oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

PAGE 145
For and of with a to-infinitive • 126
It's usual for guests to bring flowers.
It was kind of you to help.
116 Infinitive forms
Patterns with the bare infinitive • 127
You could walk round the earth in a year.
I'd better put this cream in the fridge.
The ride made me feel sick.
116 Infinitive forms
1 Bare infinitive To-infinitive
Simple play to play
Perfect have played to have played
Continuous be playing to be playing
Perfect + continuous have been playing to have been playing
For the passive, e.g. to be played, • 112.
2 A simple infinitive is the base form of a verb, with or without to.
Bare infinitive: I'd rather sit at the back.
To-infinitive: I'd prefer to sit at the back.
There is no difference in meaning here between sit and to sit. Which we use
depends on the grammatical pattern.
3 Here are some examples with perfect and continuous forms.
It's a pity I missed that programme. I'd like to have seen it.
You'd better have finished by tomorrow.
The weather seems to be getting worse.
I'd rather be lying on the beach than stuck in a traffic jam.
The man appeared to have been drinking.
We cannot use a past form.
NOT I'd like to saw it.
4 A simple infinitive refers to the same time as in the main clause.
I'm pleased to meet you.
(The pleasure and the meeting are both in the present.)
You were lucky to win.
(The luck and the victory are both in the past.)
We use a perfect infinitive for something before the time in the main clause.
I'd like to have seen that programme yesterday.
(The desire is in the present, but the programme is in the past.)
We use a continuous infinitive for something happening over a period.
You're lucky to be winning.
(You're winning at the moment.)