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A day on, not a day off? Verb + -ing or to: keep helping, agree to help

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches verbs followed by gerunds and infinitives, from keep helping to agree to help, with the MLK Day of Service as its topic.

Grammar
Seven new verbs + -ing (keep, avoid, suggest…), seven + to (agree, offer, refuse…), the A2 verbs as a reminder and the traps with suggest.
Topic
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday that a 1994 law made a national day of service, with words such as food drive, crate and unload.
Activities
Episode notes to read, a food bank dialogue and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat that plans a volunteer morning and open boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: ready to help?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: a day to helpVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a day on, not a day off

    • Look at the photo: a day of service in a parkPictureUnlock
    • Read Riley's episode notesArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: a morning at the food bank

    • Listen to Riley and HoraceListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Candace's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: keep helping, agree to help

    • Study the scheme: verb + -ing or toGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use -ing or to + the verbFill in the gapsTry it
    • Sort the words into the correct columns: -ing or to?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Fill in the table: -ing or to?Fill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: plan a volunteer morning

    • Choose the right replies: plan a volunteer morningChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: plan your day of serviceOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and cluesMemory gameUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use -ing or to + the verbFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the table: use the past simple and -ing or toFill in the tableUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Elmer's volunteer postChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Riley answers CandaceDrag and dropUnlock

32 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • day of service
  • federal holiday
  • food drive
  • canned food
  • hand truck
  • crate
  • teamwork
  • native plant
  • sign-up sheet

Grammar: verb + -ing or verb + to

Some verbs take an -ing form after them, and others take to + the base form: keep helping, but agree to help. Since no simple rule says which verb takes which, each verb is learned together with its pattern. A day of volunteering brings seven new verbs of each kind, a reminder of the A2 ones and the traps with suggest.

Verb + -ing or verb + to

Some verbs take -ing (keep helping). Others take to + base form (agree to help). Learn each verb with its form.

Keep, avoid, suggest: verbs + -ing

Keep, avoid, suggest, consider, practice, imagine and finish are followed by the -ing form: The phone kept ringing all morning. Only the first verb shows the tense, and the -ing form stays: We finished sorting at noon. I'm considering volunteering on MLK Day.

VerbExample
keep + -ingThe phone kept ringing all morning.
avoid + -ingPlease avoid mixing soup and beans.
suggest + -ingKimberly suggested taking the bus.
consider + -ingI'm considering volunteering on MLK Day.
practice + -ingOur team practices passing the ball every day.
imagine + -ingImagine having a day off every Monday!
finish + -ingWe finished sorting at noon.

Agree, offer, refuse: verbs + to

Agree, offer, refuse, promise, afford, arrange and learn take to + the base form: Darius offered to bring donuts. Kimberly learned to drive last summer. Afford usually comes after can or can't: I can't afford to miss the bus.

VerbExample
agree + toThe volunteers agreed to work on Saturday.
offer + toDarius offered to bring donuts.
refuse + toMy little brother refuses to eat carrots.
promise + toI promise to call you tonight.
afford + toI can't afford to miss the bus.
arrange + toWe arranged to play basketball on Sunday.
learn + toKimberly learned to drive last summer.

The A2 verbs and a memory trick

From A2, enjoy and don't mind take -ing, while want, hope and decide take to. The scheme adds a trick, not a rule: many to verbs look ahead to a plan, an offer or a promise. The -ing verbs are best learned as a list.

Verbs you already know

enjoy, don't mind + -ing

  • I enjoy cooking for my family.
  • I don't mind getting up early.

want, hope, decide + to

  • I want to volunteer this year.
  • We hope to collect 500 cans.
  • Kimberly decided to join us.

A memory trick

It's a trick, not a rule: many to verbs are about a plan, an offer or a promise for later (agree to, offer to, promise to, arrange to, decide to, hope to). Learn the -ing verbs as a list: keep, avoid, suggest, consider, practice, imagine, finish, enjoy, don't mind.

Suggest + -ing, or suggest (that) you…

Suggest has two correct patterns: I suggest bringing work gloves and I suggest (that) you bring work gloves. No to + verb ever follows suggest, so I suggest to bring gloves and I suggest you to bring gloves are both wrong.

suggest: no “to”

After suggest, use -ing: I suggest bringing work gloves. You can also say suggest (that) + a person + base form: I suggest (that) you bring work gloves. Not: I suggest to bring gloves. Not: I suggest you to bring gloves.

Two patterns in one story

The examples come from the food bank, and some sentences need both patterns: Darius promised to come, but he kept sending excuses. Riley offered to stay until five. She doesn't mind working late. Each verb keeps its own form, wherever it sits.

  • Horace suggested sorting the canned food by type.
  • Footnote enjoys sleeping on the warm mixing desk.
  • Darius promised to come, but he kept sending excuses.
  • Riley offered to stay until five. She doesn't mind working late.
  • Candace's class agreed to run a food drive.
  • Horace can't afford to lose a good volunteer.

Common mistakes

  • Horace suggested to meet at nine.

    Horace suggested meeting at nine.

    suggest + -ing

  • Please avoid to waste food.

    Please avoid wasting food.

    avoid + -ing

  • Darius agreed helping.

    Darius agreed to help.

    agree + to

  • I suggest you to bring gloves.

    I suggest bringing gloves.

    or: I suggest (that) you bring gloves

More traps

Not: keep to help → keep helping. Not: consider to volunteer → consider volunteering. Not: refuse helping → refuse to help. Not: offer helping → offer to help.

More lessons on this grammar: Gerunds and infinitives lessons and exercises

Try the gerund or infinitive exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 18 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • use the new verbs that take -ing: Darius kept sending excuses. Horace suggested sorting the canned food by type. We finished sorting at noon.
  • use the new verbs that take to + the base form: Riley offered to stay until five. Candace's class agreed to run a food drive.
  • say suggest the right way: I suggest bringing gloves or I suggest (that) you bring gloves, never I suggest you to bring gloves
  • plan a volunteer morning with both patterns: Let's arrange to meet at the bus stop at 8:30. Please avoid wearing your new white sneakers!

Lesson 25 opens Volunteers and changemakers, unit 7 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. It builds on A2.1 lessons 21 and 29, where enjoy and don't mind took -ing and want, hope and decide took to, and on B1.1 lesson 25's managed to. Lesson 26 puts the -ing form at the start of a sentence and after prepositions. A volunteer day, when people agree to help, offer to stay and suggest jobs, needs exactly these verbs.

Students spin a wheel of questions about volunteering and days off, then learn twelve words, from stack and unload to sign-up sheet, with pictures and audio. They read Riley's episode notes on MLK Day, then hear her at a food bank with Horace, the coordinator, while Darius texts excuses, and a voice message from Candace, a teen in Georgia, both AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a table that turns each action into -ing and to. In the speaking chapter, students pick replies in Kimberly's chat about a volunteer morning, then open boxes to plan their own day of service.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, a memory game, an anagram and a gap-fill for the words, then -ing or to gaps, a choice of forms in new sentences, a past simple table, word order, Elmer's volunteer post and a drag-and-drop reply from Riley to Candace.

Grammar:
verb + -ing · verb + to · keep, avoid, suggest + -ing · agree, offer, refuse + to
Topic:
Martin Luther King Jr. Day · day of service · volunteering · food banks · national parks · federal holidays · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Keep two lists on the board, one for -ing verbs and one for to verbs. Each time a verb turns up in the notes or the dialogue, a student adds it with its phrase: avoid mixing, offer to stay.
  • Before the episode notes, ask when MLK Day is. Most students give a single date; the notes show that it moves, because the third Monday of January can be any day from January 15 to January 21.
  • Play the food bank dialogue twice: first for Darius's excuses, then for the verb pairs, which students write in the right column: suggest sorting, avoid mixing, promised to come.
  • Turn the chat into a real plan: in pairs, students plan a class day of service with I suggest… and Let's arrange to…, then tell the class what they agreed to do and what they offered to bring.

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25 · you're hereA day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What are verbs followed by gerunds and infinitives?
They are verbs that need a fixed form for the verb after them: a gerund (the -ing form) or an infinitive (to + the base form). Keep, avoid and suggest take a gerund: Darius kept texting. Agree, offer and refuse take an infinitive: Riley offered to stay. The B1 lesson A day on, not a day off? on edio.ai teaches seven new verbs of each kind at a food bank.
Which verbs are followed by a gerund?
Common ones are keep, avoid, suggest, consider, practice, imagine and finish, along with enjoy and don't mind from A2: Please avoid mixing soup and beans. Imagine having a day off every Monday! The tense goes on the first verb, and the -ing form after it never changes: We finished sorting at noon. I'm considering volunteering on MLK Day.
Which verbs are followed by an infinitive?
Verbs that take to + the base form include agree, offer, refuse, promise, afford, arrange and learn, and from A2, want, hope and decide: The volunteers agreed to work on Saturday. We arranged to play basketball on Sunday. In A day on, not a day off?, a column sort puts sixteen verbs, eight of each kind, under -ing or to.
Is it "suggest to do" or "suggest doing"?
It's suggest doing, never suggest to do: Horace suggested sorting the canned food, not suggested to sort. With a person, use suggest (that) + the person + the base form: I suggest (that) you bring work gloves. I suggest you to bring gloves is a common slip, and the chat in A day on, not a day off? on edio.ai offers it as a wrong reply.
What's the difference between a gerund and an infinitive?
A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used like a noun, and the infinitive in this lesson is to + the base form. After the verbs taught here, the first verb decides which one follows: keep helping, but agree to help. A few verbs, such as stop and remember, take both with different meanings; lesson 27 of English B1.2 · Changemakers deals with those.
What is the MLK Day of Service?
It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a day for volunteering. The holiday became law in 1983, and the King Holiday and Service Act of 1994 made it a national day of service too. The National Park Service says it is the only federal holiday that Congress also designated as one. Volunteering is encouraged, not required; in the B1 lesson A day on, not a day off?, Riley spends it at a food bank.
When is Martin Luther King Jr. Day?
It is on the third Monday of January, so the date moves: it can be any day from January 15 to January 21. Dr. King's birthday is January 15, which means that in most years the holiday falls on another day. The first one was on Monday, January 20, 1986. A true-or-false task after the reading in A day on, not a day off?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, checks the moving date.
How do I teach gerunds and infinitives to B1 students?
Give each verb a short phrase to remember it by, such as avoid mixing or offer to stay, and let students meet it in a story before the rule. Then sort the verbs into two columns and drill the traps, starting with suggest. A day on, not a day off? on edio.ai goes from episode notes and a food bank dialogue to the scheme, five drills and a chat.
What's a good game for practicing verb + -ing or to?
Try a chain of promises and excuses: one student says I promised to come at nine…, the next adds …but I kept missing the bus, and the chain goes on until someone uses the wrong form. The open boxes in A day on, not a day off? make a calmer round, with prompts such as Is there a job at home that you refuse to do?
What's good homework for gerunds and infinitives?
Mix form drills with a text that uses the verbs: gap-fills such as Riley refused ___ (eat) donuts near the microphones, a table that builds past simple sentences, then a post with a choice in every line. The ten homework tasks of A day on, not a day off? on edio.ai mark themselves, from a word match to Elmer's volunteer post and Riley's reply to Candace.
How do you practice verbs with -ing or to one-to-one?
Plan a real volunteer day together: the teacher asks What do you suggest doing first? and What can you offer to do?, the student answers with the right form and asks back. The chat in A day on, not a day off? on edio.ai needs no partner: the student plans a morning with Kimberly, and every wrong reply hides an -ing or to mistake.
Are there interactive exercises for gerunds and infinitives?
Yes: gap-fills and chats that mark every answer. This page plays three parts of the B1 lesson A day on, not a day off? on edio.ai without an account: Riley and Horace's morning at the food bank, a gap-fill of -ing or to + the verb, and Kimberly's chat about a volunteer morning. Everything else opens with an account.
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