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I use Grammarly Chrome extension to validate my texts in English. And with some sentences I keep seeing the error message "Infinitive instead of gerund". I'm not sure if this is an appropriate error message, and whether I should I adopt the suggested correction or not.

Example:

The initial installation requires to have a certain expertise.

Correction suggested by Grammarly:

Initial installation requires having a certain expertise.

For some reason, I don't like how the suggestion sounds. And I think I met with a similar use of an infinitive used after a verb before.

Edwin Ashworth
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chingis
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    Doesn't it suggest "The initial installation requires certain expertise"? You should never trust any on-line spell or grammar checkers. They can't tell the difference between to-infinitive and gerund, countable nouns and mass nouns. –  Mar 03 '16 at 11:16
  • Well, I guess I could skip "have" completely in this sentence, but the question remains the same, I often see this kind of suggestions. Well, I should tell that Grammarly helps me avoiding a lot of stupid mistakes. I still use my judgement for less trivial corrections like this one. – chingis Mar 03 '16 at 11:31
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    I think my question can be marked as a duplication of http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/329/when-should-a-verb-be-followed-by-a-gerund-instead-of-an-infinitive?rq=1 – chingis Mar 03 '16 at 11:36
  • Some verbs can be followed by an ing-form; others can't. Some can be followed by a to-infinitive; others can't. With some, there's a choice. Look up 'catenation' here and in this Wiktionary article, and 'complement clauses' here. // 'Requires' can be followed by an ing-form, a poss-ing form (requires your having), a N + to-inf (requires you to go), or a that-clause (requires that you go). Not a to-infinitive. But each verb has to be considered separately (eg 'need' behaves differently). – Edwin Ashworth Mar 03 '16 at 11:46
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    A complication is that the passive construction, which is perfectly acceptable (You are required to go / John is required to take his passport), masks the fact that there is an implied object between 'require' and the to-infinitive (The police require you to go / The authorities require John to take his passport). – Edwin Ashworth Mar 03 '16 at 12:02
  • The article you link to is highly relevant, but does not cover the whole range of possibilities with 'require'. As is stated there, lists like the ones there are almost always incomplete, and they do not give the complete picture even for the items listed. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 03 '16 at 12:02
  • I think the issue is that "The initial installation requires to have a certain expertise." isn't correct, but the correction, while grammatically correct, is awkward. ELL.stackexchange.com can help proofread any corrections it suggests. – jimm101 Mar 03 '16 at 12:15
  • It should be said that the validity of "to have" or "having" after one verb or another is NOT really a question of grammar so much as one of logic. "To be or not to be" is the hypothetical question either BEFORE one decides or after one decides "NOT to be pedantic"; however, from the moment that something has begun, IS occurring, or EXISTS even in the mind's eye, English is going to favor the ing-form as an affirmation of this reality. In the OP "having a certain expertise" is an affirmative precondition of "initial installation", required to be real BEFORE installation. – Egox Mar 03 '16 at 13:55
  • @ Edwin Ashworth: Yes, I said "required TO BE real" not only as per your comments on passive construction but also as per logic (this statement is uncertain as to whether you meet the requirement or not...hence uncertain enough to not employ the ing-form), as well as this infinitive usage as a means of avoiding the present subjunctive (as in "require that you go"). – Egox Mar 03 '16 at 14:00

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Both gerunds and infinitives can be used as the subject or the complement of a sentence. However, as subjects or complements, gerunds usually sound more like normal, spoken English, whereas infinitives sound more abstract. In the following sentences, gerunds sound more natural and would be more common in everyday English. Infinitives emphasize the possibility or potential for something and sound more philosophical. If this sounds confusing, just remember that 90% of the time, you will use a gerund as the subject or complement of a sentence.

Examples: •Learning is important. normal subject •To learn is important. abstract subject - less common •The most important thing is learning. normal complement •The most important thing is to learn. abstract complement - less common

Yeeshu
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