Verb + Infinitive
- She asked to go to the bathroom.
- John would love to visit France one day.
- You promised to buy that for me!
- We don't need to do that again.
Both verbs are the subject's actions:
- She asked to go to the bathroom. (She = asked, go)
- John would love to visit France one day. (John = would love, visit)
- You promised to buy that for me! (You = promised, buy)
- We don't need to do that again. (We = don't need, do)
Because both verbs in the above verb pattern are the subject's actions, what happens when we want to say an object's action? Look at the following example:
John: Lucy, could you open the window please?
In the above sentence, what can we say for John's action?
- John = asked
- Lucy = open the window
Because we have the object Lucy, we need to use a different verb pattern: Verb + Object + Infinitive
John asked Lucy to open the window.
Verb + Object + Infinitive
The following verbs can be used in this verb pattern:
- ask
- advise
- allow
- beg
- cause
- command
- choose
- dare
- encourage
- expect
- force
- get
- help
- invite
- need
- order
- permit
- persuade
- recommend
- remind
- request
- teach
- tell
- warn
- want / would like
The negative can be a little confusing when using this verb pattern. Look at the following example:
John: Lucy, you really shouldn't put your feet on the table like that.
Now, what is John's action? Think of a verb to use:
- advise
- recommend
- warn
What did John advise / recommend / warn Lucy to do? (not put her feet on the table)
John advised / recommended / warned Lucy not to put her feet on the table.
This can be confusing because the second verb should be used in the negative in the above example. Look at the following example:
- John: I'm going to the party.
- Lucy: Which party?
- John: Phil's party! Aren't you going?
- Lucy: No, he didn't invite me!
Now, think about the two actions... (invite, go to the party). Which one should be negative?
Phil didn't invite Lucy to go to the party.
Exercise
Please open the exercise to continue.