Like to do/like doing. Correctness and data.

[birdeen's call]

Please take a look at number three on this page: Historical English corpora and diachronic syntax

Does it mean that the form that I was taught was correct has always been less popular? Or do I understand the chart incorrectly?

 

[Tdol]

He's trying to show how it has come into existence and taken off- as seen in the graph.

 

[Raymott]

Please take a look at number three on this page: Historical English corpora and diachronic syntax

Does it mean that the form that I was taught was correct has always been less popular? Or do I understand the chart incorrectly?

3 seems to be adressing "Help her clean sth." vs. "Help her to clean sth."
This has nothing to do with the infinitive vs. gerund choice of your title.

 

[birdeen's call]

Tdol: Please excuse me but I don't understand. I'm talking about the forms "I like doing something" and "I like to do something". They always told me to avoid the latter, because - they said - it was "less correct".

And now I read that "I like doing" was always less popular. The graph shows how it reaches 25% in the 2000s. And I see it's its peak popularity! So was the "more correct" form always less popular than the "less correct" one?

 

[birdeen's call]

3 seems to be adressing "Help her clean sth." vs. "Help her to clean sth."
This has nothing to do with the infinitive vs. gerund choice of your title.

I'm sorry! There are more number threes than one here, I just noticed. I mean this: 3. [like] + to VERB / V-ing (I like to watch / watching sunsets): 344 tokens

 

[Raymott]

I'm sorry! There are more number threes than one here, I just noticed. I mean this: 3. [like] + to VERB / V-ing (I like to watch / watching sunsets): 344 tokens

Ah yes, you're right. I don't think 4 values from the 2000s is statistically significant.
To your point, there are numerous examples of where infinitive vs gerund could be argued over. Sometimes, one form is almost certainly better, or more common, than the other.
However, if you were taught that "I like doing X" is more correct than "I like to do X", then this study would, at first glance, appear to be evidence that you have been taught the wrong thing.

 

[Tdol]

!3th century usage tells us about 13th century usage and not today, so whether something was or was not used in the past is not a guide to current usage. There are differences in usage with like +gerund/infinitive in BrE in terms of meaning, and frequency in a database doesn't cover meaning.

 

[birdeen's call]

!3th century usage tells us about 13th century usage and not today, so whether something was or was not used in the past is not a guide to current usage. There are differences in usage with like +gerund/infinitive in BrE in terms of meaning, and frequency in a database doesn't cover meaning.

What are the differences? I don't know them.

 

[Tdol]

The database he's using is the one for the OED, which uses written texts and tries to find the earliest examples of a word in use. Therefore, it's not meant to be a guide to current usage. What it will show is when a word or structure came into use and how it has grown. It is not a measure of overall frequency or usage- the quotes are written and tend to be literary, etc, so they are not as wide a database as those used in the AmericanCorpus or the BYU. If you want to compare their usage, then thos databases would be the ones to use.

 

[Raymott]

The database he's using is the one for the OED, which uses written texts and tries to find the earliest examples of a word in use. Therefore, it's not meant to be a guide to current usage. What it will show is when a word or structure came into use and how it has grown. It is not a measure of overall frequency or usage- the quotes are written and tend to be literary, etc, so they are not as wide a database as those used in the AmericanCorpus or the BYU. If you want to compare their usage, then thos databases would be the ones to use.

Yes, that's true. I didn't read the text. I just looked at the table I was directed to, and said that 'at first glance' it showed something, but it was probably not significant.
Now, having read the whole thing, it's obviously not the right table to look at anyway.

 

[birdeen's call]

The database he's using is the one for the OED, which uses written texts and tries to find the earliest examples of a word in use. Therefore, it's not meant to be a guide to current usage. What it will show is when a word or structure came into use and how it has grown. It is not a measure of overall frequency or usage- the quotes are written and tend to be literary, etc, so they are not as wide a database as those used in the AmericanCorpus or the BYU. If you want to compare their usage, then thos databases would be the ones to use.

I see, I suspected something must be wrong when I saw that how few examples they had!

You said there are differences in meaning between the two constructions. Could you explain them?