Practice choosing between gerunds (verb+ing) and infinitives (to+verb) in IT professional contexts.
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1 / 12
Complete the sentence: 'We decided _____ the database rather than rewrite the queries.'
'Decide' is followed by an infinitive: 'decide to do something'. This is a fixed verb pattern — 'decide' cannot take a gerund. Other verbs that follow the same infinitive pattern: 'agree to', 'choose to', 'plan to', 'refuse to', 'want to', 'need to'. Compare with verbs that take a gerund: 'avoid doing', 'consider doing', 'suggest doing'. Learning which verbs take infinitives vs. gerunds is essential for professional writing.
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Complete the sentence: 'Avoid _____ raw user input directly into SQL queries.'
'Avoid' is always followed by a gerund (verb+ing): 'avoid inserting', 'avoid storing', 'avoid exposing'. It can never take an infinitive. This is a critical pattern in security-focused technical writing. Other verbs that always take a gerund: 'consider', 'recommend', 'suggest', 'finish', 'keep', 'risk'. 'Insertion' is a noun — grammatically possible after 'avoid' but unnatural compared to the gerund. In code review comments, 'avoid doing X' is a standard pattern for flagging risky practices.
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Complete the sentence: 'The team stopped _____ manual deployments after CI/CD was set up.'
'Stop + gerund' means 'cease an activity': 'they stopped doing manual deployments' — they no longer do them. 'Stop + infinitive' means 'pause in order to do something else': 'they stopped to do a manual deployment' — they paused what they were doing in order to deploy. This distinction is critical. In the sentence, CI/CD replaced manual deployments, so 'stopped doing' (ceased the activity) is correct. 'Stop to do' would imply they paused CI/CD to manually deploy, which is the opposite meaning.
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Complete the sentence: 'Consider _____ a feature flag before doing a full release.'
'Consider' always takes a gerund: 'consider doing', 'consider using', 'consider adding'. It never takes an infinitive. 'Consider to implement' is a very common error among non-native speakers influenced by languages where the equivalent verb takes an infinitive. 'Implementation' is a noun — 'consider an implementation' changes the meaning. In engineering recommendations and design documents, 'consider doing X' is the standard pattern for suggesting an approach without mandating it.
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Complete the sentence: 'We recommend _____ the logs before escalating the incident.'
'Recommend' takes a gerund when the subject does the action: 'We recommend reviewing...' (we recommend that someone review = we recommend reviewing). 'Recommend + infinitive' is used in some varieties of English ('we recommend you to review') but is considered non-standard. The gerund form is universally accepted. In incident response runbooks and on-call documentation, 'we recommend doing X before Y' is the standard phrasing for sequenced diagnostic steps.
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In a Slack message to the DevOps team regarding an ongoing performance issue with the microservice, David wrote: 'I'm going to debug the service and identify the bottleneck.' What grammatical structure is David primarily employing here?
David uses a gerund phrase ('going to debug the service') as the subject of his action. Gerunds function as nouns and are frequently used in technical communication to describe tasks or processes. The other options represent different grammatical structures that aren't relevant to this scenario.
7 / 12
During a standup meeting, Maria reported: 'I'm investigating the root cause of the intermittent errors and trying to reproduce them locally.' What grammatical construction is Maria utilizing when describing her activities?
Maria uses gerunds ('investigating', 'trying') to describe her ongoing efforts. These verbs are frequently used in technical updates to convey what someone is actively doing. The other options represent different grammatical structures that wouldn't fit this context as well.
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A senior developer, John, provides feedback on a colleague's code: 'Before deploying this change to production, you should always validate the schema against the database definition. It's vital for preventing data corruption.' What is the primary function of the gerund phrases in this statement?
The gerunds ('validate the schema') function as objects receiving the action. They clearly express what needs to be done *before* deployment, which is a crucial step in ensuring code quality and preventing errors. The other options represent different interpretations of the statement's meaning.
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Sarah is writing a pull request for a new API endpoint. She wants to clearly communicate the purpose of the change to her team. Which phrasing best reflects this intention?
A) To implement the functionality.
B) Implementing the functionality.
C) To be implemented the functionality.
D) It is being implemented the functionality.
This question tests understanding of gerunds as subjects. Option A uses a gerund ('to implement') correctly as the subject of the sentence. Options B, C, and D incorrectly use the infinitive form or add unnecessary words, demonstrating a misunderstanding of when to use a gerund versus an infinitive.
10 / 12
In a Slack message to the backend team regarding an upcoming database migration, Alex writes: 'We need to optimize the queries for better performance.' What function does the gerund 'optimizing' fulfill?
A) It describes the action being performed.
B) It identifies the recipient of the optimization.
C) It specifies the type of query to be optimized.
D) It indicates a future intention without a specific action.
The gerund 'optimizing' functions as part of a participial phrase describing *what* needs to be done. This is a common use case for gerunds – acting as a noun modifier. Options B, C, and D misinterpret the function of the gerund within the sentence.
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During a code review of a new authentication service, Emily comments: 'To ensure security, you should always sanitize user input before using it in any database queries.' What grammatical construction is Emily primarily employing here?
Emily uses the gerund 'sanitizing' as a noun phrase describing an action. This is correct because it highlights the *process* of cleaning user input. The other options incorrectly use infinitives or simple verbs to express the same concept – focusing on the purpose and outcome (security) rather than the method employed. It's crucial to understand that gerunds here function as nouns, referring to a process.
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During a standup meeting, Lisa reports: 'I'm documenting the API changes for future reference.' What grammatical structure is Lisa utilizing when describing her activity?
Lisa uses the gerund 'documenting' within a gerund phrase – 'documenting the API changes.' This structure indicates an ongoing activity related to creating and maintaining documentation. The other options present incorrect grammatical constructions; infinitives are used for desires or intentions, present participles describe continuous actions, and conditional statements express hypothetical situations.
What will I practise in "Gerunds & Infinitives in Technical English"?
Practice choosing between gerunds (verb+ing) and infinitives (to+verb) in IT professional contexts.
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 12 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
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How is this different from reading an article on the same topic?
Articles explain grammar rules in prose; this exercise tests and reinforces those rules through active recall with immediate feedback — the two work best together.
Who writes these exercises?
Every exercise is written by the CoderSlingo team, drawing on real workplace English used in IT roles, then reviewed for accuracy and clarity.