1.10.1 Infinitive vs. preposition + -ing participle

Examples of errors:

(1) These women don't have the possibility to abort .the baby.

(2) During the discussions about "Holocaust" many pupils thought about the problem to live in a totalitarian state.

(3) He was, in danger to get caught in the door of the car,

(4) Then I had the idea to go to Kassel.

(5) They can't get used to the thought to be completely useless.

(6) That comes from my fear to make too many mistakes.

(7) If you keep your ideal weight, the chance to die of a stroke is less.

(8) I often have difficulties to find the right rooms.

(9) This was no hindrance for the factories to increase their rate of production.

(10) There are many means to prevent women to become pregnant.

(11) The child is born with the ability of learning a language.

(12) They claim the right of leading themselves.

(13) The young criminal must be given the chance of being reintegrated into society.

Just as certain verbs allow certain types of complement (of. 3.1-3, also Morrissey 1979, Legenhausen 1975), certain nouns require certain types of complement or postmodifier. Possibility in (1), problem in (2), danger in (3), idea in (4), and thought in (5) require of + -ing participle. Possibility is-normally used impersonally: There is a possibility of... rather than One has the possibility of... Ability (cf. (11)) and right (cf. (12)) require the infinitive. Have difficulty (cf. (8)), have trouble, have problem(s) require (in) + -ing participle, e.g.

He has difficulty/trouble/problem(s) (in) getting up the stairs

Difficulty usually appears in -the singular when combined with have. Hindrance requires to + -ing participle, although a verbal construction is more common; compare with (9):

I don't want to hinder you from doing so.

I don't want to hinder your doing so.

I don't want to be a hindrance to your doing so.

Chance, at least in American English, requires of + participle when it means 'possibility' (cf. but the infinitive when it means 'favorable opportunity', 'good fortune' (cf. (13)). Means requires of + -ing participle when it means 'method' or 'way', but the infinitive when it means 'money' or 'material possessions'; compare with (10):

He doesn't have the (financial) means to support a wife.

Nouns which require of + -ing participle when the postmodifying clause is in apposition to the noun, as in (l)-(7), may require a different construction when the relationship between the noun and the clause is not one of apposition. "In apposition" means the relationship between the noun and the postmodifying clause is one of equivalence (the possibility is aborting the baby, etc.); i.e. the noun is equivalent in meaning to the whole. of the following non-finite clause or prepositional phrase. In other cases, for example in the following sentence, where the antecedent noun functions as direct object of the verb in the underlying clause, the infinitive is required with all the nouns that have been-discussed%A*

That's another possibility/danger/ability which one ought) to consider.