infinitive vs. -ing complements

All,

Question for anyone, but input from non-native speakers of English, or
those who have taught English to non-native speakers, would be
particularly helpful.

My mother volunteers as an English tutor for the county, and has a
Chinese couple she's been working with for a few years now. The
exercise below threw them for a loop, and she was hard-pressed to
explain why some of the verbs could be followed with either an
infinitive or the -ing form, and why some could only have an infinitive
complement.

**********

Look at the verb that is given. Write the verb with to or -ing.

1. I avoided (tell) _________ my wife the truth.
2. One day Joyce tried (phone) _________________ me at work.
3. Little things began (annoy) ____________ me.
4. Last year, business began (slow) _____________ down.
6. Molly taught her (speak) _________________ English.

**********

My ad hoc analysis is that there is an aspectual distinction with 2-6.
2-4 seem to involve verbs that focus on the process, not the result, and
so either infinitive or -ing form (participle), whereas (6) focuses on
the result, so the infinitive is used. (1) is the odd man out, since it
seems that the sentence is -- by my analysis, and absent other
information -- relating a result, and so I would not expect a
participle. So I suggested that <avoid> subcategorizes for a
participle, and just needs to be learned as such. (I don't know where
(5) is -- it wasn't in what she sent me.)

But this is all the result of my looking at the sentences for about 5
minutes, and not doing any research. Any advice people have --
specifically in terms of something that could be used in the classroom,
to help non-native speakers grasp the distinctions -- would be
appreciated.

Cheers,
Keith
.

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