To-Infinitive Phrases

Noun as Subject

e.g.

To dance is happy for me.

('To dance' is the infinitive. It functions as a blue in the sentence, acting as a subject.)

Subject

e.g.

To see the northern lights in person is great.

The infinitive phrase functions as a blue phrase in the sentence, acting as a subject.)

Noun as

Direct Object

e.g.

Cory wants to sing.

(It functions as a noun in the sentence, acting as a second blue.)

Direct Object

e.g.

My dog needs to take a walk.

(It functions as a noun in the sentence, acting as a second blue.)

Noun as

border blue

e.g.

My favorite experience was to hang-glide.

(It functions as a noun in the sentence, acting as a border blue.)

Predicate

Nominative

e.g.

Jay’s greatest aspiration was

to climb Mount McKinley.

(It functions as a blue in the sentence. It acts as a border blue.)

To infinitive as Adjective

e.g.

Donald is an important person to know.

(To know is the infinitive. It functions as a yellow in the sentence, modifying person.)

Adjective

e.g.

Grizzly bears are impressive animals to see in the wild.

(To see is the infinitive, and to see in the wild is the infinitive phrase. The infinitive phrase functions as an adjective phrase in the sentence, modifying animals.)

To infinitive as a

green

e.g.

To sleep, bats hang upside down.

(To sleep is a to-infinitive phrase. It functions as a green in the sentence, modifying the whole sentence.)

Adverb

e.g.

To identify the location of objects around them, dolphins use echolocation..

(To identify is the to-infinitive phrase. It functions as a green in the sentence, modifying the whole sentence.)

Appositive

1. I, Henry Jekyll, do not know.

1. The Riddler’s secret desire, to sing, was finally realized.

2. I, handsome Henry Jekyll, do not know.

-An appositive is a noun or noun phrase

2. The Riddler’s secret desire, to sing loud, was finally realized.

-A nonessential appositive is always separated from the rest of the sentence with comma(s)

Dig

Deeper

-Renames another noun right beside it

3. I, handsome Henry Jekyll who loves science so much, do not know.

-It could be at the beginning of the sentence

3. The Riddler’s secret desire, to sing loud in front of the public, was finally realized.

-The appositive can be a short or long combination of words

-It could be at the end of the sentence

4. I, handsome Henry Jekyll who loves science so much decides to do a crazy project, do not know.

4. The Riddler’s secret desire, to sing in front of the public with a girl he likes most, was finally realized.

As a the first blue

Make a

sentence yourself

To run is a dream of mine.

As an

adjectives

As

the second blue

I have some way to run.

I like to run.

How to use it in a sentence?

To run

To walk

To cook

To understand

To make

To complete

To finish

As a

border blue

As an

adverb

The best way to escape is to run.

To run further, I prepare myself.

What Is a

to-Infinitive Phrase?

Find the information on the page...

-A to-infinitive phrase includes the 'to', plus an infinitive.

What

is it?

-function as blue, yellows, or greens in a sentence

-act either as the first blue, or the second blue, or the border blue when it's a blue

Section 2

You (sub) + let (v) + us (o) + take a taxi (adv)

The reason why let, have and make are called true causative verbs is because they are the ones followed by object + bare infinitive/base form of verb.

reason

Section 2

There's no difference between

bare or to infinitive when modifiying help.

What is Bare Infinitive clause?

Bare infinitive clauses have the most common syntactic functions as:

As a subject

As an object complement

As a subject complement

Bare

Infinitive

Clause

e.g. Turn off the tap was all I did.

e.g. They made her pay for it.

e.g. What the plan does is (to) ensure a fair pension.

Try it

see/watch/hear/listen/feel/smell/notice/observe

walk

go

burning

to beat

to jump

Bare

Infinitive

Clause

calling

set

trickling

go

going

Subjunctive

( demand / request / suggest / recommend)

What is it?

The subjunctive is used to express intention or proposal about the future.

It requires use of the verb in its basic form rather than its normal tense form.

Bare

Infinitive

Clause

The doctor recommended (that) he should give up smoking.

The doctor recommended (that) he give up smoking. (More formal)

The doctor recommended (that) he gives up smoking. (Less formal)

Functional

We don’t use the subjunctive very much in contemporary English unless we wish to sound very formal.

With verbs like suggest, recommend, request, demand, insist.

Pricing Option 1

Pricing Option 2

Pricing Option 3

To-infinitive

Next

Gerund or to-infinitive

Next

From the TEXTBOOK

TEXTBOOK

THE GERUND AS A SUBJECT COMPLEMENT OF THE VERB 'TO BE'

One of his duties is attending meetings.

SUBJECT COMPLEMENT

The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.

One of life's pleasures is having breakfast in bed.

PHRASAL VERBS

When will you give up smoking?

Phrasal

verbs

She always puts off going to the dentist.

He kept on asking for money.

Phrasal

Verbs

He kept on asking for money.

Phrasal verbs are composed of

A VERB + PREPOSITION OR ADVERB.

THE GERUND AFTER PREPOSITIONS

Can you sneeze without opening your mouth?

She is good at painting.

She avoided him by walking on the opposite side of the road.

AFTER

PREPOSITIONS

We arrived in Madrid after driving all night.

The gerund must be used when a verb comes after a preposition.

This is also true of certain expressions ending in a preposition, for example the expressions in spite of & there's no point in.

My father decided against postponing his trip to Hungary.

COMPOUND NOUNS

I am giving Sally a driving lesson.

In COMPOUND NOUNS using the gerund, it is clear that the meaning is that of a noun, not of a continuous verb.

They have a swimming pool in their back yard.

COMPOUND NOUNS

I bought some new running shoes.

For example, with the word "swimming pool" it is a pool for swimming in, it is not a pool that is swimming.

SPECIAL EXPRESSION

She couldn't help falling in love with him.

I can't stand being stuck in traffic jams.

SPECIAL

EXPRESSION

It's no use trying to escape.

It might be worth phoning the station to check the time of the train.

TRY IT OUT

Try it out