Catenative verbs

Verb	Pattern(s)	Example
admit	V-ing	She admitted taking the money.
afford	to-inf	I can’t afford to buy it.
agree	to-inf	They agreed to help.
appear	to-inf	He appears to know the answer.
arrange	to-inf	We arranged to meet later.
ask	to-inf	She asked to leave.
attempt	to-inf	He attempted to escape.
avoid	V-ing	Try to avoid making mistakes.
begin	to-inf, V-ing	It began to rain. / It began raining.
bother	to-inf	He didn’t bother to reply.
cease	to-inf, V-ing	They ceased trading.
choose	to-inf	She chose to stay.
claim	to-inf	He claims to understand.
consider	V-ing	We’re considering moving.
continue	to-inf, V-ing	She continued speaking.
dare	bare inf, to-inf	He dared say it. / He dared to say it.
decide	to-inf	They decided to leave.
delay	V-ing	Don’t delay contacting them.
deny	V-ing	He denied stealing it.
deserve	to-inf	She deserves to win.
dislike	V-ing	I dislike waiting.
enjoy	V-ing	They enjoy traveling.
expect	to-inf	I expect to finish soon.
fail	to-inf	He failed to notice.
feel	bare inf, V-ing	I felt it move.
finish	V-ing	She finished writing.
forget	to-inf, V-ing	Remembered? No, I forgot to call.
go on	to-inf, V-ing	He went on talking.
happen	to-inf	I happened to see her.
hate	to-inf, V-ing	I hate waiting.
hear	bare inf, V-ing	I heard her sing.
help	bare inf, to-inf	Help me carry it.
hesitate	to-inf	Don’t hesitate to ask.
hope	to-inf	We hope to succeed.
intend	to-inf	I intend to apply.
keep	V-ing	Keep working.
learn	to-inf	She learned to swim.
like	to-inf, V-ing	I like reading.
love	to-inf, V-ing	She loves singing.
manage	to-inf	They managed to escape.
mean	to-inf	I meant to call.
mind	V-ing	Do you mind waiting?
need	to-inf	You need to leave.
notice	bare inf, V-ing	I noticed him leave.
observe	bare inf, V-ing	We observed them enter.
offer	to-inf	She offered to help.
plan	to-inf	They plan to expand.
postpone	V-ing	We postponed leaving.
prefer	to-inf, V-ing	I’d prefer to stay.
pretend	to-inf	He pretended to sleep.
promise	to-inf	She promised to return.
quit	V-ing	He quit smoking.
recall	V-ing	I recall meeting her.
recommend	V-ing	They recommend arriving early.
refuse	to-inf	She refused to cooperate.
regret	to-inf, V-ing	I regret telling him.
remember	to-inf, V-ing	Remember to lock the door.
risk	V-ing	You risk losing everything.
seem	to-inf	He seems to understand.
start	to-inf, V-ing	They started laughing.
stop	to-inf, V-ing	He stopped smoking.
suggest	V-ing	I suggest leaving now.
tend	to-inf	Prices tend to rise.
threaten	to-inf	They threatened to sue.
try	to-inf, V-ing	Try to understand.
volunteer	to-inf	She volunteered to help.
wait	to-inf	We waited to begin.
want	to-inf	I want to leave.
watch	bare inf, V-ing	We watched them play.
wish	to-inf	I wish to speak.

High frequency core set

• admit

• afford

• agree

• appear

• avoid

• begin

• continue

• decide

• enjoy

• expect

• fail

• forget

• happen

• help

• hope

• keep

• manage

• need

• plan

• remember

• seem

• start

• stop

• try

• want

Approximate generalization

Approximation, since ultimately, lexical licensing wins.

Semantic Class	Typical Pattern	Examples
Desire, intention, decision	to-infinitive	want, hope, plan, decide, intend, choose
Attempt, success, failure	to-infinitive	try, attempt, manage, fail
Appearance, likelihood	to-infinitive	seem, appear, happen, tend
Obligation, necessity	to-infinitive	need, deserve
Beginning, continuation, cessation	often both	begin, start, continue, cease
Enjoyment, avoidance, consideration	V-ing	enjoy, avoid, consider, mind
Memory of an event	V-ing	remember doing, recall doing
Admission, denial	V-ing	admit doing, deny doing
Recommendation, suggestion	V-ing	suggest doing, recommend doing
Perception	bare infinitive or V-ing	see, hear, watch, feel
Causation	bare infinitive	make, let, help

###Rule 1: Future-oriented meanings

Tend to take to-infinitives

The infinitival clause usually denotes something not yet realized.

want to leave

hope to win

plan to retire

decide to go

promise to help

The complement often represents an intended, expected, desired, or possible future event.

This is probably the strongest tendency in the language.

Rule 2: Event-as-thing meanings

Tend to take V-ing

Gerund-participials behave more like nominalized events.

enjoy swimming

avoid talking

consider moving

deny stealing

admit lying

The event is treated as an object of thought, memory, evaluation, admission, etc.

Rule 3: Memory contrast

A famous pattern:

to-infinitive	V-ing

remember to call | remember calling

forget to call | forget calling

regret to inform regret telling

The infinitive usually points forward from the remembering/regretting event.

The gerund usually points backward to an already-occurring event.

Rule 4: Perception verbs

Favor bare infinitives

After perception verbs:

I saw her leave.

I heard them sing.

We watched him cross the street.

The bare infinitive often presents the event as a whole.

The V-ing variant often presents it as ongoing:

I saw her leaving. I heard them singing. Rule 5: Causation verbs favor bare infinitives make someone leave let someone stay help someone solve it

Historically this pattern is very stable.

Rule 6: Aspectual verbs are flexible

Verbs meaning “begin”, “continue”, “stop”, etc. frequently allow both complements.

begin to work begin working continue to work continue working

This class is unusually permissive.

Rule 7: Communication and cognition verbs often do not use catenative complements

Many verbs of saying and believing prefer content clauses:

believe that he left know that he left say that he left

not:

✗ believe leaving ✗ know leaving

This helps explain why some verbs that seem semantically similar behave differently.