Question

What is toinfinitives and gerunds

Answer 1

Both gerunds and infinitives can be nouns, which means they can do just about anything that a noun can do. Although they name things, like other nouns, they normally name activities rather than people or objects. Here are five noun-uses of gerunds and infinitives (and one additional non-noun use, the adjective complement, that we throw in here, free of charge).

Gerunds and infintives can both function as the subject of a sentence:

Playing basketball takes up too much of her time.To play basketball for UConn is her favorite fantasy.

It is not impossible for an infinitive to appear at the beginning of a sentence as the subject (as in Ib), but it is more common for an infinitive to appear as a Subject Complement:

Her favorite fantasy is to play basketball for UConn.The gerund can also play this role:
Her favorite fantasy is playing basketball for UConn.

Both of these verbal forms can further identify a noun when they play the role of Noun Complement and Appositive:

Her desire to play basketball for UConn became an obsession.I could never understand her desire to play basketball for UConn.Her one burning desire in life, playing basketball for UConn, seemed a goal within reach.

The infinitive is often a complement used to help define an abstract noun. Here is a very partial list of abstract nouns, enough to suggest their nature. Try following these adjectives with an infinitive phrase (their desire to play in the championship game, a motivation to pass all their courses, her permission to stay up late, a gentle reminder to do your work) to see how the phrase modifies and focuses the noun.