INFINITIVESINFINITIVES

İNGİLİZCEDEKİ MASTARİNGİLİZCEDEKİ MASTAR

MADE BY TUĞBA YAZNURMADE BY TUĞBA YAZNUR

Fiilin mastar hali infinitive’dir. Fiil önüne to alır. Infinitive’le

kullanılan bazı fiiller ;

to arrange to agree to decide to plan

to refuse to promise to hope to offer to prepare to seem

Infinitives as subject

To procrastinate causes a lot of problem.

Not to go ahead proved a mistake.

An infinitiveis to plus the base form a verb.

To graduate from a college is important. I want to do that.

Infinitives and infinitive phrases often perform the same functions as

nouns.

a.They act as subjects.

To finish what you started is advisable.

NOTE:Using an infinitive as a subject is formal. It + an infinitive phrase is more common.We often add for + a noun or pronoun to say who or what does the actions.

It’s advisable to finish what you started. It’s important for a student to take good

notes in class.

Infinitives as object

Not everyone wants to procrastinate.

He decided not to go ahead

b.They act as objects. I’d like to invite you to dinner.

Infınıtıves as Subject Complement

His job is to motivate people.Their real intention not to succeed.

c.They act as subject complements (phrases

that describe or explain the subject of a sentence A teacher’s job is to create a desire to

learn.

To make an infinite negative, place not before to

I warned you not to put this off.

BE CAREFUL! Don’t confuse to in an infinitive with to as a preposition. To in an infinitive is followed by the base form of the verb.To as a preposition is followed by a gerund, regular noun, or pronoun.

I plan to work hard. I’m used to working hard.

It + Infinitive

It is foolish for her to procrastinate.

It was wrong of him not to go ahead.

Verbs Followed by Infinitives

They decided to call him.

He convicted her to call. She neglected to call her child.

Certain Verb are Followed only by Infinitives

She offered to help me.He learned to be efficent.

Other verbs are followed by a required noun or pronoun + an infinitive.

I warned Stan to make the payments.

NOTE:

Still other verbs are followed by an optional noun or pronoun + an infinitive, depending on the meaning of the verb.

We expected to finish on time.We expected Jim to finish on time.

Adjectives Followed by Infinitives

Hal is reluctant to complete his work on time.He’s careful not to make mistakes.They’re happy to hear the test has been postponed.

Certain adjectives can be followed by infinitives. These adjectives usually describe

people, not things. They often express feelings about the action described in the

infinitive.

George is afraid to make mistakes.Mary is not willing to help us.

Common adjectives followed by infinitives: afraid, amazed, fortunate, glad, happy,

important, likely,proud, reluctant, sorry, and willing.

Nouns Followed by Infinitives

He can always think of reasons to put off studying.It seems like the thing to do.She always shows reluctance to finish a job.

A noun is often followed by an infinitive. When this occurs, the

infinitive gives informations about the noun.

Cozumel is a good place to spend a vacation.Genorocity is a good trait to have.

A noun + infinitive often expresses advisability or necessity.

Starting immediately is the thing to do

a. Examples of verbs and verb phrases followed only by inftivesini: appear,

decide, expect, hope, manage, need, pretend, seem, want, would like

They managed to find new jobs. She pretended to be busy.

b.Examples of the verbs and phrases followed only by gerunds: avoid, be

worth, can’t help, consider, enjoy, feel like, have trouble, keep, mind, miss,

spend(time)

We considered hiring him.I don’t feel like working today

c.Examples of verbs followed by infinitives or gerunds with no change

in meaning:begin, can’t stand, continue, hate, like, love, prefer, start.

They began to encourage her.They began encouraging her.

d.Examples of verbs follewed by infinitives or gerunds with a significant change in

meaning:forget, go on, quit, regret, remember,stop. try

I stopped / quit to go to store. (= I stopped / quit another activity ,in order to go

to the store.)I stopped / quit going to the store.

(= I stopped / quit the activity of shopping at the store.)

Too / Enough with Infinitives

Too + adjective / Adverb

The project is too complicated to finish on time. Alice too slowly to meet the deadline.Too +Adjective / Adverb + Enough Steve is intelligent enough to understand the situation. He didn’t call quikly enough to get the job.Enough + Noun

They have enough intelligence to pass the test. They have intelligence enough to pass the test.

The word too and enough are often used before infinitives.Too is used in this pattern:

too + adjective/ adverb + infinitive .It implies a negative result.

We’re too tired to do any work today.Sam started too late to finish on time.

Enough + Infinitiveis used after an adjective/adverb

Ken is strong enough to lift 80 kilos.Mia runs fast enough to be first.

Enough can be used before a noun + infinitive

There’s not enough money to pay for the repairs.

Enough can also used arter a noun.This usage is formal.

There is not money enough to pay for the repairs.

NOTE: Add for + a noun or pronoun to show who performs

the action of the infinitive

There’s not enough money for Jane to pay for the repairs.

Infinitives can occur simple or past form.We use a simple infinitive(without a past participle) to indicate an action in the same general time frame as the

action in the main verb.

• I expected you to call.

We use a past infinitive (to + have + past participle) to show an action that occured before the action of the main

verb in the sentence

• You seem to have forgotten the report that was due today.

Infinitives can occur in passive form. In the present, use to + be or get + past participle.In the past, use to + have + been + past participle. Use the past

form to indicate an action that occured before the action of the main verb

• The work is supposed to be finished by tomorrow.• The work was to have been done before now.

Active and Passive Infinitives

• She plans to invite them.• They expect to be invited.• She was glad to have invited them.• They were happy to have been invited.

USAGE NOTE:In formal English, it is sometimes considered incorrect to split

an infinitive – i.e., to place a word between to and the base form of the

verb. Place the word before or after the infinitive.In conversation, it is

acceptable to split an infinitive.

• Not Star Trek explorers are told where no one has gone before.

• Star Trek explorers are told to go boldly where no one has gone before.

• Star Trek explorers are told boldly to go where no one has gone before.

To avoid repeating an infinitive just mentioned, simply used to. This is

called ellipsis

• Steve knew he had to go to work, but he didn't want to.