Gerunds and Infinitives (Which one to use-detailed)

GERUND

Bear in mind that only the gerund is used after these expressions:

It's no use ....              | "It's no use crying over spilt milk" (proverb

Look forward to ...        | I'm looking forward to seeing you soon.
Get/be used to ...         |  I'm used to drinking a cup of coffee after lunch.
Be keen on ...              | She's keen on singing pop songs
Couldn't help ...           | When I met her, I couldn't help hugging her tightly.
Feel like ...                  | I feel like having a cold drink now.
Be busy ...                   | She is busy doing her homework right now.
Would you mind ...       | Would you mind mailing this letter for me, please?
How / what about ...     | How about inviting your grandmother for the party.
Worth ...                     | The film is actually worth viewing.

As well as after these verbs:

Enjoy        | She enjoys making fun of everybody.
admit        | He admitted breaking the window pane.
deny         | He denied breaking into the office.
consider    | The manager considered phoning the police
reconsider | She finally reconsidered involving the authorities in her own affairs.
keep         | The clerk kept shouting at everybody like a madman.
imagine     | He imagined being able to impress them.
regret       | He eventually regretted damaging the window.
avoid        | She always avoid talking to him about the problem.
finish        | They finished doing their work very early.
stop          |  He stopped teasing his sister after her mother shouted at him.
include      | The treaty includes not interfering with the others' inner problems.
involve      | The contract involves building a fence.
justify       | He can't justify being late for school everyday.
forget        | Sorry, I forgot sending you the catalogue.
remember | I remembered sweeping the floor before I came here.
suggest     | They suggested travelling by bus.
quit          | It was hard for her to quit smoking.
need        | She needed repainting her car.
put off      | She puts off meeting him.
postpone   | We postponed organising the party.

Other verbs that are followed by a gerund are:

adore, anticipate, appreciate, contemplate, delay, describe, detest, dislike, escape, fancy, feel, give, hear, include, justify, listen to, mention, mind, miss, notice, observe, perceive, practice, recall, report, resent, resume, risk, see, sense, tolerate and watch.

And after some "phrasal verbs" & verbs + prepositions

- Carry on           | She didn't even looked at me. she just carried on typing the letter.
- Go on                | They went on playing tennis despite the rain.
- Give up             | She wanted him to give up nagging at her.
- Cope with          | They tried to cope with working in cold weather.
- Apologize for    | She apologizes for making noise.
- Complain about | She continues to complain about keeping the door wide open.
- Keep on            | She kept on complaining...
- Insist on           | She insisted on doing the task herself.
- Blame for         | She blames me for damaging her CD player.
- Succeed in        |  She succeeds in keeping the children busy for a longer time.
- Think of           | We are thinking of moving to a bigger city.
- Worry about     | They worry about losing their jobs.
- etc ... 

What about adjectives+ prepositions then?

We also use the gerund after the following:

- Be proud of => They're proud of participating in that humanitarian project.
- Be tired of => I'm tired of repeating the same thing all the time.
- Be afraid of => She's afraid of being wrong.
- Be fond of => Her children are fond of eating dates in the morning.
- Be sick of => I'm sick of eating burgers everyday.
- Be worried about => He's worried about letting her go abroad alone.
- Be happy about => We were all happy about celebrating the new year in Paris.
- Be glad about => She's glad about receiving the award.
- Be angry about => They are angry about staying under the rain for hours.
- Be crazy about => She's crazy about singing in the bathroom.
- Be excited about => They are excited about attending the scientist’s lecture.
- Be sorry about => She's sorry about breaking the vase unintentionally.
- Be interested in => The students seem interested in doing quizzes.

After, before, without and No

The gerund is mostly applicable after 'before', 'after', 'without' and 'no':

Examples
- She ran away without looking behind.
- You have to train before doing any sport.
- Take this medicine after warming it.
- No smoking!

The Infinitive

The infinitive is known in terms of "to + verb" and this is the base verb. Yet the verb without its particle (to) is also a verb but it is bare. This information, I guess, is not witty at all because the verb without "to" is also imposing in some circumstances. Language is sometimes too much demanding, isn't it?
Whole Infinitive {to + verb}
The base verb "to + verb" is compulsory

after conjugated verbs

-I wanted to buy that car but unfortunately it was very expensive for me.
-She advised me to see a doctor as soon as possible.
-They'd prefer to take a taxi.
-I'd like to stay at home this afternoon.
-At last, they decided to rent the apartment.
-They agreed to pay the bills cash.
etc....

As you could see, when two verbs are successive the second is forced into the infinitive with "to" of course.
Apart from the cases in which both gerund and infinitive are usable, there are cases in which only the use of the whole infinitive is accurate such as the case above.

After some question words!

She told us what to do.
She explained why to do it.
She showed us how to do it.
She also told us where to find the necessary material.
Etc

After some adjectives

- Important   | It is important to surf the net for more lessons.
- Easy           | It is not easy to learn a language without practising it regularly.
- Difficult      | It seems difficult to know everything about the topic in one session.
- hard           | It is really hard to forget nice people.
etc... 

Infinitive without "to"

Now let me insist on the fact that some verbs require to be followed by the bare infinitive. These verbs are:

- to help, to let and to make:

-My mother helped me do my homework.
-She didn't let her go out.
-Her jokes were so funny that they made me laugh all day long.
 As well as after "would rather" and "had better":
-I'd rather read the book than watch the film.
-She'd better get married before it is too late.
And, of course, after Modal verbs like:

- can, could, must, may, might, should, ought to, etc

-You can do it easily.
-She could do all the work alone.
-You must respect the elderly.
-It may rain this evening.
-She might arrive at any time.
-People should take care of the environment.
-You ought to be punctual.
-They will build a new hospital in town.
-He would come if you invited him.

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