infinitive without to, participles, gerund

UNIT 1

Infinitive without To, Participles and Gerunds

Infinitive without to

The infinitive without to is used after certain verbs in English, namely

a) verbs indicating physical perception such as hear, see, feel, listen to, look at, notice, observe, watch;

b) those not indicating physical perception, such as make, let, help, have, know, and

c) those expressing a proposal, resolution, request, order, or suggestion, in the dependent clause, such as propose, advise, ask, command, demand, desire, insist, order, rec­ommend, request, require, suggest.

Frame la: After Verbs Indicating Physical Perception

	SUBJECT	PREDICATE
		VERB (PHRASE)	NOUN OR PRONOUN	INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO	ETC.
1	I	heard	her	sing,
2	He	saw	them	go out.
3	They	felt	the house	shake.
4	We	are going to look at	the men	do	the job.

Usage

1. We can see in Frame la that the infinitive without to is used after the noun or pronoun following the verb.

2. The infmitive without to can either be a transitive or an intransitive verb.

3. The verbs in Frame la can also be followed by the active participle.

Example:

I heard her sing. or I heard her singing (See part (B.I) below).

Frame 1 b: After Verbs not Indicating Physical Perception

	SUBJECT	PREDICATE
		VERB (PHRASE)	NOUN OR PRONOUN	INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO	ETC.
1	The boys	made	the photo­grapher	take	their pictures.
2	They	let	their children	come	with us.
3	He	can help*	you	finish	the work.
4	She	has	him	take	her to the office.
5	I	never knew*	him	behave	so badly.
6	We	have never known*	him	do	such a thing.

Usage

1. Unlike the verbs in Frame la, the verbs in Frame Ib can only be followed by the infinitive without to.

2. The verbs “help’ and ‘know’ in Frame Ib may also be followed by the to- infmitive.

Examples:

(1) They helped us carry the boxes or They helped us to carry the boxes,

(2) We never knew him behave so badly.or We never knew him to behave so badly,

(2) They have never known him do such a thing.or They have never known him to do such a thing,

Note:

the verb ‘knew* in this pattern may only be used in the simple past and the perfect tenses.

When the verb ‘see’, ‘make’ or ‘know’ is in the passive voice it is followed by the to- infinitive.

Examples

ACTIVE

He saw them go out

The boys made the photographer take their pictures.

We have never known him do such a thing.

PASSIVE

They were seen to go out.

The photographer was made to take their pictures.

He has never been known to do such a thing.

Frame Ic: After Verbs Expressing a Proposal, etc.

	MAIN CLAUSE			DEPENDENT CLAUSE
	SUBJECT	PREDICATE	THAT	SUBJECT	INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO	ETC
1	I	propose	that	the report	be	distrib­uted
2	He	advised	that	Mr. Jones	write	the report.
3	She	asked	that	they	be	quiet.
4	The man	demanded	that	she	hand over	the money.
5	They	insisted	that	we	finish	the work.

	MAIN CLAUSE			DEPENDENT CLAUSE
	SUBJECT	PREDICATE	THAT	SUBJECT	INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO	ETC.
6	It	is ne­cessary	that.	he	take	a vacation.
7	It	is im­portant	that	we	be	on time.

Usage.

1. The verb Cpiopose\ ‘advise*, ‘ask’, etc.) is followed by a, dependent clause introduced by that.

2. The form of the verb in the dependent clause is infinitive without to. Often the infinitive without to is the structure word be followed by the 3rd form, or the linking verb ‘be’ plus its complement. See sentences 1 and 3 in Frame Ic above.

3. Very often the modal ‘should’ is used before the infinitive without to.

Example: I suggest that you should study harder.

4. The infinitive without to may also be used in the dependent clause that follows certain adjectives, such as important, nec­essary, essential, (see sentences 6 and 7 in Frame Ic).

Participles

1. Active Participles

The active participles is used after certain verbs indicating physical perception listed in A 1. The following verbs also belong to this group:

Catch, keep, leave, smell. These last four verbs can only be followed by the active participle while the others can be followed either by the active participle or the the infinitive (compare with A 1). There is a slight difference in meaning between the infinitive without to and the active participle. ,

Example:

I saw him go out (= He went out and I saw him). I saw him going out (= He was going out when I saw him).

Frame 2a: Active Participles

	SUBJECT	PREDICATE
		VERB	NOUN OR PRONOUN	ACTIVE PARTICIPLE	ETC.
1	I	saw	the man	crossing	the street.
2	The old man	felt	the house	shaking.
3	Mrs. Pock	caught	little Johnny	smoking	a cigar.
4	They	kept	us	waiting.
5	She	smelt	something	burning.

Usage

1. Like the infinitive without to in A 1, the present participle is placed after the noun or pronoun following the verb.

2. The active participle can either be a transitive or an intransitive verb.

3. Note that the verbs see, catch, keep can also be used in the passive.

Examples:

(1) The man was seen crossing the street.

(2) Little Johnny was caught smoking.

(3) We were kept waiting. The other verbs are not commonly used in the passive.

2. Passive Participles

The passive participles may be used after the verbs make, feel, find,hear. ,like, prefer, see, want, wish, get, have.

The meaning is something like a passive construction.

Example:

He couldn’t make his voice heard. (= He couldn’t raise his voice loud enough to be heard.).

Frame 2b: Passive Participles

	SUBJECT	PREDICATE
		VERB	NOUN OR PRONOUN	PASSIVE PARTICIPLE	ETC.
1	He	felt	her thumb	pressed	against his temple
2	I	found	the book	covered	with dust.
3	I	like	my egg	boiled.
4	She	saw	her friend	hit	by the car.
5	He	got	his hair	cut.
6	She	had	a new dress	made.

Usage

1. We can see in Frame 2b that the passive participle is used after the noun or pronoun following the verb.

2. This pattern is a kind of passive construction. Therefore the passive participle should be a transitive verb.

Gerund.

The verbs ‘want’ and ‘need’ may be followed by a gerund. The meaning of the gerund here is equivalent to a passive construction.

Example: Your shoes need mending (= Your shoes need to be mended).

Frame 3.

	SUBJECT	VERB	GERUND
1	It	wants	doing.
2	Your shoes	want	mending.
3	Your work	needs	correcting.
4	That	needs	explaining.

Usage

The gerund is used directly after the verb.

The gerund in the frame above can be replaced by the to- infinitive

form of the passive construction.

Examples:

(1) It wants to be done (‘want’ here means the same as ‘need’).

(2) Your shoes want (or need) to be mended.

(3) Your work needs to be corrected.

(4) That needs to be explained.