To Infinitive and Beyond Understanding Verbals There are

To Infinitive and Beyond Understanding Verbals

There are THREE types of Verbals • Gerunds • Participles • Infinitives • Verbals are words formed from verbs that function as a different part of speech.

Infinitives= to + a verb • Examples: • to vote • to swim • to dream • to run • to wait

Be Careful • Don’t confuse an infinitive (to + verb) with a prepositional phrase that begins with “to” (to + noun or pronoun) • Infinitives: to joke, to jump, to draw, to belong, to need, to stand • Prepositional phrases: to the store, to my brother, to the school board, to the moon

Functions of an Infinitive in a sentence: • • • Subject Direct object Subject complement/ predicate noun/ predicate nominative Adjective Adverb

• When you have an infinitive phrase, you must always label your subject and verb (LV or AV)

a. Subject • EX: To joke seemed inappropriate. • (label the subject and verb)

b. Direct Object • EX: Everyone hoped to catch the fly ball. • (label the subject and verb)

c. Subject Complement/Predicate noun • EX: His dream is to fly. • (label the subject and verb)

d. Adjective • Describes a noun or a pronoun • I want a tutor to help me study. • Describes the tutor • I need a magazine to read on the train. • Describes the magazine • There is a basket to put your exam in. • Describes the basket • I wish I had a friend to study with me. • Describes the friend

e. Adverb • When an infinitive phrase works like an adverb, it modifies the verb in a sentence. Adverbs answer questions like where, when, why, how, and for what reason/purpose, • I went home to study for math. • Why did you go home? • He sat down to take the exam. • For what reason did he sit down? • To get into college, you need good grades. • Why do you need good grades? • To ace the exam, I studied for hours. • For what purpose did you study?

Practice Label the subject, verb type, and function of infinitive. • 1. ) Most students plan to study. Most students ( subj. ) plan ( A. V. ) to study ( D. O. ) • 2. ) To hesitate is unwise. To hesitate ( subj. ) is ( L. V. ) unwise ( P. Adj. ) • 3. ) My biggest fear is to fail. My biggest fear ( subj. ) is ( L. V. ) to fail. (P. Noun)

Practice Label the subject, verb type, and function of infinitive. • 4. ) You must play to win. You ( subj. ) must play ( action verb phrase) to win. ( adverb infinitive; answers “how? ”) • 5. ) He had the ability to draw. He ( subj. ) had ( L. V. ) the ability (P. Noun) to draw. ( adjective infinitive; describes “ability”)

Split infinitives • AVOID SPLIT INIFINITIVES- when an infinitive is “split up” by a prepositional phrase. • EX: I like to, on rainy days, watch Disney movies. • Fix this by putting modifying sentences at the beginning or end of a sentence. • EX: • I like to watch Disney movies on rainy days. (direct object) • On rainy days, I like to watch Disney movies.