Listen to the music, remember the grammar!

Yesterday I was doing grammar review of verbs that are followed by the infinitive or -ing form. I kept bursting into song!

This specific grammar point must be learned by memorization. Luckily native speakers use the structures a lot, so you will hear them in popular music. On test day if you can't remember which answer to select "I want (to do/doing)…", just start singing the Beatles famous song "I want to hold your hand".

Here is a sample list, with video links, to get you started:

Verb followed by infinitive

• Want + to infinitive: "I want to hold your hand" The Beatles or"I don't want to miss a thing" Aerosmith

• Can't wait + to infinitive: "Can't wait to be king" The Lion King

• Would like + to infinitive: "I would like" Zara Larsson

• Learn + to infinitive: "Learning to fly" Tom Petty or "Learn to Fly" Foo Fighters

• Hope + to infinitive: "Him & I" G-Eazy and Halsey (Cross my heart and hope to die)

Verb followed by gerund (-ing)

• Can´t help + -ing: "I can't help falling in love" UB40 (or Elvis Presley)

• Don't mind + -ing : "Just what I needed" The cars (lyrics "I don´t mind you coming here and wasting all my time")

• Feel like + -ing: "Feel like making love" Bad Company

• Keep + -ing: "Bleeding Love" Leona Lewis

• Worth + -ing: "A love worth waiting for" Shakin´Stevens

Here's a link to a Cambridge explanation and list of verbs.

Have you got more song ideas? Please add them in the comments!

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