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Verbs and Infinitives in
Everyday Speech |
The 1977 movie Star Wars is an American classic, with
many memorable lines and characters. At one point in
the film, the character C-3PO says the following words:
"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life."
Today, we are going to explore that statement. We are
not talking about the meaning behind the statement.
Instead, we will study the sentence's grammar.
In particular, we are going to explore verb + infinitive
combinations. "Seem to be" -- the words you heard in the
movie -- is one such example.
Let's begin with some definitions.
Infinitives and Gerunds
An infinitive is the basic form of the verb. Sometimes
it has the word "to" in front of it. In the sentence "I
like to study grammar," the words "to study" are an
infinitive.
A gerund is the form of a verb that ends in –ing. It
acts like a noun. For example, in the sentence "Learning
English is fun," the word "learning" is a gerund.
Why are we talking about
infinitives and gerunds?
Some verbs can be followed by an infinitive or a gerund.
Knowing when to use an infinitive and when to use a
gerund is difficult. However, the good news is this:
verb + infinitive combinations are more common than verb
+ gerund combinations.*
Moreover, in everyday speech, verbs from four basic
groups are often followed by infinitives. These basic
patterns can help you learn the hundreds of specific
verb + infinitive combinations.
We will now give you examples of three of these basic
meaning groups. We will tell you the most common verbs
from these groups that you will hear in everyday speech.
We will also give you famous examples from American
popular culture.
#1 Expressing want or need
Infinitives commonly follow verbs that express want or
need. Common examples include the verbs want, like,
hope, need and wish.
What do these verb + infinitive combinations sound like
in everyday situations? Let's listen to the following
conversation:
1: Do you want to see a movie this afternoon?
2: I would like to see a movie, but I don't want to be
indoors this afternoon – it's so beautiful outside.
1: How about this evening?
2: That sounds great. I can't stay up late, though,
because I need to get up early tomorrow morning.
In the conversation, you heard several examples of verb
+ an infinitive: "want to see," "like to be," and "need
to get up."
American popular culture also gives you more examples of
how these structures sound. The 1997 romantic comedy
film As Good As It Gets gives you one example:
"You make me want to be a better man."
Here, actor Jack Nicholson uses the infinitive "to be"
after the verb "want."
#2 Expressing Effort
Infinitives often follow verbs that suggest effort.
Common examples include the verbs attempt, fail, manage
and try.
You can hear examples of these structures in the
following conversation about school. Imagine you hear
two students speaking with each other. One student did
well on a test, and the other student did not do very
well:
1: I managed to get an A on the test!
2. Well, I tried to pass the test...
1: Oh! I'm sorry, you didn't do well?
2: Don't worry about it – I'll do better next time. Hey,
do you want to play videogames tomorrow?
Here, the speakers used many past tense verbs, "managed"
and "tried," for example. Even though the speakers used
the past tense, they still used infinitives after the
main verb.
We hope you do not play videogames instead of studying!
American popular culture has many examples of try + an
infinitive. Consider these lines from the classic
American horror film, The Silence of the Lambs. Here,
the fictional Dr. Lecter talks about killing a person:
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver
with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
In the example, Dr. Lecter uses the infinitive "to test"
after the verb "tried."
#3 "Seem" verbs
Infinitives also often follow verbs that are similar to
the verb "seem." Common examples include the verbs seem,
appear, and tend.
Let's listen to how speakers use these verbs in an
everyday situation. Imagine a happy spouse returns home
from a day at the office:
1: You seem to be happy with yourself!
2: I tend to smile when I get good news...
1: Really? What's the news?
2: I got a promotion!
You just heard two examples of a verb + infinitive
combination: "seem to be" and "tend to smile."
You might have also noticed that the words from the film
Star Wars also fit into this group:
"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life."
What can you do?
The next time you are watching TV or speaking with an
American, try to listen for examples of verb +
infinitive. Ask yourself the basic meaning of the verb.
Does it fit into one of the groups we talked about
today?
Gerunds and infinitives are difficult to learn. But with
study and practice, you will master them.
How can you do this? Try to use them as often as you
can.
I'm Jill Robbins.
And I'm John Russell.
John Russell wrote this story for Learning English. Caty
Weaver was the editor.
*Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber "Real Grammar: A
Corpus-Based Approach to English" Pearson Education.
2009. P.97 |
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