Download 1 Verbs: the bare infinitive (=without to), the to

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Verbs: the bare infinitive (=without to), the to-infinitive, or –ing?
The following notes are far from exhaustive. They are based on R. Close, A
Teachers’ Grammar, Language Teaching Publications, revised edition 1992.
What we are really talking about here is a difference in verb complementation or
verb patterns.
SV The door opened
SVC It is good
SVO Someone opened the door
SVOO My father gave me this
book
SVOC I consider him to be innocent
(S =grammatical subject; V = verb; O = object[direct/indirect]; C = complement)
The bare infinitive is used after do, will, should, would, shall, can, could, may,
might, might as well, had better, would rather, would sooner; and after let. It is
also used in the SVO pattern I heard the bell ring.
The to-infinitive occurs after ought, used and have. It is also used in the SVO verb
patterns: I wanted to scream, I wanted him to go away and I longed for someone to
come.
The – ing form occurs in the following SVO patterns: I stopped trembling, I
remember you coming, We heard a dog barking.
We can say We began to sing or We began singing with no substantial change of
meaning.
We can say I heard her sing or I heard her singing, with a change of emphasis (a
single act versus an activity having duration, see point 2) below).
We can say I remembered to go which does not mean the same as I remembered
going (see below).
Only the -ing form, not the infinitive, follows a preposition or a prepositional verb:
Let’s talk about fishing. He earns his living by translating. Take these pills before
and after eating.
There are three differences in meaning between the infinitive and the ing form:
1) Activity in general or activity in progress?
2
The infinitive may refer either to the activity in general or to the act completed.
The -ing form refers to activity in progress:
I saw the man jump (single completed act)
I saw him running away ( activity in progress)
I have often heard that dog bark (series of completed acts)
I heard it barking all night (activity in progress)
2) Activity in progress or a new act?
I like dancing (activity in progress)
Would you like to dance? (begin a new act)
This distinction between a new act (infinitive) and an activity having duration (ing) can be seen in the following pairs:
It is a great pleasure to be with you tonight
It is a great pleasure being with you tonight
We were interested to hear your news
We are not interested in hearing gossip
Now let us try to turn the key to the right (to turn it to the left and to the right
are two separate acts.)
Now let us try turning the key to the right (turning it to the left and to the right
are part of a single, unfinished process of experiment.)
3) Move in a series or activity in progress
The infinitive points to a move forward in a series of events, while the –ing looks
backwards to previous activity in progress or even to a previous act completed.
Here, the two members of the pair may have quite different meanings:
I remembered to telephone the doctor (I remembered what I had to do and then I
did it.)
I remembered telephoning the doctor (I recalled the act of telephoning.)
I regret to tell you that I shall be away (I regret having now to tell you something.)
I regret telling you that I shall be away (I regret having already told you
something.)
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Use of articles
The following notes are far from exhaustive. They are based on R. Close, A
Teachers’ Grammar, Language Teaching Publications, revised edition 1992.
The problems with articles are to decide whether to use:
zero or a
zero or the
a/an or the
singular or plural
The primary considerations that apply here are the following:
mass versus unit
general versus particular
unspecified versus specific
one versus more than one
mass versus unit
In English abstract nouns are normally mass nouns, e.g., beauty, advice,
tranquillity. Certain words, whose equivalent in other languages would occur in
the plural, are singular mass nouns in English: furniture, luggage, news,
information. Unit nouns include the names of persons, animals, plants ; units of
measurement; and a few abstractions (some good ideas).
Money is a mass noun; coins, pounds and euros are unit nouns.
zero article:
Would you like milk and biscuits for breakfast?
Human beings are superior to animals in that they use language to convey
thoughts
Each noun underlined here refers to a concept in general and not to an unspecified
example of it.
the:
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Pass me the milk and the biscuits please
The animals/language we have chosen to talk about this evening…
Here, the functions as a signal of specification. It communicates the message: you
already know or will know which specific member of a class I am referring to.
Compare the two meanings of ‘work’ in:
Work can be enjoyable, but the work that factory workers have to do can be very
monotonous
Sometimes the difference in meaning can be very subtle:
I must attend to work that has accumulated while I was on holiday.
I must attend to the work that has accumulated while I was on holiday
a/an:
I would like to eat a biscuit/to learn a foreign language
Here, ‘a’ denotes one, UNspecified member of a class
When is a noun specified?
a) when reference is made back to something already said (anaphoric
reference):
A doctor and a policeman were there. The doctor said that …
b) when followed by an adverbial, often in the form of a prepositional phrase
or a relative clause. Reference is made to what follows the noun:
The teacher in the room was Peter Smith
The teacher who came here yesterday is not here today
c) when used with a superlative or an ordinal number
Peter Smith is the best teacher in this school
He lives in the fourth house on the right
HARD vs HARDLY: (see next page)
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HARD vs HARDLY:
The adverb hard has similar meanings to the adjective:
Adverb:
- Hit it hard (adverb)
- She’s been working very hard (adverb)
Adjective:
- I found the English exam quite hard (adjective)
- It’s hard for young people to find jobs
Hardly means ‘almost not’
I could hardly hear him.
Hardly had he left the house when he saw Mary
That’s hardly true.
You could hardly say she’s intelligent