 How's it going? Welcome to Grammar Tip Tuesday! And every Tuesday I'm going to take all that complicated grammar in the English language and make it as simple and easy as I can for you so you can get over those struggles and get on with your goal of becoming a fluent, confident English speaker because that's why you're here, right? And we don't want complicated grammar to confuse you or stop you from reaching your goal. And in this Grammar Tip Tuesday, we're going to talk about basic English sentence structure and forming sentences with both infinitive and gerund verbs. I know this is a topic that really confuses you. So if you feel confused by gerunds and infinitives, you're not alone. So let me try to make this as simple and easy as I can. Of course I'm Jennifer from J4sEnglish.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you sound like a fluent, confident, natural English speaker. Now before we go any further, make sure you subscribe and hit that bell notification so you're notified every time I post a new video. And now let's dive in with today's video. The basics. Understanding correct sentence structure is necessary if you want to form grammatically correct sentences. Whether they're simple sentences or more complex sentences, it doesn't matter. You have to master the basics. Now this example came up from one of my students in the Finally Fluent Academy. So I taught them the phrasal verb to take something on, okay? To take something on. And then I got my students to practice using this expression. So one of my students wrote this as her practice sentence, okay? So I corrected this for my student. But it became clear that this student and other students as well in the Finally Fluent Academy were struggling with this concept. It wasn't very clear to them why this correction was needed. So we went into this topic in detail during our live weekly lesson. And we had this really amazing conversation on grammar and basic English sentence structure. And then I thought to myself, you know what? If all of my students in the Finally Fluent Academy are struggling with this issue, this is probably something that all students are struggling with. So I really wanted to share this explanation with everyone outside of the Finally Fluent Academy as well. So here take a look at this sentence. Do you see the mistake here? What's the mistake? Any idea? Pause the video if you need. Try to find that mistake. So the mistake is with our verb, okay? And it's this verb right here. This verb is in the wrong verb tense. So this verb is in what verb tense? Can you see it? This is the past simple. So the verb is to take to take, okay? And the expression is to take something on. That's the phrasal verb that I taught my students. And that's how it's being used in this context as a phrasal verb, which means it's a verb and a preposition, okay? But this violates basic English sentence structure. So let's go back to the basics and review basic English sentence structure. And then this mistake will be obvious to you, okay? So in English, there are many different ways that a sentence can be formed. But almost every single sentence is going to include a subject and a verb, okay? A subject and a verb. So let's start there. Now after this, we have a few options. We can have a noun that's very common or an object, or we can also have another verb. And that's very common, okay? So this is what we're going to talk about when our basic sentence is subject plus verb and another verb. Okay, so in this basic English sentence structure, right here, the first verb, this is the verb that you conjugate, okay? So this is a verb that you conjugate. What does that mean? It means that you put it in a different form according to your time reference, okay? So think of all the verb tenses, we can have present simple, past simple, past continuous, present perfect, future, you know, those are the different verb tenses. That's how you conjugate. Now when you conjugate this verb, it has to do two things. It has to match your time reference. So if I said yesterday, I know that verb is going to be in the past simple, right? Because yesterday is a keyword for the past simple. Now if I say always, or sometimes, I know that verb is going to be in the present simple, because always and sometimes are keywords for the present simple. So we have to conjugate this verb according to our time reference. And we also have to make sure the verb matches our subject, okay? So you have to pay attention to two different things when you conjugate this verb. But for basic English sentence structure, I can't go into all the different time references and verb tenses and subject verb agreement, like that's just impossible to do in one video. But the important thing is it's the first verb that's conjugated, okay, conjugated according to the time reference and the subject. Now, what about our second verb? What happens here? Well, this is where a lot of students get confused. Now, we have two options. Unfortunately, it's the fact that there's two different options that causes so many grammar mistakes from students. And this knowing which option to use is really the main mistake I see in my advanced students. But this is extremely noticeable to a native English speaker, because this is basic English sentence structure, okay? And native English speakers, this is something we learn from birth. So this is very much obvious to us when we see a mistake in it. So do you know what our two options are for our second verb? Any idea? Okay, so we have the infinitive, which is what's the infinitive is simply two and the verb. So we have our infinitive is one option, okay? And the second option is what? Our gerund, right? Our gerund, our verb with ing. Now, when do you know when do you know if you need an infinitive or a gerund? Okay, I'll be honest with you. I can't explain this in one video. It would take me over four hours to explain all the different rules. But let me just give you some guidelines, okay? Because this is going to help you learn English going forward because you're going to understand what you need to pay attention to what you need to notice in sentences when you're reading or when you're listening, okay? You'll start to notice this. So infinitive subject verb plus infinitive is the regular structure, okay? Which means it works about 80% of the time, okay? So what I want you to do is to assume, just assume that your sentence structure is going to be subject verb infinitive, because you're going to be correct 80% of the time. And those are good odds, right? Now, the gerund is an irregular structure. So it's only used about 20% of the time. Now, when do you know if you need to use a gerund? It depends on your sentence structure, okay? And a lot of the times it depends on this verb. So this verb will determine if your next verb is an infinitive or a gerund, okay? And how do you know? Well, because specific verbs in English require the gerund. Now, unfortunately, I'll just be honest with you, it's memorization. And like I said, I know you want me to tell you right now what those verbs are. But honestly, it would take me four hours to explain all the different ways that this verb requires the gerund, okay? So it's just not possible. But what you need to do is to start noticing. So start noticing what verbs require the gerund. And you already know so many of the verbs, right? So you can start making a list, start making a list of irregular verbs that require the gerund. Okay, so going back to our original sentence, we can see here, we have our subject, right? And what's this? This is our first verb. And it's conjugated in what verb tense? The past simple, right? So this is the verb that's conjugated. I decided to, now this is incorrect, because it violates our basic English sentence structure. Our next verb either has to be the infinitive or the gerund. This is a past simple. That is not a sentence structure in English. So what do you think we need a gerund or an infinitive? Well, if we apply our rule that 80% chance of being right, if we use an infinitive, well, let's do it. I decided to take it on and we're right 80% chance of being right. And we're right. Because decide, remember, it's not this verb that determines whether it's a gerund or an infinitive. It's the first verb. And decide is a regular verb. Okay, decide is not a gerund verb. It doesn't require the gerund. I decided to take it on. And now we have subject verb plus our second verb, which is in the infinitive. So now we're following basic English sentence structure. So don't worry, don't worry about the fact that you right now don't know which one is which the gerund or the infinitive, because honestly, that's not something you're going to master in one video. That's something that you're just going to master over time. As you add more and more gerund verbs to your vocabulary, get comfortable with them and memorize them and practice them. Okay, but for now, I just want you to be comfortable with the basic English sentence structure and know how to troubleshoot your sentences, know how to proofread your own sentences, because now you know that you have to have a subject and verb. The first verb is what conjugated according to the time reference and the subject. And then your second verb is what two choices, an infinitive or a gerund. And which one is the regular sentence structure, the infinitive, exactly. And you'll be correct. What percentage of the time if you use that? About 80% of the time you'll be correct if you use the infinitive. And how do you know if your second verb is the gerund? It depends on your first verb, if it's a regular verb or if it's a gerund verb. Okay, so you've learned so much today. This is just getting you started on your path to understanding more advanced sentence structures in English. And of course, don't worry, we're going to talk more and more about gerunds and how you know if this first verb requires the infinitive or gerund. Obviously, that's coming up in future videos. But for now, if you found this video helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends, and of course, subscribe. And before you go, make sure you head on over to my website, jforsenglish.com, and download your free speaking guide. Now in this guide, I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently. And one of those tips, I can't remember which one. Oh yeah, step one in the guide is to master the basics. So that's what you're doing right here, because you need the basics in order to speak English fluently and confidently. If you don't master this, your sentence is not going to sound very fluent, and you're not going to feel very confident, right? So really important to master the basics. And that's what you're doing right now. So congratulations. And until next time, happy studying.