Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[dreic55]

Hello

I am an English student and I need to know when "remember" is followed by the gerund or by the infinitive. Is there a rule for that? Examples:

1. Do you remember going to school for the first time?

2. I must remember to set my alarm clock tonight.

Thank you

Bye

Jos� Mart�n G�mez

[erracht]

This is a good question.

In fact, it does not depend so much on the word "remember" as on general rules of grammar about the gerund and the infinitive. "I remember doing" is a short way of saying "I remember that I did, have done etc". It means I remember something that has already happened in the past. "Remember to do" means that before I did something, I remembered that I should do it.

In general:

verb followed by -ing: the verb happens at the same time as or after the
-ing.

verb followed by infinitive: the verb happens before the -ing.

Note these common expressions:

"Stopped doing" - I was doing something, then stopped it.

"Stopped to do..." - I stopped something so I could then do ....