Ch 13
Verb + Infinitive Patterns
want to · make bare · tell someone to
Many verbs are followed by to + base verb. These must be memorised — there is no grammatical shortcut.
want / would like
I want to leave. She would like to come.
decide / choose
He decided to stay. They chose to wait.
hope / expect
She hopes to pass. I expect to hear soon.
manage / fail
He managed to finish. She failed to arrive on time.
refuse / agree
She refused to answer. He agreed to help.
seem / appear
He seems to know everyone.
tell someone to
She told me to wait.
ask someone to
He asked her to come.
encourage someone to
She encouraged him to apply.
allow someone to
They allowed us to leave.
force someone to
He forced them to admit it.
want someone to
I want you to understand.
make (force)
She made me apologise. (NOT made me to apologise)
let (allow)
Can you let me know? (NOT let me to know)
help (+ to or bare)
She helped me (to) carry the bags. (either)
Modal + bare
She can swim. He should call. (all modals)
let vs allow: let + bare infinitive · allow + to infinitive: Let her go / Allow her to go.
It is + adjective + to + base verb ✓
easy/difficult
It is easy to understand.
important/necessary
It is important to practise every day.
possible/impossible
It is impossible to know for certain.
nice/great
It was great to see you.
She made me to apologise.
→
She made me apologise.
make + bare infinitive (no "to")
He refused accepting the offer.
→
He refused to accept the offer.
refuse + to infinitive
She let me to go home early.
→
She let me go home early.
let + bare infinitive
I want that she comes.
→
I want her to come.
want + object + to infinitive (not that clause)
Recap
want / hope / decide
+ to infinitive
want to leave, decided to stay
tell / ask someone
+ object + to infinitive
told me to wait
make / let
+ bare infinitive (no "to")
made me apologise
allow / encourage
+ object + to infinitive
allowed us to leave