[vil]

Hi Michael,

You could track down the answer yours question in the excellent Russian grammar book "ГРАМАТИКА АНГЛИЙСКОВО ЯЗЬIКА", an old issue of Leningrad Utchpedgiza.

In Modern English the gerund is widely used and often competes with the infinitive.

There are few very strong rules, that comes in handy.

In the following cases only the gerund is used.

1. With the verbs and verbal phrases: to avoid, to burst out, to deny, to enjoy, to excuse, to fancy, (in imperative sentences as an exclamation of surprise), to finish, to forgive, to give up, to go on, to keep (on), to leave off, to mind, (in negative and interrogative sentences), to postpone, to put off, cannot but and some others.2. With the following verbs and verbal phrases used with preposition: be accuse of, to agree to, to approve of, to complain of, to depend on, to feel like, to insist on, to look like, to object to, to persist in, to prevent from, to rely on, to speak of, to succeed in, to suspect of, to thank for, to think of, to give up the idea of, to look forward to, not to like the ides of, to miss an (the) opportunity of and some others.


There is also the following classical example:

We are looking forward to seeing you again.
Mьi с нетьрпением ждем тово момента, когда увидим вас снова.

Sometimes you might find the proper answer in your close surroundings.

Regards.

V.