The Infinitive
Question from English4Today member Mary Gordon in the USA: Are verb forms in the infinitive…
Comments Off on The Infinitive
September 26, 2018
Overcome and overcame: present and past forms
Question from Kayoko The past tense of 'overcome' is 'overcame'. But I hardly hear…
Comments Off on Overcome and overcame: present and past forms
July 13, 2018
Regret: Accepting with no regrets
Question from English4Today member Gireesh in the United Arab Emirates: Which one of the…
Comments Off on Regret: Accepting with no regrets
July 12, 2018
The infinitive: Using the infinitive
THE INFINITIVE FUNCTION The most common uses of the infinitive are: To indicate the purpose…
Zero infinitive
THE ZERO INFINITIVE The zero infinitive is used: after most auxiliaries (e.g. must, can, should, may, might) after verbs of perception,…
Negative infinitive
NEGATIVE INFINITIVE To form the negative infinitive, place not before the to- or zero infinitive: e.g. not to worry: It's hard not…
Infinitive after question words
INFINITIVE AFTER QUESTION WORDS These verbs: ask, decide, explain, forget, know, show, tell, understand, can be followed by a question word such as where, how, what, who, when or 'whether' + the…
Other forms of the infinitive
OTHER FORMS The infinitive can have the following forms: The perfect infinitive The continuous infinitive…
Verbs followed by the infinitive
VERBS FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVEA. The to-infinitive is used after the verbs in this group, without a preceding noun. The…
Verbs followed by a noun and infinitive
VERBS FOLLOWED BY A NOUN AND INFINITIVE These are the most common of the verbs…
Verbs and infinitive
Verbs and infinitive These are the most common of the verbs followed by a to-infinitive, with…
Gerund or infinitive?
GERUND OR INFINITIVE? GERUND OR INFINITIVE? The two groups of verbs below can be followed…