Infinitive Verbals in English Grammer

INFINITE VERBALS

          

An infinitive is the basic from of a verb as in to talk.

The infinite always consists of two and the base from of the verb. Often, but not always, these two parts are together.

To run-to eat-to cry- to shout- to jump- to play- to dance- to read- to eat- to cheat- to obey- to order- to buy

These are not infinitives:

Do does did doing want wanted wanting excel excels excelled excelling pass passes passed passing

An infinitive will almost always begin with to and followed by the simple from of the verb:

To + verb= infinitive

Important note:

Because an infinite is not a verb, we cannot add –s, -es, -ed or -ing in the world.

 Infinite can be used as nouns, adjectives and adverbs. Look at these examples.

 1.     To play is the only thing pari wants to do once she finished her exams. To  play functions as a noun because it is the subject of the sentence.

 2.     I know this play is brilliant but my friend refuses to watch. To watch     functions as a noun because it is the direct object for the verb refuses.

 3.     Wherever Shweta goes, she always carries a face wash to wash her face with.

  To wash functions as an adjectives because it modifies face wash.

An infinite will almost always begin with to. Exceptions do occur, however. An infinitive will lose it’s to when it follows certain verbs.

These verbs are: feel, hear, help, let, make, see and watch.

The pattern looks like this:

Special verb + direct object + infinitive – to

Here are some examples:

 (a)  As soon as sachin felt the heat burn his skin, he knew he had to get up and look for shelter.

Felt = special verb; heat = direct object; burn = infinitive minus to.

Using  verbals

There are two common problems’ that come up when we use verbals.

The first is that since verbal’s look like verbs, they sometimes cause students to write fragments sentences.

1.     Oh, to find true creativity!

2.     Amit, playing the most important game of his life.

The second problem is a very fine point. Although they look the same, gerunds and presents participle are different parts of speech, and need to be treated differently.

For example, consider the following two sentences.

1.     I admire the dog finishing the race.

2.     I admire the dog’s finishing the race.

Sher Afzal Ranais

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