Infinitives

 Grammar-Quizzes
 As Subjects - Activities Framed | Unframed

 

 

Read & Compare

 

An infinitive, similar to a gerund, is:

  • a noun formed from a verb (an activity)
  • a singular noun
  • used for intended (future) activities
  • used as a subject or object
  • used in bulleted lists

 

Shakespeare

"To be, or not to be, that is the question."


SUBJECT - GERUND PHRASE SUBJECT - INFINITIVE  PHRASE
Starting a sentence with an infinitive is not as common as using a gerund.  (noun phrase) To start a sentence with an infinitive sounds awkward as if one is giving a formal speech.

 

Infinitives are frequently used in quotes.

To believe is very dull. To doubt is intensely engrossing. To be on the alert is to live.
To be lulled into security is to die. -Oscar Wilde

 

Infinitives are commonly used in dictionary definitions:

KNOW

1. To perceive directly; grasp in the mind with clarity or certainty. 2. To regard as true beyond doubt: "I know she won't fail." 3. To have a practical understanding of, as through experience; be skilled in: "knows how to cook." 4. To have fixed in the mind: "knows her Latin verbs." 5. To have experience of: "a black stubble that had known no razor"-- ;William Faulkner 6. To be acquainted with: "He doesn't know his neighbors." 7. To be able to distinguish; recognize as distinct: "knows right from wrong." 8. To discern the character or nature of: "knew him for a liar." 9. Archaic To have sexual intercourse with  .

 

 
 

Practice

 

Restate the 'infinitive' phrase (left column) to a 'gerund' phrase (right column).
 

# YOUR RESPONSE ANSWER

e.g.
To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.
 
Knowing is nothing at all; imagining is everything.

1.

To live is to learn.
  is

 

 

2.

To know is to care.
is

 

 

3.

To know what we know and to know what we do not know -- that is understanding.

 

 

4.

To see is to believe.
is

 

 

5.

and

 

 

6.

To be successful in love, one must know how to begin and when to stop.

 

   

7.

lip service = to say what others want to hear

 

 

8.

and

 

 

9.

stumble = to lose one's balance and fall
totter = to be about to fall; to be unsteady on one's feet

 

   

10.

 

   
 

 

 

 

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Julie Sevastopoulos - ESL Department - College of San Mateo - San Mateo, CA 94402 USA