Cleaning vs to clean

[Niranjan Krishnamoorthi]

Can someone please explain why using cleaning is wrong in the following sentence:


It's not my favourite job but I like to clean the kitchen as often as possible.

Is it incorrect to replace to clean with cleaning. Why?

 

[MikeNewYork]

They both work.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

They do both work grammatically, but there can be a subtle difference in meaning between the two.

"It's not my favourite job but I like to clean the kitchen as often as possible" means:

a. 'I like having a clean kitchen.'
b. 'I try to have a clean kitchen as often as possible by cleaning it, even though it's not my favourite job.'

"It's not my favourite job but I like cleaning the kitchen as often as possible" doesn't really make sense because you are saying:

a. I don't like cleaning the kitchen.
b. I (do) like cleaning the kitchen (I do it as often as possible).

I recommend you say it something like: 'It's not my favorite job, but I like keeping the kitchen clean.'