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.