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I think it's subjective. To my ear, to avoid is a series of individual events, while avoiding implies something continuous and ongoing. "She started to avoid me" sounds like "I called her and she ...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-13T12:00:29Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17132 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T04:14:27Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17132 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
I think it's subjective. To my ear, _to avoid_ is a series of individual events, while _avoiding_ implies something continuous and ongoing. "She started to avoid me" sounds like "I called her and she didn't return my call. The next day I texted her but she didn't text back. Two days later I sent her an email which she never opened." "She started avoiding me" sounds like "I walked in the room and she immediately left, and when I followed her she left the building." That's just my opinion; others may hear them as interchangeable. They're both right, and I think the nuance of difference is so subtle that you could use either purely depending on which one you liked the sound of.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2015-05-09T15:04:00Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 4