I saw below sentence:
Her job is to clean the hall.
So can I also say like:
Her job is cleaning the hall.
It's present participle or gerund?
What's the different meaning between these two sentences?
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The contrast is between an infinitive and a gerund. See also “Started to work” vs “Started working” and When should a verb be followed by a gerund instead of an infinitive?.– chosterJan 29, 2014 at 16:01
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1 Answer
For all practical purposes, no difference at all.
The second one is an abbreviation of 'Her job is (the) cleaning (of) the hall.' 'Cleaning', a gerund. acts as a noun; 'of the hall' an adjectival modifier.
'To clean' on the other hand is the infinitive of the verb.
I cannot think of any obvious reason why one would use one rather than the other. It could be that one might incline more to use of the gerund if 'the cleaning of the hall, were already an established job routine. But I'm by no means certain about that.
