Unit 59

Preposition + -ing

(a) Если глагол следует за предлогом

in at with about и т.д.,

то он оканчивается на -ing.

Рассмотрим примеры:

(b) Можно употреблять -ing с before и after:

- Before going out I phoned Ann.

You can also say: `Before I went out I...'

- What did you do after leaving school?

You can also say: `... after you left school?'

(c) Вы можете употребить by -ing, чтобы сказать,

как что-то случилось:

- They got into the house by breaking a kitchen window and climbing in.

- You can improve your English by doing a lot of reading.

(d) После without тоже можно использовать -ing:

- Tom left without finishing his dinner.

- She ran five miles without stopping.

- He climbed through the window without anybody seeing him.

(или `... without being seen.')

- She needs to work without people disturbing her. (или `... without

being disturbed.')

- It's nice to go on holiday without having to worry about money.

(e) To - обычно часть неопределенной формы

(infinitive).

Например:

- They decided to go out.

- I want to play tennis.

Но to также является и предлогом.

Примеры:

- Tom went to London.

- He gave the book to Ann.

- I prefer cities to the countryside.

- I'm looking forward to the week-end.

Если за предлогом следует глагол, он оканчивается

на -ing (см. раздел a). Поэтому, если to - предлог

и за ним следует глагол, надо говорить to -ing.

Например:

- I prefer cycling to driving (а не `to drive')

- I'm looking forward to seeing Ann again. (а не `to see')

О be/get в связи с использованием -ing см.Unit 62.