - its a song lyric, and not the best example. But I guess you could say that at the time he's talking about, he forgot that (in the future) he should remember to forget. Each verb is in the future relative to the previous verb.

I think that saying you use the infinitive for something in the future means in the future relative to the time of forgetting (or remembering) - even if it's now in the past. In other words, I could say

[1] "Did you forget to go to the bank today?" -- meaning, did you forget, at three o'clock, that you were supposed to go to the bank at four o'clock?

But if I say [2] "Did you forget going to the bank today? " it could mean, "I know you were at the bank today, but now you seem to have no memory of it. Do you have amnesia?"

On the other hand, if I said [3]"Did you forget about going to the bank today?" the meaning could be the same as either [1] or [2]!

Did I just make this infinitely more confusing?

khoff

Verbs

Maripinky

#99419 Sat, 14 May 05 11:37 PM

Thank you, khoff. I hope it won't be the last.

I prefer not to mention word "future" when I explain remember/forget with infinitive , but that something has to be done, because it confuses students.

"I forgot to remember to forget you" = I had to forget you but I forgot to do so.

Maripinky

MaXmOuSe

#99564 Sun, 15 May 05 11:49 AM

So, when the work is not done we use infinitive ? I forgot to remember to forget you. beacause had to is an obligation .Or when it happened in the past and it had to be done we use infinitive not gerunds

MaXmOuSe

Gerunds

paco2004

#99570 Sun, 15 May 05 12:02 PM

Yes you are right.

Even in the case when we talk about a past event, we have to use "forget to do" if the 'doing' is an action to be done.
(EX) Did you forget to phone your mother yesterday?

paco

paco2004

Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004

Senior Member (4,095)

In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.