Introduction to the KISS Grammar Workbooks 2004 North Carolina Trainer Manual
From the Writing of Fourth Graders:
Exploring Verbs as Direct Objects
Exercise #4 - 
Comparing Gerunds and Infinitives as Direct Objects
Directions: Working sentence by sentence, place parentheses around each prepositional phrase. Then underline every finite verb twice, and every subject once. Label the complements ("PA," "PN," "IO," or "DO").

1. a. My uncle started to laugh very hard at us!

1. b. My uncle started laughing very hard at us!
 

2. a. Alice began trying to turn off the stove.

2. b. Alice began to try to take the pan off the stove.
 

3. a. The children loved to go through a dark tunnel.

3. b. The children loved going through a dark tunnel.
 

4. a. Robert tried to make a pie with apples.

4. b. Robert tried making a pie with chocolate pudding.