Questions tagged [bare-infinitive]
the bare infinitive is the version of the infinitive verb without the 'to'
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If "to X" signifies an infinitive, what form is the phrase "to be able to X", and can it be split?
"To slowly walk" is a split infinitive which is sometimes frowned upon, in which case "slowly to walk" or "to walk slowly" is often preferred.
"To be able to walk&...
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What is the name for the phenomenon where an English verb that takes a clausal complement either does or does not mark the infinitive with "to"?
Let them go home.
*Let them to go home.
*Allow them go home.
Allow them to go home.
Make them go home.
*Make them to go home.
*Force them go home.
Force them to go home.
What is the reason that &...
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I wish to see my children to have/having a happy life? [duplicate]
I am confused between the infinitive “to have” and its gerund counterpart “having". For example,
I wish to see my children to have a happy life.
or
I wish to see my children having a happy ...
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Is the structure "Who wants this ball to bang on their head?" acceptable?
I am proofreading an English book written by a non-native speaker.
A structure the author uses is the following
Who wants this ball bang on their head?
The meaning intended to be conveyed is: Who ...
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In a construct "but it is the X who ... that Y" can ending "s" really be omitted on a verb Y belonging to a 3rd person singular noun X in this case?
The ocean's depths hold secrets yet to be discovered, but it is the sailor who braves the storms that uncover them.
This sentence was generated by ChatGPT and the bot claims that ‘uncover’ verb ...
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Girls who I've made [to] love me [duplicate]
Is that "to" mandatory and needed, or is it wrong and unneeded?
I give my friend great advice, saying to them how they shouldn't treat girls by telling my story, "All the girls who I'...
user470503
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Would rather they WENT by bus than WALK
I would rather you washed it yourself than see your mom do it for you.
I would rather you washed the dishes than watched TV.
The mom would rather the kids went by bus than walk.
I can understand, ...
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Why do we say "he made me eat it" but "he allowed me TO eat it"?
Why does the choice of the first verb "made" vs. "allowed" change the tense of the second verb "eat" vs "to eat"?
Using the opposite tense in either case sounds ...
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"to risk being..." or "risk being..." [closed]
I have two sentences:
Correct:
The company was issued a warning and ordered to stop polluting or risk being shut down.
Incorrect:
The company was issued a warning and ordered to stop polluting or ...
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what comes after "The problem is ..."? [duplicate]
What comes after "the problem is...."? to infinitive or bare infinitive or gerund?
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Bare infinitive or present participle? [closed]
Which of the following two sentences is correct? The one that uses the bare infinitive 'hear', or the one that uses the present participle 'hearing'?
He heard him snore last night.
Or
He heard him ...
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Subjunctive mood and bare infinitive in past
In present tense I would say:
"It is imperative that everyone stay home."
How would that sentence be in past tense?
For example:
"In 2020, it was imperative that everyone stay home.&...
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"can remind" or "can to remind"?
I found this sentence in a book that is as follows:
Great poets are expressly aware of this, and they do what they can to remind the rest of us.
I ask because on one site it says that the verb that ...
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Using the bare infinitive after the verb "support"
I work for a large nonprofit org with a very talented marketing and writing team. That said, I constantly see the verb "support(ing)" in our blog posts and articles, followed by a bare ...
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"As such,he helped saved 6 lives..." What grammar category
I need help in identifying the grammar category. Why is Past Participle used after the word "helped" and what grammar category to refer to understand?
"In August 2017, Elijah Mayhew, 15,...
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Why is "be" in "this court rules he be put on probation" an infinitive?
I was watching an old movie, The Little Rascals, and one of the lines from a kid goes:
Your Honor, may I suggest... this court rules he be put on probation.
I am not sure if be is in infinitive form ...
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Why do you only conjugate the first verb? [duplicate]
You don't get to see your sister cry.
Why don't you conjugate the verb cry (...your sister cries)?
Is it because is it the second verb (if that's the case, what is that rule called?) or is there ...
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the auxiliary “need” (in affirmative sentences?)
I remember being told the modal “need” is used only in interrogative and negative sentences and was for quite a long time more idiomatic than the normal forms, but is there anything wrong with the ...
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What is the right way to start a sentence: "To avoid wasting time trying to figure out" or "To avoid to waste time trying to figuring out"?
I have some problems when it comes to the usage of "to" vs "ing" to express the infinite form like in:
[1] To avoid wasting time trying to figure out ..."
[2] To avoid to ...
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How is this sentence formed: "The seniors make the freshers write practical files." [duplicate]
How is this sentence constructed?
The seniors make the freshers write practical files.
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feel + ... + to-infinitive / bare infinitive
(1) feel + ... + to-infinitive: She felt his answer to be evasive.
(2) feel + ... + bare infinitive: She felt him keep something back.
I have been trying to find the rule: when "feel" must ...
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But, Except, than + Infinitive with 'to' or without 'to'?
I have read that after 'but', 'except', 'than', bare Infinitive (i.e., Infinitive without 'to') is used.
But I am confused which one is correct:
(1) We want nothing but to be free.
OR, We want ...
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"Can to do" in song's lyrics
In the song "The next right thing" from the Frozen 2 soundtrack there is a strange part in the lyrics:
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing
Why "can to do", is it ...
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Verb + object + infinitive. What is the logic behind choosing between to-infinitive or bare infinitive?
For example, why
I saw him eat/eating pasta.
but
I asked him to eat pasta.
or
She asked him to leave her.
but
She saw him leave her.
I saw some articles about the topic that told you ...
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Can a bare infinitive ever modify (“act as an adjective”) a noun?
While browsing a set of lecture slides, I encountered this line:
Catch up/overtake rate
in which overtake rate looks odd to me. As far as I know, a verb may act as an adjective in a couple ...
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What is verb tense consistency?
"To his great astonishment and mortification, Sticky saw his parents begin trying less and less to find him, instead devoting their time and energy toward the proper disposal of their newfound riches"
...
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Verb forms in incomplete sentences (e.g. in phone settings)
I once had a discussion with some of my friends at school about something that is not really referred to by most grammar literature as it is about incomplete sentences/clauses. I'll give you some ...
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Talk to him is what I did
Talk to him is what I did.
(this sentence is from forum.wordreference.com)
"Talk" is a verb here that is not in the imperative mood. I suppose, it's in the infinitive form. But then how can it stand ...
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May I ask for a little clarification on subjunctive and bare infinitive?
I have just finished reading an extremely long thread on the above mentioned subjects on this site: (https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/demand-request-suggest-that-bare-infinitive-subjunctive-...
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Are “let” and “lets” used properly...? [closed]
If let means to ‘give permission to’ or ‘allow’ then lets means ‘allows’ or ‘gives permission to’ then
is inthebushbook lets you to connect...correct?
why or why not?
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What's the rule for bare infinitive in a dependent clause? [duplicate]
I've been reading a chapter in a certain (programming) book and stumbled upon the following sentences (and I'm sure I've seen more examples like this in the book):
Since randomized tests are ...
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Why doesn't "need" take a "to" infinitive in some cases? [duplicate]
In a book of Alexander McCall Smith I found this phrase:
No historical novelists need apply.
Why isn't it this with a to for the infinitive?
No historical novelist need to apply?
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Devil take the hindmost!
I came across the following old proverb in which I noticed that a bare infinitive verb is used after a singular subject.
Devil take ...
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Something had me do or Something had me doing something else?
I’m editing a short story and I’ve stumbled upon a problem. I
frequently use structures like:
Agony had my insides convulsing.
Defeat had me slumping into a chair.
Fear had my body shak...
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Can the mentioned verb be in a bare infinitive form?
However, rather than undermine its epistemic value, the intentional
character of testimony is arguably essential to this value.
Shouldn't it be "undermining" or "undermine"? As it is after "than", ...
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A question about one point of Donald Trump’s speech at Helsinki
At his recent Helsinki summit, while reading from a prepared, written speech, Donald Trump said during his opening remarks and then later tweeted, quoting himself:
I would rather take a political ...
user282000
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Bare infinitive after "help" with intervening past participle phrase
Which is correct?
Our mission is to help everyone touched by tragedy thrive.
or
Our mission is to help everyone touched by tragedy to thrive.
I know that technically help can admit the bare ...
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Does the verb “enable” take a bare-infinitive complement like “let” or a to-infinitive complement like “allow”? [duplicate]
How can you predict which verbs take which type of infinitive as their complements? For example, is the to before open here mandatory, forbidden, or optional?
The Gold Monetization Scheme will ...
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Bare infinitive with exceptions
Reading the sentence:
"We were still talking about what we should do when we heard the children shouting".
in the above sentence, why don't we write "heard the children shout", as the verb 'hear' ...
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What tense is used for "go" in "you see it go away"? [duplicate]
I understand it's not the present tense, else it would be "goes". Is the sentence grammatically correct? If so, does it mean "you are seeing that it is going away"?
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Can all base forms of verbs express wish?
My text book says that base form of verbs can make sentences whose meanings are wish, for example, in "God save the queen." or "Grammar be hanged."
If the sentence's subject is third person and ...
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Why do we call the verb in the first sentence in the infinitive form while we don't in the second one?
http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/infinitive_form.htm
The sentences were taken from the link above.
I must run every day.
I run every day.
As far as I know, they both have the verb 'run'. ...
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Pseudo-cleft sentences with the verbs of perception
I know we must use bare infinitives with these verbs in the Active.
e.g. I saw a lady cross the street.
There are other verbs with which we are supposed to use a bare infinitive in the Active.
e.g. ...
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Is it ungrammatical to start a description of the functionality of a mechanism with a bare infinitive?
In technical documentation (I am mainly referring to the documentation for the source code of a computer program), this pattern seems quite common:
function MakeNFrobbers(int n):
Construct a ...
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What I've done is [past participle or bare infinitive]
What I've done is plant an idea in your head.
What I've done is chosen the products of several investment companies with proven track records.
I was wondering why the bare infinitive sounds right in ...
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to whether + bare infinitive + or to verb [closed]
I wanted to see whether this phrase is grammatically correct or not. I want to use it in my PhD thesis.
"Customers have more freedom to whether buy a new product or to get their money back. "
user225486
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Indispensability of 'to' after 'ought' in British English [closed]
I'm Brazilian, and I need to know which British literature says 'to' is indispensable after the word 'ought'.
For example: Your skin color ought not to dictate your future.
Could you give me ...
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“See these guys [infinitive]” vs. “see these guys [present participle]” [duplicate]
Which is correct:
I am excited to see these guys growing up.
or
I am excited to see these guys grow up.
Having hard time figuring out how to use gerunds in a sentence.
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"I heard my life be told" vs. "I heard my life being told" (object+bare infinitive complementation) [closed]
You may have heard A Song They Won't Be Playing On The Radio by Molly Nilsson. I doubt this song will ever be considered the pinnacle of the English poetry, but it makes use of a passive simple (...
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When do we use subjunctive after "unless"?
In this sentence:
The body will not be kept comfortable unless the air be maintained at a temperature higher than necessary.
Why did the author use "be maintained"?
When do we use subjunctive ...
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