Verb = -ing or to… (3) (like / would like etc.)

A. Like love hate can’t bear enjoy dislike mind can’t stand
There verb and expressions all mean ‘like’ or’ not like’. They are often followed by –ing :
• Ann hates flying.
• Why do you dislike living here?
• I don’t like people shouting at me. (=I don’t like being shouted at.)
After love, hate and can’t bear, you can also use to…. So you can say :
• I love meeting people. Or I love to meet people.
• She can’t bear being alone. Or she can’t bear to be alone.
But after enjoy / dislike / mind / can’t stand, we use only –ing (not ‘to …’):
• I enjoy being alone. (not ‘I enjoy to be’)
• Tom doesn’t mind working at night. (not ‘mind to work’)
B. Like
You can say ‘l like doing something’ or’ l like to do something.’ Often it doesn’t matter which you use, so you can say :
• I like getting up early. Or I like to get up early.
In British English, there is sometimes a difference between ‘I like doing’ and ‘I like to do.’ ‘I like to do something’ mean’ I enjoy it’:
• Do you like cooking? (= do you enjoy it?)
• I like living here. (= I enjoy it)
‘I like to do something’ means ‘I think it is good or right to do it’:
• I like to clean the kitchen as often as possible. (this doesn’t mean that I enjoy it, it means that I think it is a good thing to do.)
• Mary likes people to be on time.
C. Would like / would love / would hate / would prefer are usually followed by to… (infinitive)
• I would like to be rich.
• Would you like to come to dinner on Friday?
• I’d love (=would love) to be able to travel round the world.
• Would you prefer to have dinner now or later?
Compare I like and I would like :
• I like playing / to play tennis. (=I enjoy it in general)
• I would like to play tennis today. (= I want to play today)
Note that would mind is followed by –ing (not to…):
• Would you mind closing the door, please?
D. You can also say’ I would like to have done something’ (= I regret now that I didn’t or couldn’t do something):
• It’s a pity we didn’t. see Val when we were in London. I would like to have seen her again.
• We’d like to have gone on holiday but we didn’t have enough money.
You can use the same structure after would live / would hate / would prefer :
• Poor old Tom! I would hate to have been in his position.
• I’d love to have gone to the party but it was impossible.