passive Gerunds to express likes or dislikes

Question

I've read these sentences in my grammar book. And it says "we use I like ... and I don't like+gerund/noun". Example sentences are:

1. I like being obeyed by my students.
2. I don't like being laughed at.
3. I don't like being asked irrelevant questions.

I don't understand it because we can also use the to-infinitive to express like or dislike, for example:

I like to be obeyed by my students.

So, why to use gerunds like above? Could you please tell me about the "being+past participle" form related to gerunds? Is it the passive of the -ing form? If so, how would the sentences look like in active form?

Source: http://www.learnamericanenglishonline.com/Green%20Level/G15%20Gerunds%20Passive.html

Answer 1

1. I like being obeyed by my students.
   I like to be obeyed by my students.
   Both okay, second version better.

2. I don't like being laughed at me.
   I don't like to be laughed at me.
   Remove "me", then both fine, second a little better.

3. I don't like being asked irrelevant questions.
   I don't like to be asked irrelevant questions.
   Both fine, second better.

The first versions are just a little unnatural because of the continuous (-ing). No big deal, though.

What would the sentences look like in active form?

1. I like it when my students obey me. (I like it when my students are obeying me. See what I mean? The continuous is a little weird here.)

2. I don't like it when someone laughs at me.

3. I don't like it when someone asks me irrelevant questions.

Note that in all three, "it" can be omitted.

Answer 2

The verb "to like" is perfectly happy with either gerund or infinitive objects, with no real difference in grammatical or semantic relationships.  Not every verb is quite so flexible.

The first example on the page that you have cited is "She enjoys being photographed."  Even though "to like" and "to enjoy" have similar meanings, "to enjoy" is not happy with infinitive objects.  To the native ear, the sentence "She enjoys to be photographed" sounds foreign, awkward, or just plain wrong.

Another verb that is less flexible than "to like" is "to want".  In this case, infinitives are good objects. "I want to be understood" sounds perfectly natural, but "I want being understood" sounds bad.

These objects themselves, the infinitives and gerunds both, have nothing to do with expressing preference.  The verbs handle that.  The verbs also govern the kinds of arguments that they take.

 

The infinitives and gerunds in question happen to be passive.  There do exist active voice versions of each.  The active -ing form (which is used for both gerunds and so-called present participles) is simply that -- the -ing form.  The active voice equivalent of "being photographed" is "photographing".  The active infinitive form is, well, just the infinitive form.  The active voice equivalent of "to be photographed" is "to photograph".

In both cases, the passive is constructed from the appropriate form of "to be" with a so-called past participle -- doing or being done, to do or to be done.