I know that, prescriptively speaking, that the verb "refuse" is supposed to be followed by an infinitive. For example:
The parents refused to buy the dangerous toy for their kid.
Since language usage isn't clear cut, I was wondering whether using a gerund instead of infinitive would be acceptable at all as in the following sentence:
The parents refused buying the dangerous toy for their kid. *
Best Answer
You can refuse a noun ("She refused the medicine they offered."), and a gerund is technically a noun ("Reading is fundamental") but I cannot think of a single example of refusing a gerund that does not sound awkward or just plain wrong.
Your example, "The parents refused buying the dangerous toy for their kid", would be in the latter category. "Buying a toy" as an action is not being offered to the parents. They are being asked to do it and they demur. That takes the infinitive.