Verbs with prepositions

Let´s write good sentences!

Infinitive or -ing form

Infinitive or -ing?

Sometimes we need to decide whether to use a verb in its:

• -ing form (doing, singing)
  
  or
  
• infinitive form (to do, to sing).

For example, only one of the following sentences is correct. Which one?

• I dislike working late. (???)
• I dislike to work late. (???)

When to use the infinitive

The infinitive form is used after certain verbs:
- forget, help, learn, teach, train
- choose, expect, hope, need, offer, want, would like
- agree, encourage, pretend, promise
- allow, can/can't afford, decide, manage, mean, refuse

• I forgot to close the window.
• Mary needs to leave early.
• Why are they encouraged to learn English?
• We can't afford to take a long holiday.

The infinitive form is always used after adjectives, for example:
- disappointed, glad, happy, pleased, relieved, sad, surprised

• I was happy to help them.
• She will be delighted to see you.

This includes too + adjective:

• The water was too cold to swim in.
• Is your coffee too hot to drink?

The infinitive form is used after adjective + enough:

• He was strong enough to lift it.
• She is rich enough to buy two.

When to use -ing

The -ing form is used when the word is the subject of a sentence or clause:

• Swimming is good exercise.
• Doctors say that smoking is bad for you.

The -ing form is used after a preposition:

• I look forward to meeting you.
• They left without saying "Goodbye."

The -ing form is used after certain verbs:
- avoid, dislike, enjoy, finish, give up, mind/not mind, practise

• I dislike getting up early.
• Would you mind opening the window?

Some verbs can be followed by the -ing form or the infinitive without a big change in meaning: begin, continue, hate, intend, like, love, prefer, propose, start.

• It started to rain.
• It started raining.
• I like to play tennis.
• I like playing tennis.

More data by clicking the following link, where you can find a PDF file with the differences between the use of Infinitive/-ing forms.

Infinitive/-ing forms

The use of modals

Modal auxiliary verbs such as can, must and will allow us to express concepts such as “ability” and “obligation”. We also use them to allow us to perform a wide range of functional tasks, such as making requests or speculating. The context in which modal verbs appear is important as each modal has a number of different uses.

Some modals do not have a future or past form.

We can´t use two modals together.

1)    Can (infinitive to be able)

We use can

-         To talk about abilities:

She can skate beautifully.

-         To ask for permission:

Can I borrow your dictionary?

-         For requests:

Can you lend $10?

ü  Remember:

The infinitive form of can is to be able to:

I may be able to attend.

The simple past of can is could or was/were able to:

He could drive before the accident. / He was able to drive before the accident.

2)     Could

As well as being the past form of can we use could

-         To discuss alternatives and opinions:

We could invite everyone to a restaurant, or else we could have a picnic on the beach.

-         To make more polite requests:

Could you bring me the bill, please?

Could you speak a little more slowly, please?

-         We use can for speculating, guessing and discussing possibilities:

The weather could be better tomorrow. (It´s possible)

-         Could or was able to

-         We use could to talk about general past abilities

He could run for miles when he was younger.

However, if we want to say we succeeded in doing something on a particular occasion, or after a lot of difficulty we use be able to:

I drove around for forty minutes, finally I was able to find somewhere to park.

3)     Must

We use must

-         For orders we give to ourselves:

I must pay the phone bill, otherwise they will cut me off.

-         To prohibit something (used in mainly written rules and regulations):

You mustn´t speak on your mobile when you´re driving.

ü  Remember

Non-native speakers can over-use must. It can sound rude or aggressive. To give orders, or to describe duties use have to instead. Make polite requests with could you? instead.

-         For a strong recommendation:

You must see the new James Bond film, it´s wonderful.

-         For making intelligent guesses and deductions:

She must be Melanie´s twin sister. They are almost identical.

-         For deductions in the past we use must have been / can´t have been:

He must have been disappointed not to pass. His teacher can´t have been pleased either.

-         For negative deductions we use can´t be, not mustn´t be:

My parents want me to revise all weekend – they can´t be serious! (NOT: They mustn´t be serious.)

4)     Have to

We use have to:

-         To talk about our duties or obligations

I have to deal with phone calls and enquiries and give advice to students.

-         To show that something isn´t obligatory or necessary:

You don´t have to bring a dictionary to school, we have one in every classroom.

5)     May

We use may:

-         To talk about possibility

It may rain this afternoon.

-         To ask for permission

May I use your phone?

ü  Remember

“May I” is generally considered more polite than “Can I”.

6)     Might

We use might

-         To express a more remote possibility than may, and to speculate.

It might be difficult to get a baby-sitter.

-         As a very polite or formal way of asking for permission, or making a request

Might I say something here?

Might I borrow your phone book for a minute?

7)     Will

We use will

-         For making predictions and talking about the future

-         When we make offers or decisions as we speak

Leave the washing up. I´ll do it later.

Q: Can someone answer the door?

A: I´ll go.

-         To talk about habitual actions

Most days, I´ll normally take the 7:42 train to Marylebone.

-         To make requests or give orders

Will you drop me off in front of the bus station, please?

ü  Remember

Shall can sometimes be used instead of will.

In informal, or more old-fashioned English, when the subject of the modal is I or we, we can use shall, although this is quite rare.

I shall give you my decision in the morning.

Shall is more commonly used with I and we for offers, or to ask for suggestions.

Shall I answer the phone?

What shall we do tonight?

Shall we go to the cinema?

8)     Would

We use would

-         To make polite requests

Would you look after my bag for a few minutes?

-         In conditional sentences

-         In reported speech as the reported form of will

He said he would help me, but he didn´t.

-         To talk about past habits

When we were young we would sit on that old bench near the entrance to the park.

9)     Should and ought to

We use should and ought to

-         To give advice

You should/ought to be more careful about what you say in front of her, she repeats everything.

-         To say what we think is morally right.

Rich countries should help developing countries.

-         To criticise a past action

You should have made sure that tickets were in the bags.

You shouldn´t have been so greedy.

We tend not to use oughtn´t to/oughtn´t to have as it is too hard to say.

-         To make predictions based on previous experience, or what is expected.

Don´t panic, there should be another bus in a couple of minutes.

10) Need

We use need

-         To say when something is necessary or unnecessary.

We need to enroll everyone for the exam before the deadline.

We use needn´t to (don´t need) to say that something is not necessary:

You needn´t buy/ don´t need to buy uniforms and equipment, everything is included in the fees.

ü  Remember

Need can be used both as a modal auxiliary, and as a full verb with an auxiliary. This can be used to make an important distinction of meaning in the past.

Need as a modal: I needn´t have worn a suit because everyone was dressed casually = I wore a suit, but it wasn´t necessary.

Need as a full verb: I didn´t need to wear a suit, so I just dresses casually like everyone else.

Need as a modal: I needn´t have bought the tools because the company supplied everything = I bought the tools but it wasn´t necessary.

Need as a full verb: I didn´t need to buy any tools because the company provided everything = it wasn´t necessary to buy any tools so I didn´t.

Verbs for speculating

For speculating, guessing or discussing possibilities...

Ø About the present, use could, might, may be.

Ø About the past, use could, might, may have + past participle.

For making deductions which you are very certain of...

Ø About the present, use must be/ can´t be

Ø About the past, use must/can´t/couldn´t have + past participle

Key word: SEEM

Seem is a very useful verb for speculating.

1)    (Link verb) use to say that someone/something gives the impression of having a particular quality, or of happening in the way you describe. i.e. Everyone seems busy.

2)    (Transitive verb) use to describe your own thoughts/feelings, in order to make your statements less forceful. i.e. I seem to remember that you promised to work hard.

3)    (Transitive verb) use to say that you tried to do something and were unable to. i.e. I can´t seem to stop talking.

Adjective order

When we use two or more adjectives before a noun then we generally follow this order:

v Dimension

v Age

v Texture

v Colour

v Shape

v Origin

v Purpose

If we want to use more than two adjectives we will usually try to place some of them after the noun.

She had short curly dark hair.

Better: Her dark hair was short and curly.

He carried a worn old leather briefcase.

Better: He carried a worn old briefcase made of leather.

Opinion adjectives, where we give our point of view usually come before adjectives which give more factual information. Examples of opinion adjectives are: beautiful, lovely, nice, pretty, awful, ugly, horrible.

She wore a beautiful blue dress, made of silk.