earticle

영어

The purpose of this paper is to observe the arguments about difference between gerund and infinitive and to show the basic difference between them. The differences between gerund and infinitive presented by many linguists are the followings. (1) Gerund means realized action of the past and infinitive means hypothetical nonrealized action of the future. (2) Gerund stands for general statement and infinitive stands for the statement of particular situation. (3) Gerund represents fulfillment and infinitive represents possibility. (4) Gerund means theoretical statement and infinitive means factual statement. (5) Gerund represents the event verified by the speaker and infinitive represents a verifiable event (6) Gerund stands for progressive action and infinitive stands for repeated action. As a result of the study of these arguments this paper shows that gerund basically means realized action of the past experience and infinitive means hypothetical and future oriented action.