27
votes
Accepted
May I start a sentence with a verb "develop" or do I need to use "to"?
It looks like you're making a bulleted list, so you have some leeway in how you choose to structure it - you're not limited to complete, fully grammatical sentences, you may also choose to structure ...
- 13k
10
votes
Accepted
Does 'as' take bare infinitive?
This construction has nothing to do with the equative marker as or the comparative marker than. They appear in equative and comparative constructions, where they have their own jobs. They don't ...
- 107k
6
votes
Can you tell me the difference between the bare infinitive and the base form of a verb?
The base form or plain form of the verb occurs in four different constructions. The imperative, the subjunctive, the bare infinitival construction and the to-infinitival construction. For many ...
- 45.1k
4
votes
Is this awkward reuse of a verb between subjects correct?
The only problem with
Patients tended to perform for the camera and doctors [tended] to record the
most photogenic [patients].
is that it lacks a “comma of clarity” as shown in
Alice cooked the ...
- 15.3k
3
votes
What is the difference between the a bare infinitive and an infinitive?
The difference is in the context.
Infinitive is a morphological term, referring to a particular form of the verb (the verb form that ends in -en in German Ich muss gehen, and -r in Spanish Tengo que ...
- 107k
3
votes
Accepted
succeed + gerund or infinitive
... an Irish-Italian kid who succeeds in his youthful ambition .......
popularity as a wealthy gangster, only to have his position slowly
eroded until it almost destroys him.
"Ambition" is ...
- 12.2k
3
votes
Infinitives modifying nouns
To address your main question, this sentence is, in fact, grammatically correct:
Do you want anything else to get?
To see why, compare it to the obviously correct sentence you mention:
Do you want ...
- 15.7k
3
votes
Infinitives modifying nouns
Infinitival clauses can modify nouns, but they don't modify adjectives, though they do complement them.
Modifier infinitivals are a special case of relative clauses. For example, in "Don't you ...
- 12.2k
3
votes
Passive of verb "let" : with or without "to"
In the case of let go, go is a particle (a one-word non-expandable phrase functioning as complement to the verb) and hence does not allow to. Same goes for slip in let slip. Compare the acceptability ...
- 8,631
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
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"?
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 ...
- 15.7k
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
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
Does imperative 'do' (in 'do'-support) share the same form with infinitive 'do'?
I can’t speak authoritatively on CGEL, but since I have access to this doorstop of a tome, I can quote a few places that might answer your question, according to CGEL’s grammar framework:
The ...
- 15.3k
2
votes
Does imperative 'do' (in 'do'-support) share the same form with infinitive 'do'?
I think that you're getting at the rule that the auxiliary verb "do" must be in the primary position of any verb catena, i.e., it is not the dependent of any other verb.1 (Some people would ...
- 7,920
2
votes
Infinitives of purpose with the past perfect
It's not inherently the case that to see the light show must be an "adverb of purpose". On the basis of context and logic we can safely assume that in OP's specific example, the people who ...
- 140k
2
votes
"glad to V" vs. "glad (that) S V"
You can't notice something that's missing, so that's what makes those sentences odd. You can notice that something is missing, but you can't notice the thing itself if it's missing.
As for the ...
- 107k
2
votes
Are split infinitives grammatically incorrect, or are they valid constructs?
Split infinitives are incorrect in Latin; but wholly fine in English; for structural reasons. See in Latin the infinitive is all one word; so unless the verb is itself a compound there is in fact ...
- 117
2
votes
What is the syntactic role of "to do something" in these sentences?
From the diagram, it clearly show the difference
- 33
2
votes
Is this awkward reuse of a verb between subjects correct?
There's nothing incorrect about the sentence; to me it sounds at most mildly awkward. Indeed, in their discussion of gapping, Huddleston & Pullum (2002) give this example (p. 1338):
Kim was ...
- 15.7k
1
vote
Can you tell me the difference between the bare infinitive and the base form of a verb?
In comments BillJ wrote:
The lexical base is identical with the plain form that is used to construct infinitival clauses, subjunctives and imperatives.
@JohnLawler But English has no infinitive form,...
1
vote
Can you tell me the difference between the bare infinitive and the base form of a verb?
In comments John Lawler wrote:
Different people use different terms, and often there is no difference. In English, there is no difference between "infinitive" and "base form" -- ...
1
vote
Accepted
cause + noun + to infinitive
Does "to control" specify the verb "cause" or the objective
"friction"?
Neither.
This is an adjunct of purpose, adjuncts being modifiers in clause structure. It answers ...
- 8,631
1
vote
What's the correct answer to the question? changing or to change?
They're both correct, with slightly different meanings or at least emphases:
Agriculture gave people their first experience of technology's power changing lives. (They experienced the changing of ...
- 80.6k
1
vote
What is the syntactic role of "to do something" in these sentences?
Syntactially, to do that functions as an adjunct, not a complememt. For the sake of simplicity, we can reduce the given sentences to the following:
[i] He was mean to do that.
[ii] We'd be stupid to ...
- 8,631
1
vote
What is the syntactic role of "to do something" in these sentences?
The adjective licenses a to+infinitive clause as complement.
She'd be reluctant to sing in front of a crowd
We'd be eager to engage your services.
Whereas this sentence:
He'd be stupid to say that ...
1
vote
What is the syntactic role of "to do something" in these sentences?
We'd be stupid to do something like that.
- 33
1
vote
Accepted
Adverb Nowhere/Anywhere/Somewhere
Anywhere is a fused head of a noun phrase here, similar to anyplace. This categorization follows its use as object in constructions like
Have you got anywhere to spend the night?
As you've noticed, ...
- 8,631
1
vote
In a sentence such as 'she said I should say hello to the baby' - is 'to' functioning as a preposition?
In the sentence "She said I should introduce myself to the baby," the word "to" is not functioning as an infinitive marker, as there is no infinitive verb following it. Instead, it ...
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