[Grammar] "~ing" VS "to + infinitive"

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Seo JIn Su

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I am a beginner at English.

My sentences have may mistakes grammatically.

Please, understand me and tell me about grammatical mistakes.

I hope i get a correct answer to below.

"My hobby was to collect albums" VS "My hobby was collecting albums"

Please, Look at the red letters.

"To + Infinite" is correct ? or "~ ing" is correct ?

When used in the past.

Thank you for reading this post.
 
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Seo JIn Su

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Matthew Wai

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If 'was to collect' or 'was collecting' was incorrect, MikeNewYork would have told you in his previous answer.
On another forum, people said that the ing word is more natural.

Not a teacher.
 

emsr2d2

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[STRIKE]I am a beginner at English.[/STRIKE] Unnecessary.

[STRIKE]My sentences have may mistakes grammatically. [/STRIKE]Unnecessary.

[STRIKE]I hope i get a correct answer to below.[/STRIKE] Unnecessary

Please (no comma required here) [STRIKE]understand me and[/STRIKE] tell me [STRIKE]about[/STRIKE] if there are any grammatical mistakes.

"My hobby was to collect albums" VS "My hobby was collecting albums."

Please (no comma required here) look at the red letters.

Is "To + infinitive" [strike]is[/strike] correct or is "~ ing" [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] correct when used in the past?

[STRIKE]Thank you for reading this post.[/STRIKE] Unnecessary

See above. Remember to follow the rules of written English at all times:

- Start every sentence with a capital letter.
- End every sentence with a single, appropriate punctuation mark.
- Always capitalise the word "I" and all proper nouns.
- Do not put a space before a comma, full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
- Always put a space after a comma, full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.

Note that we don't use a capital letter after a comma unless the next word is a proper noun or the word "I".

Both your example sentences are acceptable. The "-ing" form is more common and natural for me.
 

MikeNewYork

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In my opinion, both are correct and the second is more common.
 

Seo JIn Su

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Thank you.

"My hobby was collecting album"

You think the above sentence is more natural.

I am a little confused that i thought "To + infinite" is more nature.

I am feeling gloomy.
 

Seo JIn Su

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Thanks to all people who has an interest to me.
 
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MikeNewYork

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Yes, more natural, if you pluralize "album".
 

TheParser

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***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Seo Jin Su:

The difference between the gerund and the infinitive has confused me, too.

May I share something that I found on the Web (I forget where)? I personally like the explanation, but I do not claim that it is necessarily "correct."

That source says that generally we use a gerund for something that has actually happened; we use an infinitive for a hope that has not come true yet. It gives these two examples:

1. His favorite activity is chasing girls. (He has actual past and present experience in dating many young ladies.)

2. His hope is to marry a beautiful girl. (That is a future hope.)

IF you agree with that source, then you might consider using the gerund in your sentence, for you seem to have a lot of experience in that activity.



James

***** UPDATE *****

I was able to find the article. Go to the Google search engine and type in these words:

Tenth Week Verbals: Gerund or Infinitive
 
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