What Are Infinitive Phrases?

An infinitive phrase is a group of words that includes an infinitive verb (the base form of the verb preceded by the particle "to") and any accompanying objects, modifiers, or complements. Infinitive phrases can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs in a sentence. Infinitive phrases can also be used in a variety of other sentence structures, such as after adjectives, adverbs, or prepositions.

Infinitive Phrases: Function

Infinitive phrases can serve a number of grammatical functions:

Infinitive Phrases as Nouns

'Infinitive phrases' can function as nouns, and like other nouns, they can serve as the subject or object of a sentence.
As subjects, they typically appear at the beginning of the sentence. Here are a few examples in which infinitive phrases are used as subjects:

Example

To drink coffee every morning makes you fresh.

To meet you was a pleasure.

As objects, infinitive phrases appear after transitive verbs. Here are a few examples:

Example

I love to dance on the stage.

I hate to paint the walls on my own.

ThumbnailPhoto

Infinitive Phrases as Modifiers

Infinitive phrases can also be used as adjectives describing or modifying nouns. When used as adjectives, they can appear either before or after the noun they modify. Here are a few examples of infinitive phrases that are used as adjectives:

Example

The person to ask is the manager.

I needed a friend to understand me.

Infinitive Phrases as Adverbs

Infinitive phrases can also be used as adverbs and give further information about the verb, adjective, or another adverb in a sentence. Here are a few examples:

Example

I stopped to smoke.

I just eat to live not to enjoy.

Split Infinitives

Sometimes, an additional word (such as an adverb) can appear between the particle "to" and the verb, resulting in a split infinitive. Split infinitives are often used in informal conversation. For example:

Example

You need to quickly move in.

She asked me to kindly leave the room

Review

Infinitive phrases are to-infinitives that are used as:

1.

nouns (subjects and objects)

2.

adjectives

3.

adverbs

Comments

(0)
Loading Recaptcha...

Recommended

Bare Infinitives

bookmark
The word 'bare' means without the addition of something. So you can easily get the meaning of a bare infinitive.

Dangling Modifiers

bookmark
Who did this? Can't you find the subject? It's probably the dangling modifiers' work! Let's see what are they.

Infinitives

bookmark
Infinitives are used in many structures, especially after catenative verbs. Follow the article to learn them.
LanGeek
Download LanGeek app