Easy Word | Luyện ngữ pháp

Luyện ngữ pháp - English Grammar in Use - Intermediate (Unit 58: Verb -ing or to ... 3)

Grammar Explanations and Rules

Like / love / hate

When you talk about repeated actions, you can use -ing or to ... after these verbs. So you can say:

Do you like getting up early? or Do you like to get up early?
Stephanie hates flying. or Stephanie hates to fly.
I love meeting people. or I love to meet people.
I don't like being kept waiting. or ... like to be kept waiting.
I don't like friends calling me at work. or ... friends to call me at work.

but
(1) We use -ing (not to ... ) when we talk about a situation that already exists (or existed). For example:

Paul lives in Berlin now. He likes living there. (He likes living in Berlin = He lives there and he likes it)
Do you like being a student? (You are a student - do you like it?)
The office I worked in was horrible. I hated working there. (I worked there and I hated it)

(2) There is sometimes a difference between I like to do and I like doing:

I like doing something = I do it and I enjoy it:

I like to do something = I think it is a good thing to do, but I don't necessarily enjoy it:

It's not my favourite job, but I like to clean the kitchen as often as possible.

Note that enjoy and mind are always followed by -ing (not to ... ):

Would like / would love / would hate / would prefer

Would like / would love etc. are usually followed by to ... :

Compare I like and I would like (I'd like):

I like playing tennis. / I like to play tennis. (= I like it in general)
I'd like to play tennis today. (= I want to play today)

Would mind is always followed by -ing (not to ... ):

I would like to have done something = I regret now that I didn't or couldn't do it:

It's a shame we didn't see Anna when we were in London. I would like to have seen her again.
We'd like to have gone away, but we were too busy at home.

You can use the same structure after would love / would hate / would prefer: