Thursday, May 20, 2010

forget/remember/regret to do/doing

I usually mix up the to infinitive form with the gerund form of the verb followed by these verbs : forget/remember/regret

I forgot to close the door 
-- the door is still open; I failed to close it

I forgot closing the door -- The door is closed. I closed it, but then I forgot that I did that.

Forget + Gerund => to not recall an action. Forget + Infinitive => to not do an action you should do.

The same structure for regret/remember

If you use remember with the infinitive form , it usually points to something in the future as in:

I must remember to pay the telephone bill before it's too late. In other words you mustn't forget to pay it.

It follows therefore that you wouldn't use the past infinitive - you said to have set

If you use remember with the -ing form it is usually about something in the past. You can use either the Present form or the Past form.

You could say I remember paying the telephone bill. This means you have a picture in your mind of actually doing it/paying it.

You could also say I remember having paid the telephone bill. This means that you remember completing the action of paying the bill.

No comments:

Post a Comment