Infinitive Phrases
Infinitive phrases are phrases that look like infinitives but they are used in special positions.
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:
As objects, infinitive phrases appear after transitive verbs. Here are a few examples:
I love
I hate
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:
The person
I needed a friend
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:
I stopped
I just eat
Split Infinitives
Sometimes, an additional word (such as an adverb) can appear
You need
She asked me
Review
Infinitive phrases are to-infinitives that are used as:
- nouns (subjects and objects)
- adjectives
- adverbs
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Prepositional Phrases
What are prepositional phrases? Generally, as its name requires, prepositional phrases are phrases made of prepositions. To get to know them, read the article.
Adjective Phrases
Phrases are two or more words that can function as specific parts of speech. Adjective phrases are groups of words that function as adjectives.
Adverbial Phrases
Adverbial phrases are made of two or more words and are used as the adverb of the sentence. In this lesson, you will get to know phrasal verbs.
Clauses
A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a predicate. In this lesson, we will discuss clauses in English grammar.
