Infinitive and the -ingformENGLISH 6

The Infinitive

Används ofta som motsvarighet till de

svenska infinitiven (ex att titta – to look)

Ex: It is easy to speak English

Notera: Vid användning av orden never och

not placeras dessa alltid före to.

Ex. It is stupid not to try.

Ex: It is important never to give up.

Infinitiv används också efter frågeorden: how,

what, when, where, who

(motsvarande en hel sats på svenska).

Ex. I don’t know how to thank you.

Ex. I have no idea where to go.

Infinitiv används efter bl.a allow, ask, cause,

expect, like, permit, tell, want, wait for.

Ex. They expect us to do it.

Verbs followed by a verb in the to-infinitive form

• agree

• appear

• arrange

• attempt

• can afford

• care

• choose

• claim (hävda)

• consent (samtycka)

• decide

• empower (berättiga, göra det

möjligt för)

• seem

• tend

• threathen

• fail (misslyckas)

• hope

• learn

• manage

• mean

• offer

• plan

• pretend

• promise

refuse

• volunteer

• want

• wish

Ren infinitiv – bare infinitive• Ren infinitiv, the bare infinitive, används efter

have i betydelsen ”låta” (se till att), let i

betydelsen tillåta samt efter make (få,tvinga)

• Please, let me watch TV.

• I’m sorry that I made you cry.

Rule: With these verbs, the following verb is a

bare infinitive, i.e there is no to between the two

verbs.

The ing-form• Many English learners make the mistake of

using the to-infinitive instead of the ing-form, and the other way around.

• The ing-form is used after certain verbs, such as

avoid, enjoy, finish, cannot help, go on, keep,

mind, quit, risk, stop.

• Ex. I cannot help falling in love with you.

• Ex. I enjoy fishing

• Ex. I keep reminding myself that I need to finish

my homework in time.

The ing-form• Is used after prepositions: at, in, on etc.

• She went out without bringing her

handbag.

• Is used after busy, like, it’s no good/no

use, worth

• Ex. I like being alone sometimes.

Verbs followed by a verb in the –ing-form

• admit

• appreciate

• avoid

• burst out

• cannot help

• cannot stand

• carry on

• confess

• consider

• deny

• detest

• dislike

• enjoy

• fancy

• favor

• finish

• give up

• imagine

• involve

• keep/on

• mind

• miss

• postpone

• practice

• put off

• quit

• recall

• repent

• resent

• resist

• risk

• suggest

Certain expressions that arefollowed by the ing-formIt’s no use/It’s no good

There’s no point in…

It’s (not) worth…

Have (no) difficulty…

A waste of money/ time…

Spend/waste (time)…

Translate, please.Vi måste överväga att ge hemlösa en plats att bo.

Jag kan inte se någon svårighet att lösa det problemet.

De förnekade att de skrivit flygbladet.

Hon kan aldrig tänka sig att spela om pengar.

Hon vill inte arbeta med något som innebär att döda djur.

AnswersWe must consider giving homeless people someplace to live.

I cannot see any difficulty solving the problem.

They denied writing the leaflet.

She can never imagine gambling about money.

She doesn’t want to work with anything concerning killing animals.

The progressive ing-form• The progressive is typically used to describe that

something is going on (in progress):

- At the moment of speaking

- Was going on at some other point in time in the

past

- Will be going on sometime in the future.

- Ex.We choose to have dinner at the steakhouse

because we might want to go dancing afterwords.

Special cases – verbs that can be both ing-form and to infinitive, withdifferent meaning

–

Expression Example ExplanationStop doing She has stopped smoking You stop or continue an action

Go on doing They went on playing as if nothing had happened.

Stop to do She stopped to look at the display in the window. You stop doing something and start doingsomething else.

Go on to do She went on to describe the details of the painting.

Try doing Why don’t you try putting an ad in the paper?

If you want to express that what you are doing is an experiment or a try

Try to do He tried to convince her that he wasright.

You try do to something, often succeeds

Need doing My car needs washing An object need to be treated somehow

Need to do I need to find a job. A person needs to do something.

Be/get used to doing. – I’ll never get used to getting up early in tjemorning.

Something that you are getting used to doing

Used to do When I lived in England, I used to drive on the left. talk about what you used to do in the past

Translate, please.1. De slutade prata om politik.

2. De gick över till att diskutera den kommande semestern.

3. Sandra stannade för att titta på den vackra utsikten.

4. Den stora familjen behöver köpa ett stort hus.

5. De brukade gå långa promenader längs stranden.

Answers1. They stopped talking about politics.

2. They went on to discuss the upcoming holiday.

3. Sandra stopped to look at the beautiful scenery.

4. The big family need to buy a big house.

5. They used to take long walks along the beach.