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Select the correct option for each blank.
πŸš— Planning a road trip with friends? My travel buddy suggested _________________________ the scenic route. She also wants to avoid _________________________ at night.

The correct answers are taking and driving.

Suggest + gerund: Say "suggest taking," not "suggest to take." Avoid + gerund: Say "avoid driving," not "avoid to drive." Both verbs require the -ing form!

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Gerund

  • βœ… I enjoy reading. β€” ❌ I enjoy to read.
  • βœ… She's good at swimming. β€” ❌ She's good at to swim.
  • βœ… He avoids making eye contact. β€” gerund after avoid
  • βœ… Running is good exercise. β€” gerund as subject

A gerund is the -ing form of a verb functioning as a noun. It follows verbs like enjoy, avoid, finish, mind and ALL prepositions. Never use an infinitive where a gerund is required.

Rule: after a preposition (at, in, of, about, without) β†’ always gerund. After enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, deny β†’ always gerund.

Infinitive

  • βœ… I want to go. β€” to-infinitive after want
  • βœ… She can swim. β€” bare infinitive after modal
  • βœ… Let me help. β€” bare infinitive after let
  • ❌ I enjoy to read. β€” wrong (enjoy takes gerund, not infinitive)

The infinitive has two forms: to-infinitive (to go) after verbs like want, decide, plan, hope; bare infinitive (go) after modals and causatives (let, make, help).

Rule: after want, need, decide, plan, hope, expect, agree, refuse β†’ to-infinitive. After can, will, must, let, make β†’ bare infinitive. After enjoy, avoid, finish β†’ gerund, NOT infinitive.

Verb

  • walk β†’ walk / walks / walked / walked / walking (5 forms, regular)
  • go β†’ go / goes / went / gone / going (5 forms, irregular)
  • be β†’ am/is/are/was/were/be/being/been (8 forms)
  • can β†’ can / could (modal: only 2 forms, no -s, no -ing)

A verb is the one word class every English sentence requires. Carries tense (when), aspect (duration), mood (attitude), and voice (active/passive). Regular verbs add -ed; ~200 irregular verbs have unpredictable past forms.

Key insight: fix your verbs and most grammar problems disappear. Wrong tense, wrong agreement, wrong form β€” verb errors account for the majority of grammatical mistakes.

B1 | Intermediate

  • βœ… If I had more time, I would travel more. β€” second conditional
  • βœ… The bridge was built in 1920. β€” passive voice
  • βœ… She said she was tired. β€” reported speech with backshift
  • βœ… Although it rained, we enjoyed the trip. β€” complex sentence with concession

These are B1 patterns β€” the CEFR intermediate level. At B1 you link ideas, use passive voice, handle reported speech, and manage second conditional β€” enough for travel, work basics, and everyday independence.

Marker: if you can explain why something happened and follow a news story, you're B1.

Easy

  • She is a teacher. β€” one verb form, one rule
  • I have two cats. β€” basic possession, short sentence
  • He doesn't like coffee. β€” simple negation with do-support
  • Only one answer is clearly correct; distractors are obviously wrong.

Easy marks beginner-level challenges: A1–early A2, one rule at a time, everyday vocabulary, no trick questions.

Use "Easy" when you want to build confidence on a specific rule without interference from other grammar or tricky contexts.