The term verbal indicates that an infinitive, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, the infinitive may function as a subject, direct object, subject complement, adjective, or adverb in a sentence.
What is infinitive and examples?
1. What is an infinitive? ... An infinitive usually begins with the word “to” and is followed by the base form of a verb (the simple form of the verb that you would find in the dictionary). Examples of infinitives include to read, to run, to jump, to play, to sing, to laugh, to cry, to eat, and to go.
What is infinitive as subject?
The infinitive of the verb is the unconjugated verb form whose English meaning expresses “to” — to sing, to dance, to laugh, and so on. Although the infinitive is a verb form, it may be used as a subject, as a command, and as part of interrogative and exclamatory phrases.
What is an example of infinitive form?
It is as if the verb phrase puts on the costume of a noun, adjective or adverb and plays the role of a part of speech other than itself. Any verb that is preceded by the word ‘to’ is an infinitive. Here are some examples: ‘ to love, to eat, to run, to believe, to follow, to laugh, to stare, to wonder .
What are the 3 types of infinitives?
Forming the infinitive
In English, when we talk about the infinitive we are usually referring to the present infinitive, which is the most common. There are, however, four other forms of the infinititive: the perfect infinitive, the perfect continuous infinitive, the continuous infinitive, & the passive infinitive .
How do you explain an infinitive?
An infinitive is formed from a verb but doesn’t act as a verb. It acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb, and it is actually made up of two words: to + verb . These two words act together as a noun, adjective, or adverb. Words that are formed from verbs but don’t act as verbs are called verbals.
What is the use of infinitive?
The infinitive is the base form of the verb. Examples are: write, bring, take, make, sing, dance etc. The infinitive usually takes the preposition ‘to’ with it . Examples are: to write, to bring, to take, to make, to sing, to dance etc.
What is the infinitive sentence?
Infinitive phrases include infinitives. ... Examples include, “ to walk ,” “to read,” or “to eat.” Infinitives can act as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. As a noun, they might act as the subject of the sentence. For example, “To travel is the only thing on her mind.” As an adjective, they’ll modify a noun.
How do you choose an infinitive?
Complete answer:
In the case of infinitive, it is “to + first form of the verb” , while in gerunds, it is “first form of the verb + -ing” (which functions as a noun) and participles use both the first and third form of the verb ( the first form with –ing).
Why is an infinitive?
The to infinitive can be used to express purpose or necessity after a verb followed by a pronoun or a noun. purpose: I brought it to read on the train = so that I could read it. necessity: There is work to do! = work that must be done.
How do you identify an infinitive in a sentence?
Make sure you are looking at an infinitive and not a prepositional phrase by viewing the word or words that appear after the word “to” in the sentence . If the word “to” in the sentence is followed by a root-form verb, it is always an infinitive.
What is a gerund example?
A gerund is a form of a verb that ends in -ing that is used as a noun. ... It looks like a verb, but it acts like a noun. For example, the word swimming is an example of a gerund. We can use the word swimming in a sentence as a noun to refer to the act of moving around in water as in Swimming is fun.
What’s the infinitive in French?
An infinitive is a verb form in which no one is performing the action. In English, the word to always precedes the infinitive; for example, to speak and to dance are infinitives. In French, an infinitive has one of three endings: -er, -ir, or -re . For example parler (to speak), finir (to finish), and vendre (to sell).
What is the perfect infinitive?
The perfect or past infinitive refers to something that has happened in the past and it is formed using avoir or être (in their infinitive form) with a past participle. It is used commonly with après to indicate a past event.
What are the 3 uses of infinitives?
- Figs are good to eat.
- The boys are anxious to learn.
- He is too ill to do any work.
What does infinitive mean in English grammar?
In traditional descriptions of English, the infinitive is the basic dictionary form of a verb when used non-finitely, with or without the particle to . ... Being a verb, an infinitive may take objects and other complements and modifiers to form a verb phrase (called an infinitive phrase).
