GUIDE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOK

14 THE INFINITIVE PAGE 152
2 We can use the following verbs with an object and a to-infinitive.
a
Verbs meaning 'order' or 'request'
The doctor told Celia to stay in bed.
We persuaded our neighbours to turn the music down.
Here Celia is the indirect object, and the infinitive clause is the direct object. We
can use advise, ask, beg, command, encourage, instruct, invite, order, persuade,
recommend, remind, request, tell, urge, warn.
NOTE
a A finite clause is possible, but it is sometimes a little formal.
We persuaded our neighbours that they should turn the music down.
b We cannot use suggest in this pattern.
NOT We suggested our neighbours to turn the music down.
We use a finite clause instead.
We suggested (to our neighbours) that they might turn the music down.
c The main clause can be passive.
Our neighbours were persuaded to turn the music down.
b
Verbs meaning 'cause' or 'help'
The crisis has forced the government to act.
This portable phone enables me to keep in touch with the office.
We can use allow, authorize, cause, compel, drive, enable, forbid, force, get, help,
intend, lead, mean, oblige, permit, require, teach, train.
NOTE
a We can use a finite clause after require and intend, but it is a little formal.
We never intended that the information should be made public.
A finite clause after allow, permit or forbid is not very usual.
NOT The university allows that students change their subject.
b We can use there as the subject of the infinitive clause. It is rather formal.
The regulations permit there to be no more than two hundred people in the hall.
c The main clause can be passive.
The government has been forced to act.
But cause and get cannot be passive before an infinitive.
d For get in this pattern, e.g. I got Mike to lend me his electric drill, • 111(1).
e After help we can leave out to.
I'm helping my friend (to) find aflat.
c
Verbs meaning 'say' or 'think'
The judges announced the result to be a draw.
The police believed the Mafia to have committed the crime.
This pattern can be rather formal. We can use announce, assume, believe, consider,
declare, discover, estimate, expect, feel, find, imagine, judge, know, presume, report,
reveal, show, suppose, understand.
NOTE
a All these verbs can have a finite clause after them.
The police believed (that) the Mafia had committed the crime.
b We often use the infinitive to be in this pattern. We can sometimes leave out to be,
especially after declare, believe, consider and find.
The country declared itself (to be) independent.
c We can use consider but not regard.
We consider ourselves (to be) a separate nation.
We regard ourselves as a separate nation.
d We can use there as the subject of the infinitive clause.
We understood there to be money available.
e The passive pattern is more common than the active. • 109
The Mafia were believed to have committed the crime.
We can use say and think in the passive pattern but not in the active.