Grammar: Gerunds vs Infinitives in Technical Writing

One of the most common grammar challenges for non-native English speakers is choosing between the gerund form (monitoring the system) and the infinitive form (to monitor the system). In everyday conversation, the wrong choice rarely causes confusion. But in technical documentation and professional writing, the difference can affect clarity and even correctness.

This guide explains the rules with IT-specific examples so you can write with confidence.

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What Are Gerunds and Infinitives?

A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun:

“Monitoring the system is essential.”

An infinitive is the to + verb form:

“It is essential to monitor the system.”

Both can act as subjects or objects in a sentence, but they are not always interchangeable — and knowing when to use which one will make your writing more precise.

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When to Use the Gerund

1. As the Subject of a Sentence

When the action itself is what the sentence is about, the gerund is typically more natural:

“Deploying to production requires approval from two engineers.” (not “To deploy to production requires…”)

“Monitoring CPU usage helps identify memory leaks early.”

“Writing unit tests before implementation is a principle of TDD.”

2. After Prepositions

Always use a gerund (not an infinitive) after a preposition:

“The system failed after processing 10,000 requests.”

“The team is responsible for reviewing pull requests within 24 hours.”

“Before deploying, run the full test suite.”

Common prepositions in tech writing: after, before, by, for, in, of, through, without, instead of

“You can improve performance by caching the results.” (not “by to cache”)

“We resolved the bug without restarting the service.”

3. After Certain Verbs

Some verbs are followed by a gerund rather than an infinitive. In technical writing, common ones include:

• avoid → “Avoid storing passwords in plain text.”
• consider → “Consider using a connection pool.”
• recommend → “We recommend enabling two-factor authentication.”
• suggest → “The documentation suggests setting a timeout value.”
• finish → “After finishing the migration, run the validation script.”
• involve → “The process involves compiling the binary and copying it to the target directory.”

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When to Use the Infinitive

1. Expressing Purpose or Goal

When you explain why something is done, use the infinitive:

“We added a circuit breaker to prevent cascading failures.”

“The cron job runs at midnight to reduce load during peak hours.”

“Use environment variables to avoid hardcoding credentials.”

2. After Certain Verbs

Some verbs require an infinitive:

• want → “We want to reduce latency.”
• need → “You need to install the dependencies first.”
• plan → “We plan to migrate the database next sprint.”
• decide → “The team decided to postpone the release.”
• fail → “The service failed to connect to the database.”
• allow → “This configuration allows the worker to run in parallel.”

3. After Adjectives

When using adjectives like easy, difficult, important, necessary, use an infinitive:

“It is important to validate input on the server side.”

“It is difficult to debug this without logs.”

“It is necessary to restart the service after updating the config.”

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Both Are Possible (With Different Meanings)

Some verbs can take either a gerund or an infinitive, with a change in meaning:

stop

• “The service stopped processing requests.” (it was processing and then stopped)
• “The service stopped to process the request.” (it stopped doing something else in order to process)

remember

• “Remember to restart the worker after deployment.” (don’t forget to do it)
• “I remember restarting the worker — it fixed the issue.” (I recall doing it in the past)

try

• “Try clearing the cache.” (experiment with this solution)
• “Try to minimise the number of API calls.” (make an effort to do this)

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Quick Reference for Technical Writing

Context	Use	Example
Subject of sentence	Gerund	“Testing early saves time.”
After preposition	Gerund	“Before deploying, check the logs.”
Expressing purpose	Infinitive	“Use HTTPS to protect data in transit.”
After want/need/plan	Infinitive	“We need to update the schema.”
After avoid/recommend/suggest	Gerund	“Avoid storing secrets in code.”

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The good news is that in most technical writing, either form is grammatically acceptable and context usually makes the meaning clear. The cases where it matters most are after prepositions (always gerund) and to express purpose (always infinitive). Master those two rules and your technical writing will be noticeably more polished.

In Practice – Nuances for Non-Native Speakers

The core of understanding when to use gerunds or infinitives like “monitoring” versus “to monitor” isn’t always about strict rules, but rather about conveying the precise intent and flow within technical writing. For non-native English speakers, this can be particularly challenging as their native languages might structure sentences differently. The key is recognizing that these constructions often relate to obligation, purpose, or potential action. “To monitor” usually denotes a specific task being undertaken – an active decision to observe something. “Monitoring” suggests the ongoing process itself.

Consider this in a PR description for a new automated system: “The team is monitoring server performance metrics in real-time, ensuring proactive responses to potential issues.” Here, ‘monitoring’ describes the continuous action. Contrast that with: “We are to monitor CPU usage thresholds every 5 minutes,” which explicitly states an obligation or scheduled task. The difference isn’t merely stylistic; it affects how a reader interprets responsibility and action.

A common mistake for non-native speakers is overusing “to” forms, leading to unnecessarily stiff phrasing. It’s also crucial to consider the level of detail being presented. For example, when documenting an API endpoint that collects data, you might use “the system is monitoring the incoming requests,” highlighting the ongoing process of observation rather than a single instance of monitoring. It’s about choosing the phrasing that most clearly communicates the intended meaning to a technically proficient audience. Many developers intuitively understand this nuance, but explicitly addressing it helps ensure clear and concise communication for everyone.

Finally, remember that consistency is key. Within a document, stick with one construction – either consistently using gerunds or infinitives – to avoid confusing your readers. A good habit is to review your writing critically, asking yourself: “Is this phrasing active and descriptive, or does it simply state an obligation?”

# Example using `watch` command to monitor CPU usage
watch -n 5 'cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep loadavg'