11
votes
Indispensability of 'to' after 'ought' in British English
SUMMARY: While Americans don’t always have to use the to after ought in negative contexts, the English apparently must do so everywhere, even negatively.
The word ought can today act as a true modal ...
- 134k
10
votes
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 sentence in the OP is actually not as simple as we might think. The sentence reads:
The ocean's depths hold secrets yet to be discovered, but it is the
sailor who braves the storms that uncover ...
7
votes
Indispensability of 'to' after 'ought' in British English
What is special about the modal auxiliary 'ought' is that it takes the 'to infinitive' after it.
Ought to
from English Grammar Today (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/modals-...
- 8,482
7
votes
Watch the sun go down
Because it's an exception. An infinitive loses its to when it follows certain verbs like let, hear, feel, watch and some others.
- 13.5k
5
votes
Indispensability of 'to' after 'ought' in British English
Inspired by tchrist's outstanding answer, I did some research into a particular negative form of ought without to: the phrase "ought not be." I should first emphasize that "ought not be&...
- 161k
5
votes
I wish to see my children to have/having a happy life?
Both sentences are grammatical but neither sounds particularly natural to me, and as @Biblasia stated in their answer, the first sentence means the speaker wants to only see their children in order “...
- 90.3k
4
votes
Accepted
May I ask for a little clarification on subjunctive and bare infinitive?
Collins Cobuild English Usage (p567) states:
You can use would rather followed by a clause to say that you
would prefer something to happen or to be done. In the clause you use
the past simple tense.
...
- 32.9k
3
votes
Accepted
Using the bare infinitive after the verb "support"
"We support farmers scale their operations." sounds unnatural (support NOUN VERB has essentially no hits of this form in a COCA search). (Note that "We help farmers scale their ...
- 2,343
3
votes
Accepted
What tense is used for "go" in "you see it go away"?
Verbs of perception (see, hear, notice, etc.) are followed by an unmarked infinitive — technically a present infinitive, but the past infinitive can't be used in this construction — or a present ...
- 28k
3
votes
Can all base forms of verbs express wish?
The answer to your question is mostly "no". This is not an especially productive construction these days. These third-person imperatives are differently expressed now, although the old style can ...
- 134k
3
votes
A question about one point of Donald Trump’s speech at Helsinki
Wow this is a tricky one!
To help, let's consider another instance where we might see this construction
I would rather clean the garage myself than ask that John clean it.
The subject is stating ...
- 1,082
3
votes
How does the word "to" function with an infinitive?
In an infinitive clause, the function of the infinitive marker to is to mark the infinitive.
Seriously.
Specifically, it marks (introduces and identifies) the Verb Phrase of an infinitive clause, ...
- 107k
2
votes
Usage of "try and…"
Neither. Try and X is a colloquial expression which is only available in certain tenses. It isn't used in any past or continuous forms:
Possible:
I will try and fix it.
I'm going to try and fix it.
...
- 76.6k
2
votes
Is it ungrammatical to start a description of the functionality of a mechanism with a bare infinitive?
It is not a bare infinitive, but rather an imperative. It's paraphrasing what the computer is being told to do.
It is no less grammatical than a sentence like "Combine all ingredients in a bowl" in a ...
- 4,894
2
votes
Accepted
Devil take the hindmost!
'The Devil take the hindmost' in the early sixteenth century
Although I have always supposed that the expression originated as either "Let the Devil take the hindmost" or "May the Devil ...
- 161k
2
votes
Accepted
What is verb tense consistency?
Verb tense consistency is about using the same tenses to refer to one time period within a clause. In your sentence, this isn't an issue. The time is all in the past as determined by the verb 'saw'.
...
- 6,079
2
votes
"can remind" or "can to remind"?
They do what they can // to remind us.
Can is the verb of the object clause what they can. It does not form a verb with what follows. What follows is an infinitive, to remind, which stands on its own ...
- 32.2k
2
votes
Why do we say "he made me eat it" but "he allowed me TO eat it"?
What comes after make is still an infinitive; it's just a bare infinitive, one not marked by to. There are other verbs like this, even ignoring auxiliaries:
He let me do it.
He helped me do it.
He ...
- 15.8k
2
votes
Why do we say "he made me eat it" but "he allowed me TO eat it"?
This by no means unusual.
You should look up catenative verbs. These are primary verbs that can "chain" to another second verb(s) in the form of the "bare" infinitive, "to&...
2
votes
Why do we say "he made me eat it" but "he allowed me TO eat it"?
Why does the choice of first verb made vs. allowed change the tense of the second verb eat vs to eat?
It doesn't. The main, matrix verb in the main clause is tensed -- both made and allowed are past ...
- 107k
2
votes
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?
That Bot-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named here is correct — if you can understand secrets to be the antecedent for them and that uncover them to be a relative clause describing storms . . .
The depths hold ...
- 15.3k
2
votes
Is the structure "Who wants this ball to bang on their head?" acceptable?
"Bang on" means "precisely accurate" (see https://www.wordnik.com/words/bang%20on). "The ball was bang on his head" indicates the ball's trajectory resulted in an ...
- 4,654
2
votes
I wish to see my children to have/having a happy life?
They are both grammatically correct but have very different meanings. You probably mean to say "having."
If you say:
"I wish to see my children to have a happy life."
...it ...
- 679
2
votes
I wish to see my children to have/having a happy life?
This answer was made by using the Oxford advanced learner's dictionary, more specifically, the entry for "see" in this dictionary, and its examples (2005 paper edition).
I wish to see my ...
- 19.3k
2
votes
If "to X" signifies an infinitive, what form is the phrase "to be able to X", and can it be split?
The predicate adjective (be) able is a periphrastic modal. That means it's periphrastic (Greek for "paraphrased"), and it's a modal. Not a modal auxiliary verb, but an idiomatic construction ...
- 107k
1
vote
"can remind" or "can to remind"?
Great poets are expressly aware of this, and they do what they can to remind the rest of us.
You have not parsed the sentence correctly.
The full sentence is
Great poets are expressly aware of this, ...
- 40.4k
1
vote
Talk to him is what I did
The regular order here is:
What I did was talk to him.
What I did is talk to him.
What I saw was a lion in the tree.
How he came was by bus.
What we did was complain a lot.
What I did was talk.
Now, ...
- 13.9k
1
vote
Why is "be" in "this court rules he be put on probation" an infinitive?
It's not. It's the subjunctive mood. Yes, traditionally, both rule and be should be subjunctive. The traditional sentence should therefore be "I suggest that the court rule that he be placed ...
- 5,940
1
vote
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.
Parenthetically (People always say they have read, or have heard, or a friend told them, about these ...
- 107k
1
vote
Accepted
Verb + object + infinitive. What is the logic behind choosing between to-infinitive or bare infinitive?
An easy rule of thumb is that the bare infinitive can only be used with:
(1) Verbs of perception:
I saw him eat pasta.
I heard him speak in Italian.
(2) The verbs let, make, have:
I let them leave ...
- 3,190
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible