Representing thinking, perceiving, liking and desiring

Using verb patterns to represent likes and dislikes

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Verb followed by the to-infinitive

The verbs in this category can be followed by the to-infinitive, which represents the activity or situation which is liked, loved, preferred, etc:

Most of us prefer to watch Dallas than our neighbours' home-movies. (Microconcord Corpus A)

The following verbs can be followed by the to-infinitive:

cannot bear  hate  prefer  not care like regret disdain love cannot stand

Note that a small group of verbs can be followed by either the -ing form or the to-infinitive with no real change in meaning . To see a relevant teacher's question, click on this icon  .

In cases in which both the -ing form and the infinitive can be used, the -ing form usually represents an activity or situation that actually has taken place or does sometimes take place:

I hate being interrupted once I start reading. (Bank of English)

The infinitive, on the other hand, is often used when referring to future or hypothetical activities and situations:

I would hate to confine myself in a particular category. (Bank of English)

Introduction
Participants associated with attitude verbs
Grammatical patterns associated with the phenomenon
Verb followed by a noun form
Verb followed by the -ing infinitive
Verb followed by the to-infinitive
Verb followed by an object and the -ing form
Verb followed by an object and the to-infinitive
Verb followed by a that clause
Ellipsis with attitude verbs
Present simple v present continuous tense
A note on the order of participants