Download EL INFINITIVO Y LA FORMA EN –ING: SUS USOS 1.

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EL INFINITIVO Y LA FORMA EN –ING: SUS USOS
1.- Introduction
2.- The infinitive
2.1.- Characteristics
2.2.- Use of the bare infinitive
2.3.- Use of the full infinitive
3.- The –ing form
3.1.- The gerund
3.2.- The present participle
4.- The gerund and the infinitive after certain verbs and verbal phrases
1.-. INTRODUCTION.
The non-finite forms of the English verb are the infinitive, the gerund and the present and
past participle. They are called non-finite forms because they do not express personal or temporal
relations on their own.
2.- THE INFINITIVE
2.1 In English, the infinitive is not a clearly defined form at all. In pre-historical times it was a fully
inflected verbal substantive and in Old English it had the ending –an with only one inflected form, the
dative –enne which under the influence of –an became –anne.
Due to the erosion of inflections throughout the Middle English period, the infinitive became
identical in form with the present indicative, the present subjunctive and the imperative.
When the infinitive function as a noun, it may be subject, object or predicative. For example:
Subject: To err is human, to forgive divine.
Object. Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.
Predicative: Talking is not always to converse.
The infinitive has two forms: present and past. Both can be habitual or continuous, and
passive or active.
The present infinitive does not in itself indicate time. The temporal aspect of it is
determined by the element governing the infinitive, or by the context. Thus the present infinitive can
refer to the:
Present: It does you good to live in the country.
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Past: It was very nice of you to come
Future: I wish I had money to buy a new car.
The perfect infinitive may only refer to the past or future time:
Past: I’m happy to have finished soon.
Future: I hope to have seen my family by seven o’clock.
Hypothetical past: I thought it wrong to have helped you.
The passive infinitive may express action or state (as the passive of perfective verbs in
general):
Action: This letter is to be sent by air mail.
State: Do you expect the Post Office to be closed.
Finally the progressive infinitive expresses an action which is developing in a certain
period of time:
We shall be arriving in two days.
The form ‘have been being + participle’ is hardly used.
The infinitive may occur either with or without ‘to’. If it is used with ‘to’ it is called full
infinitive. If it is used without it, then it is called plain, bare or flat infinitive. In the next two points
we will talk about them.
2.2.- Use of the bare infinitive
The bare infinitive is used either by itself or in combination with another verb.
The bare infinitive is used as follows:
a) With modal verbs (can/could, may/might, must, shall/should, will/would):
He can go to the cinema.
Will you open the window?
b) With ‘dare’ in interrogative and negative sentences in past and present:
How dare you come?
He felt he daredn’t venture upon the subject.
c) With ‘need’ in negative and interrogative sentences in the present:
You needn’t do it.
Need you be so cruel?
d) With ‘do’ used as an auxiliary of emphasis or periphrases:
Do tell us what happened!.
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They didn’t like the film.
e) With the expressions ‘had better’, ‘had best’, ‘had rather’, ‘had sooner’ and less
frequently ‘would rather/sooner’:
You had better study harder.
She had best stay in bed.
f) In a number of more or less stereotyped phrases:
i.
let + object + hang: let things go hang!
ii. Go fetch!
iii. To make believe, to make do: she was made believe that she
is poor.
iv. To hear say, to hear tell,…: he’s heard tell of his family.
v. Let combined with ‘drop, fall, fly, go, pass, slip’: she let fall a
hint
g) In the construction so called ‘accusative with infinitive’ with the following verbs:
i.
verbs of physical perception: hear, see, feel, watch, notice,…
I saw him take it.
ii. ‘let’ and ‘make’ meaning ‘cause’:
He made me repeat the whole act.
iii. ‘have’ meaning:
· to permit: I won’t have them do it.
· to order: Have him cut the grass.
· to want: He would have the Cabinet control
everything.
· to experience: I had an extraordinary thing happen
to me.
iv. ‘find’ and ‘know’ in the sense of ‘experience’:
I have never found/known him neglect his work.
h) In sentences denoting some action with reference to another after ‘rather than’:
He refused the job rather than accept such conditions.
i) In elliptical constructions:
(Do you) want some coffee?
(I) hope he is there.
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j) When there are two co-ordinated infinitives, the second does not take ‘to’ if the
first does not:
She couldn’t do better than resign.
But if the first takes it, there is vacillation in the case of the second:
I have nothing better to do but (to) keep quiet.
k) In questions beginning with ‘why’:
Why spend such a lot of money?
2.3.- Use of the full infinitive
The full infinitive has two functions: nominal and verbal. When it is a noun functioning as the
subject of a sentence with the verb ‘be’ it is usually replaced by introductory ‘it’ and placed at the
end of the sentence:
It was difficult to overcome the crisis.
The full infinitive is used in the following cases:
a) With the auxiliaries ‘be’, ‘have’, ‘ought’ and ‘used’:
She is to come soon.
b) As an adjunct or object of the preceding verb:
He intended to arrive earlier.
c) As an adjunct to a preceding noun:
He expressed his intention to leave the country.
d) As an adjunct to an adjective:
She is anxious to see her boyfriend again.
e) As a qualifier of a verb, noun or complete sentence expressing purpose:
She decided to discover the truth.
f) After expressions as ‘in order to’ or ‘so as’:
She got up early in order not to miss the train.
g) After an interrogative pronoun or adverb, conjunction or relative pronoun:
I do not know what to do.
h) After the verbs ‘know’, ‘forget’, ‘learn’ and ‘teach’ followed by ‘how’ to
express manner:
He has taught him how to swim.
i) With the verbs ‘blame’ and ‘let’ to mean ‘blameworthy’ and ‘for hire’
respectively:
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Your brother is to blame (= it’s his fault)
House to let (= for hire)
j) A nominative construction with verbs such as : hear, feel, see, make(= cause):
The ship was seen to sink.
k) In an accusative construction with verbs that express:
· an act of will when it concerns other people besides the subject such as:
want, wish, like, dislike, love, hate, prefer, …
He wanted me to stay.
· verbs of volition: allow, ask, command, force, advise, challenge,
compel, dare, encourage, permit, persuade, request, recommend, entreat, get,
implore, instruct, can’t bear, …
Allow me to congratulate you.
They asked not to touch the picture.
· verbs expressing an opinion or a perception: believe, declare, deny,
imagine, perceive, suppose, understand, think, consider, prove, report, guess, judge,
…:
I believed it to be true.
· an accusative with infinitive construction sometimes occurs with FOR as in:
It’s bad for you to stay in bed.
l) Split infinitive: this is a construction where an adverb is inserted between ‘to’ and
the infinitive.
To almost succeed is not enough.
I don’t expect to ever see him again.
m) The full infinitive may also express:
· circumstances or condition: To speak frankly, I don’t like it.
· result: He came to see that he was mistaken.
· temporal co-ordination: He awoke to find the house on fire.
· cause or reason: They must be crazy to believe such nonsense.
· supposition: If he were to hear this, he could not believe it.
· possibility: The porter was nowhere to be found.
· surprise or indignation: To think that all her efforts to help him had gone for
nothing!
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3.- THE –ING FORM
In this point we will pay attention to the –ing form of the verb which can act as a gerund or as
a present participle.
3.1.- The gerund
The gerund may exhibit all the syntactic properties of a noun and a verb.
The syntactic properties of a noun are the following ones:
a) It may have a plural with –s: The judge used to watch the hangings.
b) It may have a genitive –s or a possessive pronoun: We are walking for walking’s
sake; It was his own doing.
c) It may take articles: His mother gave him a warning.
d) It may combine with words in the attributive-adjectival functions: There was
much coming and going.
e) It may form part of compounds: walking-stick; boxing-gloves.
f) It may have the object of the implied verb attached to it by OF: The writing of
the book took him two years.
g) It may be co-ordinated with substantives: Transportation or hanging that’s
what he deserves.
h) It may be subject, object, predicative complement and the complement of a
preposition:
Her feelings have been hurt.
She has given up smoking.
As a verb, the syntactic properties are:
a) It can be combined with adverbs: He began reading slowly.
b) It can have an object or predicative complement: After reading the letter, she
left the room.
c) It can have a subject: She got a sense of it being her duty to do.
d) It can be inflected in the perfect and the passive:
There is a possibility of his having arrived by now.
This saved him from being hurt.
The gerund shares many syntactic characteristics with the infinitive. Therefore it will be
necessary to define their respective territories. The gerund is used in the following cases:
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a) As part of a prepositional adjunct:
He insisted on seeing her.
b) After the following verbs: admit, appreciate, avoid, consider, defend, burst out, delay,
deny, detest, enjoy, escape, excuse, fancy, finish, forbid, forgive, give up, give over, go
on, keep (on), leave off, mention, mind, miss, pardon, postpone, practise, put off,
recollect, resent, stop, suggest, understand, …
She enjoyed hearing him talk.
We cannot postpone answering the letter any longer.
c) After the phrases: ‘there is no…’, ‘it’s no good…’, ‘can’t help…’, ‘can’t resist…’ and
‘can’t stand…’:
It’s no use crying spilt milk.
d) After ‘worth’ and ‘like’:
It doesn’t look like lasting.
e) After prepositions: at, before, besides, between, from, in,…
He ate a sandwich before leaving home.
f) After ‘to go’ and ‘to come’ (verbs denoting physical activity) and the verb ‘to shop’:
They are going skating.
I wanted him to come riding.
3.2.- The present participle
The present participle may exhibit all the syntactic properties of an adjective:
a) It may be used attributively: He has a captivating manner.
b) It may be used predicatively: His mind is wandering.
c) It may be nominalised: The dying were being heaped on to of the road.
d) It may be used as an adverb: A strikingly handsome man.
It may also exhibit the syntactic characteristics of a verb:
a) It may be qualified by an adverbial: Languages are perpetually changing.
b) It may govern an object: He sent circular letters offering his services.
c) It may govern a predicative complement: Being comrades, they helped each
other.
d) It may have a subject of his own: It being cold, he put on his coat.
The uses of the present participle are the following ones:
a.
To form the progressive tenses: What are you doing?
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b.
It is used predicatively with intransitive verbs denoting motion or state: come, go, lie, sit,
stand: They sat waiting on a chair.
c.
It may be used in an accusative with present participle construction after: hear, feel,
watch, smell, look at, notice, observe: I saw the milkman coming along the street.
d.
An accusative with present participle after the verbs: catch, find, get, imagine, keep, leave,
send, set, start: I found him crying.
e.
‘Want’ and ‘like’ may be followed by an accusative with present participle:
They don’t like me drinking.
f.
A present participle may be preceded by ‘AS’ when it is a predicative adjunct to the
object: We always regarded the document as belonging to her brother.
g.
In an adjectival clause: There is a man knocking at the door.
h.
As an adverbial clause: Arriving at the station, he found his train gone.
i.
Sometimes they are equivalent to adverbials: Generally speaking,…. Considering the
circumstances…
j.
Some present participles function as prepositions or conjunctions: Barring accidents he
should reach San Francisco tomorrow.
k.
In the construction called absolute participle: There being nothing to do, we went home.
4.- THE GERUND AND THE INFINITIVE AFTER CERTAIN VERBS AND
VERBAL PHRASES
The most common verbs followed by either gerund or infinitive are the following ones:
advise, agree, allow, attempt, begin, cease, commence, continue, dread, endure, forget, hate, intend,
leave, like, love, mean, neglect, permit, prefer, propose, purpose, recollect, recommend, regret,
remember, start, study, try.
In some of those verbs the meaning may be different.
a) After remember and forget, the infinitive refer to the future and the gerund to the past: I
must remember to ask him about the problem.
I remember asking him about the
problem.
b) Try takes a gerund when it means ‘to make an experiment’ and an infinitive when it
means ‘to make an attempt’: You should try to answer all the questions.
To make a living he had tried writing, but he failed.
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c) Mean takes a gerund when it means ‘entail, signify’, and an infinitive when it means
‘intend’: I mean to work harder next year.
This meant having to begin work again.
d) After verbs of likes and preferences and their opposites (love, hate, like, …) the full
infinitive is preferred for particular occasions, especially when the verb is used with
‘would’ and ‘should’, and the gerund is used for general statements: I like swimming. I
don’t like to swim in that river.
I shouldn’t like to swim in that cold water.
e) After stop, we use the infinitive when it means a break or pause in order to do
something: We stopped to take photographs.
With the gerund, it means a complete stop of the action:
He stopped smoking.
f) After permit, allow, advise and recommend the infinitive is used if the person
concerned is mentioned. If the person is not mentioned the gerund is used: I don’t allow
my pupils to smoke.
I don’t allow smoking
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