Gerund and 'to' infinitive

'prefer to live alone',
"prefer living alone"
'decide to watch',
"decide watching"
e.g. "like playing", "like writing", "like finding", .....

I saw him talking on the phone when I came home

He like eating chocolate and listening to the music

I prefer to live alone - infinitive = to do something like your examples in the question.

I prefer living alone ..... - gerund = verb ending with ing all the time

Nothing is not a gerund as nothing, anything is a noun itself. Gerund is verb = ing.

Hope it is clear enough

你好，你是否知道Gerund和Infinitive的用法吗？

据我所知，它们有两种分别，
一是我们用动词跟随着Gerunds或Infinitives（不同的意思），也就是Verbs Followed By Gerunds Or Infinitives (Different Meaning)；
二就是我们用动词跟随着Gerunds或Infinitives（相似的意思），也就是Verbs Followed By Gerunds Or Infinitives (Similar Meaning)；

Verbs Followed By Gerunds Or Infinitives (Different Meaning):-
1) He forgot reading the book when he was a kid.
当“forget”跟gerund一起用时，它是在说忘记你所做过的某件事情(to forget that you have done something)。
这就代表以上的句子是在说他在他小时候读过那本书，可是他忘记了这件事或这个事实。

2) He forgot to pay the rent this month.
当“forget”跟infinitive一起用时，它是在说忘记你需要做某件事情(to forget that you need to do something)。
这就代表以上的句子是在说他忘记了他这个月需要付租金。

Verbs Followed By Gerunds Or Infinitives (Similar Meaning):-
1) I like speaking French because it is such a beautiful language.
这句话是说我喜欢那个当我在讲法国语言的体验和感受。

2) I like to speak French when I am in France.
这句话是说我喜欢当我在法国时选择讲法国语言。

希望能帮到你咯。。。: )

2009-04-07 10:54:03 補充：
你好，请你再清楚地问你所补充的问题，我不是很明白你在问的是什么？

难道以上我所解释的还不够详细，你还不是很明白，还是怎样呢？