Quote Originally Posted by doninphxaz
Hm. I don't think that quite catches the issue. I can think of some other -ing forms that work:

The group was very quiet to start with but loosened up once we got them all drinking.
The first day of class is tough on any teacher, but once you get the students laughing, they will do anything for you.
Depression may seem like a tough issue, but once you get people exercising regularly, they start to feel better.

For all three of those, the “to” version works for me as well:

The group was very quiet to start with but loosened up once we got them all to drink.
The first day of class is tough on any teacher, but once you get the students to laugh, they will do anything for you.
Depression may seem like a tough issue, but once you get people to exercise regularly, they start to feel better.

The "drinking" version sounds better to me than the “to drink” version when I start thinking about it, but when I say it quickly, it sounds fine.
I think both of the first two examples are slightly different, depending on which way you say it. I'm not sure about the third one though. I think this is pretty much the same either way.

Both the drinking and the laughing examples suggest a continuous activity of indefinite duration. If you get them drinking, this probably means they are having a number of drinks, if you get them to drink this could also imply several drinks but (in my opinion at least) could just as easily mean a single sip. In the context of using alcohol to get people to loosen up, emphasising the continuous nature fits better.

Similarly, if you get people to laugh, this could also be continuous but (again in my opinion), even more than the drinking example, it strongly implies a singular occurrence or short duration. To get someone to laugh once, then perhaps revert to a state of tension (for example) would definitely not be the same thing.

It is a pretty subtle difference and you could certainly take both ways to mean the same thing, but they are most definitely not identical.