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"To know her and to live with her are two distinctly different situations". or "Knowing her and living with her are two distinctly different situations".

Douglas
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  • What exactly is your problem with those? Both are grammatical and idiomatic. – Robusto Apr 21 '20 at 17:10
  • Does this answer your question? "Being" or "to be"?. Actually, gerund versus infinitive is a closer match, with to-infinitive and ing-form in sentence-initial position, but was closed as a duplicate of this. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 21 '20 at 18:30
  • @John Lawler stated as part of a comment: 'There are general, very rough, guidelines for complement usage: gerunds correspond to events, while infinitives correspond to situation types. That-clauses correspond to propositions.' – Edwin Ashworth Apr 21 '20 at 18:37
  • @Robusto I'd like to know if both are correct or if there is any rule which explains when I should use one way or the other one. – Douglas Apr 21 '20 at 18:46
  • Both are fine. I'd use the first one for a rhetorically stronger or more formal statement. The second is more conversational. – Robusto Apr 21 '20 at 18:49
  • @EdwinAshworth I've just read the post you recommended, but even though it's related to 'gerund' and 'infinitive', I don't think it's the same case of which I'm asking. But I like your second comment could you explain it a little bit more? or, maybe, could you give some example sentences? – Douglas Apr 21 '20 at 18:55
  • Awesome!! thanks a lot @Robusto – Douglas Apr 21 '20 at 18:56
  • John Lawler's answer here should help. He addresses to-infinitive-, ing-form- and that-clauses in both sentence-initial and the more usual positions. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 22 '20 at 13:50

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