Language point 33 – liking doing things
As well as talking about liking things, you can also talk about liking
doing things. Look at these two sentences:
Sue likes ice cream
on a hot day
Sue likes sitting under the trees
on a hot day
When we talk about liking doing things, like is followed by the ing-
form of the verb. Here are some more examples:
(swim) The children like swimming
in the pool
(read) Does your sister like reading
magazines?
(play) Terry likes playing
tennis on his days off
(watch) I don’t like watching
football on TV
(sit) I like sitting
in the garden
(work) Do you like working
for the company?
And when someone asks you if you like something, there are many
answers you can give. Let’s look as some of the possibilities, starting
with positive answers and going through to negative answers:
Do you like fast food
? Yes, I love it!
Yes, I quite like it
It’s OK, I suppose
I’m not bothered
Not really
No, I don’t like it at all

you think is better:
Which would you prefer – tea or coffee?
I’d prefer coffee, thank you.
We use prefer when we think something is better than something
else:
I prefer coffee = ‘I think coffee is better’
I prefer coffee to tea = ‘I think coffee is better than tea’
We use (woul)d prefer when we want something more than some-
thing else:
I’d prefer coffee = ‘It would be better if you gave
me coffee.’
Would you prefer tea? = ‘Would it be better if I gave you
tea?’
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about something that is near to the speaker, and that for something
that is further away. So, if Anne is holding a red hat and Susan is
holding a blue hat, Anne says this hat for the red one and that hat
for the blue one. For Susan it’s the other way round!
Now look at these examples:
Which tie do you prefer? – I like this one
Which trousers do you prefer? – I like these
Which hat do you prefer? – I like that one
Which shoes do you prefer? – I like those
If the noun has already been mentioned, you don’t need to repeat
it – you can use this/that and these/those without the noun, but you
have to put one after this and that.
Exercise 10
Can you match each sentence on the left to one on the right that
means the same thing? The first one has been done for you.
1 I prefer coffee a Please give me some coffee
2 I wouldn’t like coffee b I think coffee is nice
3 I’d like coffee c Please give me some coffee
instead
4 I don’t like coffee d I think coffee is better
5 I’d prefer coffee e Don’t give me any coffee
6 I like coffee f I don’t think coffee is nice
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Be careful! When the noun is plural, this changes to these
and that changes to those:
Singular Plural
this hat these hats
that hat those hats
ƽ
Exercise 11

come too?
S
USAN
: No – Fiona doesn’t like the beach, does she?
B
RIAN
: Ah – no, you’re right. She doesn’t. Perhaps James
would like to come with us?
S
USAN
: Maybe. How about phoning him to ask?
B
RIAN
: Wait a minute. Let’s decide which restaurant to go to
first, shall we?
S
USAN
: I like the Jolly Roger – the food’s excellent.
B
RIAN
: Hmm, yes . . . but I don’t like their prices! How about
trying that new restaurant, further up the road.
S
USAN
: You mean the Ocean View? They specialise in shell-
fish, don’t they?
B
RIAN
: Yes. I’d really like to give it a try, wouldn’t you?
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B
RIAN
: That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it? It’s very popular
at lunchtimes.
S
USAN
: Right – why don’t you phone James, and then I’ll phone
the Ocean View.
Exercise 12
Read Dialogue 4 again, and then decide whether the following
statements are True (T) or False (F).
1 Fiona wouldn’t like to come to the beach T / F
2 The Ocean View doesn’t do shellfish T / F
3 Brian doesn’t like seafood very much T / F