An Iran-based English teacher e-mailed me to ask how to answer this multiple-choice test question: “Peter, you have been working so hard this year. I am sure you must be tired. My suggestion for you is (
take,
to take,
taking) some time off.”
IMAGE CREDIT: CALLANSCHOOL.INFOThe answer choices are easily recognizable as the
bare or zero infinitive “take,” the
full infinitive “to take,” and the
gerund “taking.” I thus replied to Ms. Farhad H. that with a fair knowledge of these grammar forms and based on how the third sentence sounds, the correct answer is the full infinitive: “My suggestion for you is
to take some time off.”
The bigger, much tougher question though is why the answer should be “to take” and not “take” or “taking,” and to answer it adequately, we need to review the infinitives and gerunds as
verbals, or words that combine the characteristics of a verb and a noun.
IMAGE CREDIT: ENGLISHSTUDYPAGE.COMRecall that a
full infinitive has the form “to +base form of the verb,” as in “to rest” in “The tired watchman decided
to rest”; here, the full infinitive “to rest” is the
direct object (the receiver of the action) of the operative verb “decided.”
IMAGE CREDIT: 7ESL.COMOn the other hand, a
bare or zero infinitive is an infinitive that, to work properly (or at least smoothly), needs to drop the function word “to” and use only the verb’s base form, as in “rest” in “We saw the watchman
rest for a while”; here, the bare infinitive “rest” is the direct object of the verb “saw.” (Using the full infinitive “to rest” sounds awkward and iffy: “We saw the watchman
to rest for a while.”)
As to a
gerund, it’s a form of the verb that ends in “-ing” to become a noun, as in “resting” in “
Resting recharged the watchman for the rest of his shift.” In that sentence, “resting” is the
subject, a role that its full infinitive equivalent—although also a noun form—plays awkwardly in this particular instance: “
To rest recharged the watchman for the rest of his shift.”
IMAGE CREDIT: SLIDESHARE.COMThis grammar complication brings us to the four general ground rules for using an infinitive or gerund in particular sentence constructions:
1. Use the infinitive as subject to denote potential, as in “
To forgive is a good thing.” On the other hand,
use the gerund to denote actuality or fact, as in “
Forgiving made her feel better.”
2. Use the full infinitive as a complement or object to denote future ideas and plans, as in “His life-goal is
to teach.” On the other hand,
use the gerund when denoting acts done or ended, as in “She chose
teaching.”
3. Use the full infinitive as a complement for single action, as in “He took a leave
to travel,”
and for repeated action, as in “Evenings we come here
to rest.” On the other hand, use the gerund for ongoing action, as in “The fashion model finds
resting necessary after every shoot.”
4. Use the infinitive as object for a request, as in “He asked me
to wait,”
for instruction, as in “She instructed me
to rehearse,”
and causation, as in “He was forced
to resign.” On the other hand,
use the gerund for attitude, as in “She thinks
teaching is a noble profession,”
and for unplanned action, as in “She found
jogging to her liking.”
On top of these ground rules, we must firmly keep in mind that the primary basis for choosing an infinitive or gerund is the specific operative verb of the sentence. We also need to recognize that some operative verbs can take full or bare infinitives, others can take gerunds, and the rest can take both.
Next week, we’ll focus on the choice between full infinitives and bare infinitives.
(Next:
When to use full infinitives, bare infinitives, or gerunds - 2) June 27, 2019
This essay, 1,149th of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the June 20, 2019 print edition of The Manila Times
, © 2019 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
