1. The infinitive and the
punctuation
Ibrahim Ch.
Mohamed I.

2. The infinitive
• An infinitive is the base form of the
verb, commonly preceded by the word : to.
• It names the action or state of a
sentence without specifying the subject.
• An infinitive phrase may be used as a noun, an
adverb or an adjective.

3. !WARNING!
• Note the difference between the following:
TO THE MALL and TO SWIM
One is an infinitive, and the other is a prepositional
phrase. Do no NOT get these confused.
If “to” is followed by a noun or pronoun, then it is a
prepositional phrase. VERBALS ARE ABOUT
VERBS! ☺

4. The infinitive as a noun
• Just like gerunds, they act as subjects, direct
objects, and predicate nominatives. NOTE:
They do not act as objects of the preposition
or indirect objects… This IS different!
• Look at the following! First, find the infinitive
that is being used as a noun, and then
determine wich role it is playing! Example:
James always wanted to act. Direct object

5. The infinitive as an adverb
• Infinitives also act as adverbs; they must
modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
• They act like adverb prepositional phrases. For
example:
• The team was slow to score. To score modifies
the word «slow». Slow is an adjective.
• My grandmother has come to stay. To stay
modifies the verb come.

6. The infinitive as an adjective
• Like all adjectives, infinitives acting as
adjectives modify nouns or pronouns.
• The candidate to trust is Tony.
• The infinitive is to trust and it is modifying or
describing candidate.

7. A Little Quiz!
What is the infinitive in these sentences ?
1- I want to eat a banana.
2- The monkeys are going to the zoo.
3- We need to get a good mark for this project.
4- They learned how to cook.
5- You need to get the right answer to this
question.