Gerunds and Infinitives 2: Mean, Go On and Need
By the end: I can choose verb patterns that distinguish intention, consequence, continuation and a task needing attention.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose a short recording.
Before you start
What did you intend to do yesterday, and what did it involve?
Useful background: Gerunds and Infinitives, including the existing stop/remember/try/regret contrasts.
Mean to or mean doing
Mean to do describes an intention. Mean doing describes what an action involves or has as a consequence. The subject need not be a person in the second pattern.
I meant to call you, but I forgot.
Moving offices means packing everything again.
Go on doing or go on to do
Go on doing continues the same activity. Go on to do moves to a later activity or stage. Context may make the contrast especially clear with first, then or despite the interruption.
She went on explaining the same point.
She explained the problem and went on to suggest a solution.
Need to do or need doing
A person who needs to do something performs the action. An object that needs doing requires someone to act on it: needs cleaning means needs to be cleaned. The -ing form has a passive-like meaning in this use.
I need to clean the windows.
The windows need cleaning.
Change the subject and keep who does the cleaning clear
I am the person who needs to perform the action.
The windows require someone to clean them; they do not clean anything.
Guided practice
Say or write your answer first. Compare the meaning and form; the model is one possible answer.
1. Complete an unfulfilled intention: I meant ___ earlier. Use call.
Compare a model and explanation
to call
Mean to concerns an intention.
2. Complete a consequence: This change means ___ the timetable. Use rewrite.
Compare a model and explanation
rewriting
Mean doing describes what the change involves.
3. Complete continuation of the same activity: He went on ___ after the interruption. Use speak.
Compare a model and explanation
speaking
Go on doing continues an activity.
4. Complete a new stage: She described the issue and went on ___ a solution. Use propose.
Compare a model and explanation
to propose
Go on to do introduces a subsequent action.
5. Rewrite with the windows as subject: Someone needs to wash the windows.
Compare a model and explanation
The windows need washing.
Need + -ing gives the receiving object as subject; need to be washed is also valid.
6. Rewrite actively: The report needs checking. Make I the responsible person.
Compare a model and explanation
I need to check the report.
The actor becomes subject of need to check.
7. Explain why I meant to leave and Leaving meant missing the talk have different meanings.
Compare a model and explanation
The first describes my intention; the second describes a consequence of leaving.
The complement form changes the relation, not simply the tense.
8. Give two versions of a presentation sequence: continuing the explanation and moving to a demonstration.
Compare a model and explanation
She went on explaining the figures. Then she went on to demonstrate the software.
Separate continuation from a new stage.
A short conversation
Listen first if you can, then open the transcript when useful.
Open the conversation transcript
A: I meant to send the report yesterday, but a few sections still need checking.
B: Will checking them mean delaying the meeting?
A: Not necessarily. I’ll review the figures and then go on to write the summary.
B: Good. I can go on preparing the slides while you do that.
Listening checks
Listen to each extract or open its transcript. These three questions have their own score.
Mastery quiz
Choose the best answer in each situation. Your score is out of eight.
Use it in your own words
Speaking task 1
Give a project update containing an unfulfilled intention, a consequence and something needing attention.
Reveal a possible response
I meant to finish the report yesterday, but the figures need checking. That means reviewing the spreadsheet again. I can still send a short update today.
Success check: Distinguish intention, consequence and the receiver of a required action.
Speaking task 2
Describe a presentation with two stages, then explain what the presenter continued doing after a question.
Reveal a possible response
She introduced the plan and went on to show a diagram. After answering a question, she went on explaining the same diagram until everyone understood it.
Success check: Use the two go-on patterns for different relationships.
Speaking task 3
Explain a maintenance task in an object-focused and an actor-focused version.
Reveal a possible response
The room needs cleaning before the class. I need to clean it this afternoon. The first focuses on the required work; the second identifies me as the person responsible.
Success check: Preserve who acts and what receives the action.
Take it with you
I can choose verb patterns that distinguish intention, consequence, continuation and a task needing attention.