LIKE DOING or LIKE TO DO?

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between LIKE DOING and LIKE TO DO. This often causes students lots of problems because the meaning changes between the two, but it’s not always obvious what the difference is. Don’t worry, in this lesson I’ll make it very clear for you. Let’s look at some examples to help us understand better.

Firstly, you could say: I LIKE PLAYING football, I LIKE WATCHING movies. I LIKE EATING pizza, I LIKE DRINKING wine, I LIKE SPENDING time with friends, I LIKE GOING to the beach.

What do these examples sound like? That’s right. They’re all examples of things you enjoy. So if you want to talk about something you enjoy, something that is nice to do, use LIKE followed by a gerund, which is the ING form of the verb. You could change the verb and still express how much you like or dislike something: I LOVE EATING pizza, I DISLIKE EATING pizza, I HATE EATING pizza, I DETEST EATING pizza.

How about these examples: I LIKE TO GO to bed early, I LIKE TO VISIT the dentist twice a year, I LIKE TO EAT vegetables every day, I LIKE TO DRINK lots of water, I LIKE TO DO my homework as soon as I get home. What do these examples sound like? Look at the context. Do they sound like things you enjoy? Not really, right? Visiting the dentist or doing homework are not normally things we enjoy. So, when we use LIKE followed by the full infinitive, which means the verb with TO, this means that I think it is a good idea. I LIKE TO VISIT the dentist twice a year. I don’t enjoy it, but I think it’s a good idea. I LIKE TO DO my homework as soon as I get home. I don’t enjoy it, but I think it’s a good idea.

So, LIKE plus the gerund means you enjoy it, LIKE plus the full infinitive means you think it’s a good idea, easy! Do you LIKE PRACTISING English? Or maybe you LIKE TO PRACTISE English. Either way, go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then you can write your own example sentences in the comments. I think that’s both enjoyable and a good idea! Good luck and see you in the next class!

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