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71
The use of the Infinitive without the Particle to
(Bare Infinitive)
Words and phrases
The rest of the
followed by a bare
Bare infinitive
sentence
infinitive
1
2
3
4
Auxiliary verbs:
I
Don’t
like
Jogging.
They
Will
see
you to-morrow.
Modal verbs:
(except ought to,
have to, be to)
You
can’t
play
football in the street.
I
must
go
there to-morrow.
You
needn’t
worry.
Modal expression:
You
had better
I
would rather
would sooner
She
‘d sooner
die
than come back
You
had better
come
at once.
Verbs of sense
I
He
perception:
(see, watch, observe,
notice, hear, listen to,
feel, etc.)
felt somebody
heard the door
touch
close.
me.
Verbs of inducement:
(let, make, have, bid)
What
Let me
makes you
help
think
you.
so?
Phrases with but:
cannot but,
do anything but
do nothing but
couldn’t but
Did you
do anything but
ask
questions?
Why-not sentences:
Why not
begin
at once?
Like other non-finite forms of the verb the infinitive has a double nature: it combines verbal features with
those of the noun.
The verbal features of the infinitive are of two kinds: morphological and syntactical.
1) Morphological: the infinitive has the verb categories of voice, perfect and aspect:
The evening is the time to praise the day. (active)
To be praised for what one has not done was bad enough. (passive)
She did not intend to keep me long, she said. (non-perfect)
I am so distressed to have kept you waiting, (perfect)
She promised to bring the picture down in the course of ten minutes. (common)