OpenClipart-Vectors. (2016). Caricature.
Like it… or not…?
Look at the following pictures.
If you don’t like the activity click on don’t like.
Every day of our lives we express, conscious or unconsciously, our preferences. That is our likes and dislikes about things, people or daily activities.
The most common verbs to express likes and dislikes are love, enjoy, like and hate. They are used in simple present tense because they are routines or habitual actions.
By the end of this topic, you will structure statements using the verbs like, enjoy, love and hate to express preferences, likes and dislikes in diverse situations.
Verbs that express preferences, likes and dislikes: love, enjoy, like and hate |
When you want to express preferences, likes and dislikes, we commonly use the simple present tense with the verbs "love", "enjoy", "like" to express likes and "hate."
These verbs are followed by two types of words: nouns and verbs. Let’s see the difference:
Structure
The verbs love, enjoy, like and dislike follow the same structure of the simple present tense.
Look at the following charts to remember the structure of the simple present tense.
subject |
love |
verb in gerund form |
complement |
---|---|---|---|
The boys |
love |
playing |
video games |
I |
like |
studying |
English |
We |
enjoy |
dancing |
rock and roll |
You |
hate |
staying |
at home |
Remember that he, she or it use the “s” form |
|||
Tom |
likes |
eating |
Chinese food |
Susan |
loves |
playing |
the piano |
The cat |
likes |
drinking |
Milk |
Do |
subject |
love |
verb in |
complement |
---|---|---|---|---|
Do |
the boys |
love |
playing |
video games? |
Do |
I |
like |
studying |
English? |
Do |
we |
enjoy |
dancing |
at home? |
Do |
you |
hate |
staying |
at home? |
Remember that he, she or it use the “auxiliary does”. |
||||
Does |
Tom |
like |
eating |
Chinese food? |
Does |
Susan |
love |
playing |
the piano? |
Does |
the cat |
like |
drinking |
milk? |
subject |
do not |
love |
verb in |
complement |
---|---|---|---|---|
The boys |
do not |
love |
playing |
video games |
I |
do not |
like |
studying |
English |
We |
do not |
enjoy |
dancing |
at home |
You |
do not |
hate |
staying |
at home |
Remember that he, she or it use the “auxiliary does not" |
||||
Tom |
does not |
like |
eating |
Chinese food |
Susan |
does not |
love |
playing |
the piano |
The cat |
does not |
like |
drinking |
milk |
Infinitive form or gerund form?
In general, when you want to use two verbs together in a sentence in English, you have only two options.
- 1 - |
Example:
|
The verbs that are always followed by another verb in its infinitive form are: agree, arrange, decide, deserve, expect, fail, forget, hope, intend, learn, offer, plan, promise, refuse, remind and want.
|
- 2 - |
Example:
|
The verbs that are always followed by another verb in its gerund form are: admit, appreciate, avoid, consider, deny, enjoy, finish, imagine, mind, miss, practice, quit, regret, resent, suggest and postpone
|
- 3 - |
They are: begin, continue, hate, like, love, prefer, start, stop and try
|
In a nutshell...
The verbs "love", "like" and "hate" are often followed by "gerund" when its meaning in general. So you are usually going to use them in this form.
They are followed by a verb in infinitive form to refer to a particular moment or situation.
The verb “enjoy” is always followed by a verb in the gerund form.
George
Mike
Jack
Ava
Mia
Lisa
Love |
---|
Enjoy |
---|
Like |
---|
Hate |
---|
Activity 1
First answer these questions:
In this activity, you will read a text about the activities a young man and his family do during their holidays.
Read the text carefully “We enjoy our holidays.”
Then, choose the different options to the appropriate spaces from the right side to complete the sentences. You can know your score at the end of the exercise.
Activity 2
In this activity, listen to the conversation between Lucy and her friend Susan.
Then decide if the following statements are True or False by choosing the appropriate option. At the end of the activity, you can check your score.
Activity 3
Check the following example:
I love listening to music. One thing I enjoy a lot is doing top hit mash-ups. Also, DJing is one of my favourite hobbies. Although I want to buy a new console, a good DJ software could be excellent. I love to go to nightclubs because I can listen to the latest hits that latter I can download or buy.
Write a composition about activities you, your parents or your friends like to do.
Write a120-150 word composition using as many times as you can the verbs love, enjoy, like and hate.
When you write your composition, go back to the grammar explanation to check the correct use of verbs the verbs like, enjoy, love and hate. Use the rubrics to guide and evaluate yourself.
Activity 4
In this activity, you will have to talk about activities you like to do routinely, on holidays or in special events with your parents, friends or by yourself.
Remember to use as many times as you can the verbs love, enjoy, like and hate.
Before recording yourself, take a look at the rubrics to study the aspects that will be evaluated.
When you have your recording, go back to the grammar explanation and check the correct use of verbs the verbs like, enjoy, love and hate. Use the rubrics to guide you. Listen to the example so you can have an idea of how to do your recording.
This is the end of this unit “verbs used to express preferences likes and dislikes: love, enjoy, like and hate”. We hope you have learned how to use them and didn’t make mistakes using them.
We invite you to try to use them in English with your friends and relatives from now on.
Based on the context, read the text and fill in the blanks with the correct verbs in the box.
• Fuscoe K. (2010). Attitude Student’s Book 2. MacMillan. Mexico. DF.
• McCarthy M (2005). Touchstone 3. Cambridge University Press. New Your USA.
• Raskin J. (2010) Future English for results 3. Pearson Longman. New Your USA.
• Richards J. (2006). Interchange 3. Cambridge University Press. New Your USA.
• Saslow J. (2011). Top Notch 3. Pearson Longman. New Your USA.
• Soars L. (2003). American Headway 3. Oxford University Press. New Your USA.
• Soars L. (2009). American 2. Oxford University Press. New Your USA.
• Learn English with Emma [engVid]. (2015). English Vocabulary: other words for LIKE and DON'T LIKE [video]. Retrieved 22/05/17 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPNCwE-hRRo
• Luisthree. (2012). INGLÉS. 38- LIKE, -ING, Hobbies. Inglés para hablantes de español. Tutorial [video]. Retrieved 22/05/17 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjIGeVFKVOY