continue to V/Ving

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1
  1. We continued drinking until after midnight.
  2. We continued to drink until after midnight.
    Are there any differences in meaning between the two sentences?
2

Hi Sitifan,

I imagine you wanted to know the difference between ‘continue to do’ and ‘continue doing’. The difference is essentially that of being particular or being general in your comment - the infinitive usually refers to a specific activity and the ‘ing’ form to a more general activity. In your sentences ‘continued to drink’ suggests after a break we went on drinking and ‘continued drinking’ suggests that we really never stopped drinking. You might like to read a piece I wrote for the site on this difference:
english-test.net/stories/46/index.html

Alan

3

Is there any difference between “cease to drink” and “cease drinking”?