Level 1 — Foundation · Spoken Clauses & Connected Speech
Drill 14: Speaking Instantly With Gerunds and Infinitives
Say, live and under a timer, whether an activity is your sentence's subject or your purpose — the gerund/infinitive choice made out loud, with no time to plan it first.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this drill, you should be able to:
- Say a gerund phrase as a spoken sentence's subject without hesitating over its form
- Say a verb + infinitive pattern correctly and immediately to state a purpose
- Choose the right form under time pressure, without translating from Bangla first
Introduction
Lesson 14 taught you to tell a gerund from an infinitive by checking the job it's doing. This drill asks you to build both live: naming an activity as your subject, then stating a purpose with "to + verb" — instantly, with the timer already running.
Shadow the Model
Checking the schedule twice a day helps me avoid missing a deadline.
Listen once all the way through, then shadow it. Notice "Checking" opens the sentence at full, even stress, exactly like a noun would — it never gets swallowed the way a quick continuous-tense "is checking" might.
Your Turn
Your Turn
When the timer starts, say two sentences out loud: first, one sentence with a gerund phrase as the subject, naming something you do regularly; second, one sentence using "want to," "need to," or "decide to" + a verb, stating why you do it. Speak immediately — no planning pause.
Speak your two sentences now
Record Yourself
Say your two sentences, then record them and compare against the model.
Model Answer
Show a model answer
There's no single correct pair — "Reading every night improves my vocabulary" followed by "I want to finish this book by Friday" is one natural option. What matters is that the gerund opened the first sentence cleanly, and "to + base verb" (never "to + -ing") followed the second sentence's verb immediately.
Vocabulary in Context
deadlinenounneutral
the latest time by which something must be finished (নির্দিষ্ট সময়সীমা)
Often with meet a deadline, tight deadline, miss the deadline
“We must meet the deadline for filing the customs declaration.”
avoidverbneutral
to stay away from something, or prevent it from happening (এড়ানো)
Often with avoid delays, avoid making, narrowly avoid
“Pre-booking helps drivers avoid long queues at the gate.”
Self-Check
Self-Check
- Did your first sentence open with a gerund functioning as the subject?
- Did your second sentence use "to + base verb," spoken correctly under time pressure?
- Did you speak both sentences immediately, without a pause to plan them?
Next: Speaking 15 — Saying a Reduced Clause Live: compressing two spoken ideas into one, the same shrinking Lesson 15 taught you to expand back when reading.