FULL INFINITIVE (with to) USE • To express purpose • After certain verbs : afford, agree, appear, arrange, begin, be afraid, bother, choose, consent, claim, decide, demand, deserve, fail, forget, hope, hesitate, have a chance, learn, manage, mean, offer, plan, prepare, pretend, promise, prove, refuse, remember, seem, swear, start, tend, threaten, the idea is, try, volunteer, want, wait, wish, would like, would love, would prefer, it’s time, it’s difficult • After certain adjectives which: a) describe feelings happy, glad, sorry etc b) express willingness or unwillingness anxious, be willing, eager, reluctant etc c) refer to somebody’s character kind, clever etc and lucky, fortunate, likely • Impersonal construction It + be + adjective (of somebody) It + be + adjective (for somebody) After certain nouns and pronouns (something, anyone etc) to show that something is necessary or possible to be done • After certain verbs + object advise, allow, ask, beg, command, cause, convince, challenge, dare, enable, expert, encourage, force, forbid, help, hire, invite, instruct, need, order, permit, prefer, persuade, remind, require, tell, teach, urge, want, warn • After too and enough EXAMPLES He saved some money to buy a new car He decided to apply for the job He pretended to be ill He refused to tell me the truth I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings I offered to carry the bag for him I am sorry to have bothered you He is likely to pass the exams She’s lucky to have you as a friend It It It It was kind of you to help him was generous of you to give the money is important for me to know the truth is dangerous for children to go out after dark • • With it + be + adjective/noun She’s got a project to complete There’s nothing interesting to talk about They didn’t allow me to go out She encouraged him to try again I expected you to say sorry She told me not to reveal her secret He is too young to drive a car He isn’t old enough to drive a car It is necessary to leave before dark It is their dream to reach the South Pole It’s such a pleasure to be with you USE • • • • EXAMPLES With only to talk about an unsatisfactory result After be + the only/the first/the best/the last etc After verbs and expressions (ask, learn, explain, decide, want to know, wonder, find out etc) followed by question words After why we don’t use infinitive but: Why + subject + verb After whether • In expressions such as: To tell you the truth, to begin with, To be honest, to start with, to sum up NOTE: If two to-infinitives are joined with “and” or “or”, the second “to” can be omitted • With so + adjective + as • In the expression For + noun/adjective + to – inf I walked for two hours only to find I was in the wrong area He was the only man to survive the accident He didn’t know how to the exercise She wanted to know what to next I don’t know why she said that She hasn’t decided whether to accept his proposal or not To be honest, I didn’t know how to react They promised to visit and tell us all about their trip to Moscow Would you be so kind as to pass the sauce? For John to lend you his car was very unusual BARE INFINITIVE (without to) USE • After modals After had better/would rather After the verbs: let, make, see, hear, feel, watch BUT : (in passive) be made/heard/seen + to –inf NOTE: when the verbs see, hear, watch are followed by –ing form, the construction don’t change in the passive • Help is followed by either the full infinitive or the bare infinitive • • EXAMPLES You mustn’t smoke in here He may not have finished yet You had better consult a lawyer My father let me stay out late I heard him sing the whole song They were made to clean the kitchen (active) He saw me watering the plants (passive) I was seen watering the plants She helped me (to ) lift the box GERUND (-ing) USE • As the subject of a sentence • As the object of a sentence • After certain verbs admit, appreciate, avoid, anticipate, consider, continue, complete, delay, deny, discuss, end up, escape, excuse, fancy, finish, forgive, imagine, involve, keep, mind, mention, miss, postpone, practice, prevent, quit, report, resist, recommend, risk, resent, recall, recollect, stop, save, suggest, tolerate • After love, hate, enjoy, prefer, dislike, like etc to express specific preference • After certain expressions can’t stand, can’t help, feel like, object to, it’s no use/good, have trouble, don’t mind, get/be used to, be busy, get/be accustomed to, have difficulty, have a hard/difficult time, as well as, there is/was no point in, look forward to, spend/waste time/money, in addition to, it’s (not) worth, what’s the use of • After the verb go when we are talking about activities • After the verbs feel, hear, listen to, see, notice, watch to show that an action was in progress at a specific time BUT: infinitive without to express a complete action, something that one saw or heard from beginning to end EXAMPLES Smoking is harmful I love cooking Italian food He admitted breaking the window I don’t remember meeting you again She keeps complaining all the time I fancy going for a walk down the river Alison enjoys gardening very much It’s no use crying now I’m not used to getting up early He spends most of his time watching tv There’s no point in apologizing now I don’t feel like eating out tonight They go walking every weekend I saw you opening the door I watched her copying my work I saw him throw rubbish out of the window GERUND OR FULL INFINITIVE VERB remember stop forget try regret go on mean want hate sorry EXAMPLES Remember to buy some bread on your way home (not forget) I don’t remember buying that dress (recall) Let’s stop to ask directions (interrupt one action to something else) I think you should stop asking silly questions ( not continue) She forgot to call me again (not remember to something) I’ll never forget seeing you for the first time (not recall) He tried to answer the question (attempt) If the food isn’t tasty, try adding some salt (experiment) I regret to inform you that you have failed (be sorry about something about to be told) I regret telling those lies (be sorry about something you have done) He told us about Jim and then went on to tell us about Sally (start a new action) I went on telling the story although he wasn’t listening (continue) I didn’t mean to offend you (intend) If we invite her, it will mean offending her ex-husband (involve) I want to stop smoking (wish) This room wants tidying up (something need to be done) I hate to cut in, but you must see the manager (hate what one is about to do) I hate causing you so much inconvenience (feel sorry for one is doing) We are sorry to find out that he had lost his job (apologise for a present action/feel sad about something) I’m sorry for hurting your feelings (apologise for an earlier action) NOTE: Some verbs (begin, continue, like, love, need, prefer, start, bother) can be followed by the gerund or the full infinitive with little or no change in meaning BUT, if the verb is in the continuous form, it is always followed by the full infinitive It started raining/to rain It was starting to rain