It Starts to Make Vs. It Starts Making, Which One is Correct?

1. 60

   To Learn Englishposted 9 years ago

   It Starts to Make Vs. It Starts Making, Which One is Correct?
   
   I am confused. "It starts to make the product." or "It starts making the product." Which of these two sentences sound more correct to you? or both of these sentences are correct? Do they have different meaning then? Can we use "ing" in Simple Present Tense? I tried Google. Google results show more than a million results for both of them.

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2. 52

   Lauren Stateposted 9 years ago

   "It starts making the product" is my vote. I think both are technically correct, but this option sounds better to me. Even so, it does still seem somewhat off, in my opinion. There is probably a better way to say it.
   
   The "ing" ending is present tense. It means the action (the verb) is ongoing, taking place now. The "ing" cannot be used in past tense, although it can indicate the future (ex: It is going to rain.)

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3. 79

   junksellerposted 9 years ago

   What may be confusing is that "to make" and "making" are not the verbs of the sentence. The Subject-Verb of your sentence is "It starts".
   
   "To make" is an infinitive (a verb preceded by "to") and "making" is a gerund (a verb with -ing ending which is functioning as a noun). Gerunds and infinitives can be objects, subjects, or complements of sentences. In many cases you can use either. Sometimes one will sound more natural than the other.
   
   [] "Learning is important." / "To learn is important."
   
   In both, the gerund and infinitive are acting as the sentence subject. Both are correct, but the first one (with the gerund) sounds more natural.
   
   Sometimes one or the other is necessary. Generally this is when it is being used as the object of the sentence and is dependent on the verb.
   
   [] "He wants to swim." / "He wants swimming."
   
   Gerund and infinitive as objects of the sentence, but the second one is obviously incorrect. The verb "want" requires the infinitive.
   
   [] "I enjoy to swim" / "I enjoy swimming."
   
   Gerund and infinitive as objects of the sentence, but the first one is obviously incorrect. The verb "enjoy" requires the gerund.
   
   [] "She started to bake." / "She started baking."
   
   This one is like your sentence. Gerund and infinitive as objects, but both have the same meaning and sound fine. Either is okay.
   
   Notice that your conjugation (verb modifications) indicating timing would take place on the verb "start" and you can still use either the infinitive or gerund.
   
   []          "She had started baking." / "She had started to bake."
   []          "I start baking." / "I start to bake."
   
   This is pretty confusing stuff, and unfortunately (or fortunately), like many things in English, partly just requires knowing what sounds right.

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