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There are two sentences like below,

  1. He studied so hard to be the president of Korea.
  2. He studied so hard, being the president of Korea.

Is there a difference between to verb and gerund in meaning? Please tell me the difference. Tell me if there is time gap between the two expressions, please tell me the amount of time gap in each expression.

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  • Are you asking about the speaking pause indicated by the comma?
    – TimR
    Commented Jul 11 at 9:37
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    Do you get to be president of anywhere just by studying? Which school (I'd love to know!)
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Jul 11 at 9:55
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    These mean totally different things. In No.1 he studied before becoming president, he studied in order to become the president. In No 2, it means that he studied after becoming president, because he was the president already.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 11 at 11:29
  • You ask about "time gap." These sentences aren't really about the passage of time, but the first one is about a goal that's in the future.
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Jul 11 at 15:27

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The first one means he was not yet the president, and he studied hard so as to hopefully become one.

In the second example, he was already the president. He studied hard maybe because he needed to be conversant in the language.

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  • I wanna know what the exact language is.
    – 박용현
    Commented Jul 11 at 17:00
  • The exact difference is as set out above. #1 means he studied in order to become president. #2 means he studied because he was president. I know neither sentence makes much sense in the real world - but you wrote them, not us!
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 11 at 17:15
  • Thank you, FumbleFingers. @박용현, his reason for studying hard is (1) he hoped to be the president, or (2) he was the president. In (1) it’s the desired future status; in (2) it’s the current status.
    – Seowjooheng Singapore
    Commented Jul 11 at 23:26

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