Adjectives, Nouns, and Pronouns

Adjectives + prepositions followed by the gerund

Accustomed to, afraid of, capable of, fond of,
Intent on, interested in, successful in, tired of.

- Jean is not capable of understanding the predicament.
- Alvaro is intent on finishing school next year.
- Craig is fond of dancing.

Nouns + prepositions followed by the gerund

choice of , excuse for, intention of, method for,
possibility of, reason for, (method of),

- George has no excuse for dropping out of school.
- There is no reason for leaving this early.
- Connie has developed a method for evaluating this problem.

Any time a preposition is followed directly by a verb, the verb will be in the gerund form.

- After leaving the party. Ali drove home.
- He should have stayed in New York instead of moving to Maine.

Adjective followed by the infinitive

anxious, boring, dangerous, hard,
eager, easy, good, strange,
pleased, prepared, ready, able*,
usual, common, difficult.

*able means the same as capable in many instance, but the grammar is very different. While able is followed by the infinitive, capable is followed by of + [verb + ing].

- These students are not yet able to handle such difficult problems\
- These students are not yet capable of handling such difficult problem.

Examples of adjectives followed by infinitive

- Muhammad is anxious to see his family.
- We are ready to leave now.
- It is difficult to pass this test.

Some verbs can be followed by either the infinitive or gerund, but the meaning changes.

stop, remember, forget.

- John stopped studying. {John is not going to study anymore}
- John stopped to study. {John stopped doing something in order to study}

Pronouns before the gerund or infinitive:

allow, ask, beg, convince, expect, instruct,
invite, order, permit, persuade, prepare, promise, remind, urge, want.

Subject + verb + complement form {pronoun / noun} + [to + verb]. . .

- Joe asked Marry to call him when she woke up.
- We ordered him to appear in count.
- You should prepare your son to take this examination.

However, before the gerund, a noun or pronoun must appear in the possessive form.
Subject + verb + possessive form {noun / pronoun} + [verb + ing]. . .

- We understand your not being able to stay longer.
- He regrets her leaving.
- We object to their calling at this hour.

Pronouns
Subject : a, you, she, he, it, we, you, they.
Complement : me, you, her, him, it, us, you, them.
Passive Adjective : my, your, her, his, its, our, your, their.
Possesive : mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, yours, theirs.
Reflective : myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.