滿眼風光
古今中外事，都付笑談中。
今天再貼出一帖枯燥的語法，以繼續我們的Verbs and Verbals討論。今天我們要(小結性地)結束不定式和-ing的比較，以便我們在下一節可以開始一個新的topic.
A: Of course, gerund and infinitive verbals can have their respective passive forms:
Gerund passive form: Everyone likes being congratulated when he/she works hard.
Infinitive passive form: She expects to be promoted soon. So passive forms of gerund and infinitive are relatively easy.
B: Next, “verb + object + infinitive” is a general syntax pattern.
Many verbs fit this pattern, we can also list a few below:
advise allow ask enable encourage invite order persuade remind tell warn Let’s look at examples first: 1. The lawyer advised her to read the contract carefully. 2. The negotiators persuaded the union leaders to accept the pay deal. 3. The court ordered the company to pay the compensation. 4. They invited her to speak at the conference. 5. Training in this rigorous program enabled me to accomplish the mission. 6. She asked me to come back later, but I forgot all about it. 7. He warned her not to put all of her money in one company[1]. 8. He reminded her not to lose any more games[2]. 9. He simply told me to back off.
So this syntax is easy, too.
C: Verbs of Perception:
See, watch, hear, listen to, feel, notice, smell, etc., are a set of verbs we call verbs of perception. They may be followed by an object, then an infinitive, or a gerund. There is a subtle difference in meaning depending upon whether an infinitive or a gerund is used. In addition, if an infinitive follows, a special feature needs our attention: the little infinitive article “to” is omitted; i.e., a bare infinitive is needed here.
I watched my boss
I heard Mary (to) play a song on the guitar.
She saw him (to) sign the cheque.
He patiently listened her (to) complain for two hours.
I watched them (to) play tennis on that clay court.
He noticed her (to) change attitudes.
We feel her (to) suffer from the pain.
An explanation seems to be needed on the difference between the infinitive sentence and gerund sentence: use the infinitive indicates that a complete action is (was) witnessed, while use of gerund indicates that only part of the action was witness (the action is still under process).
Three more verbs, make, have, let, although they are not so much of verbs of perception, have the feature of “being followed by an object, then a bare infinitive:
I have my secretary
Note. “have” takes this feature only when it means “to make”. Otherwise “to” is not omitted: Hurry, we have work to do!
Another special verb that requires either a bare infinitive or an infinitive with “to” is “help”:
He helped
The four sentences are all corrected and acceptable. Some argue that the American English tends not to use the infinitive article “to”, while the British English tends to use that little article.
D: Model verbs.
Infinitive without “to” is also used after the following verbs (including their negatives):
can/could had better may/might must need/needn’t shall/should will/would make
This is a group of easy ones and we skip examples of each of them.
E: To: an infinitive article or a preposition?
The word “to” can be the little article of an infinitive verbal; or it can be a preposition. When it is used as a preposition, it must be followed by the gerund form. The following list includes phrasal verbs or prepositional phrases in which “to” is a preposition:
look forward to object to be used to get used to react to respond to in addition to
Example sentences:
He always looks forward to seeing her (a common mistake committed by many Chinese is: …look forward to see her). She objects to taking his opinions. We are used to eating lots of junk food. He’ll get used to not having her around. She quickly reacted to exploding in the hotel. They responded in time to calling upon him for help. In addition to cocking a dinner for her, he’s also prepared some excellent wines.
F: Some recent development:
Verbs: to be, to come, and to go. Under some conditions, infinitive verbs follow these three verbs will omit the infinitive article to. See note on the section of “come and go”.
