Infinitive Phrases

The basics of infinitive phrases.

[@erwinsarm]

I would like to thank you for this video. I spent an hour staring blankly at my homework and not understanding what any of the videos meant. However, once I found this video, everything seemed to be put in place.

[@abdullaalshami7647]

im an arab that live in dubai tommorow is my last term quiz and i sware to god you really helped me thank you

[@yxngjay6032]

I’m American but my family is from Dubai

[@yxngjay6032]

assalamualaikum

[@nathanortiz2852]

Thank you sooo much, you have made the infinites phases so clear that I could understand. I looked at 3 other videos before this and I didn't help me understand what they were talking about. Thank you very much for making this video.

[@blueavalon9089]

I think I'll pass that final now :)

[@zynex9250]

I got a final tommorow :/

[@rayan2808]

@@zynex9250 same

[@EricTu-n4s]

did u end up passing?

[@FirstLast-mf1og]

Thank you so much! You humor helps me to remember the different grammar rules! I appreciate all you do!

[@FirstLast-mf1og]

Your*

[@GiannaAragona]

I wish you were my English teacher!!! Thank you for teaching me what an infinitive phrase is!

[@roshnimishra1366]

Thank you so much I have a test on this tomorrow. Thank u so much. God Bless You! Finally I understand these verbal phrases.

[@neilhepworth6968]

:)

[@genshinnoimpact3876]

Thanks for the information sir Neil. I had problems discussing this lesson in my class, but because of this very educational video i was able to teach them how infinitives work. Thank you.

[@lorisierra2449]

I love your sense of humor. Thank you for making phrases less awful.

[@zynex9250]

Thanks rlly helpful 👍👍👍

[@aureliaf-r9160]

YASSSS THANK YOUUUUU! My English teacher was about to kill me.

[@vanessastefania3414]

I THINK I HAVE A CHANCE AT PASSING MY FINAL OH MY GOSH GOD BLESS U MAN I LOVE YOU I HOPE U LIVE A LONG PROSPEROUS LIFE & WIN THE LOTTERY thank u 🥺💓💓

[@jk-m0029]

im an arab i live in jordan and i have a final exam tommorow .i swear you saved my life! thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[@oliviaviskovic5051]

Thank you for this! I asked my teacher so many times to explain it better and I never got it until now

[@hlayou104]

THANK YOU SO MUCH I HAVE AN ENGLISH FINAL EXAM TOMORROW AND I ALWAYS STRUGGLED WITH INFINITIVES THANK YOU YOU SAVED MY LIFE :D

[@ladybuglittles1311]

You make the infinitive phrases so simple. Thank you so much.

[@jubabida]

Saved my English grade. What a king

[@EricTu-n4s]

sorry but your king has passed away recently due to drug complications

[@TheSnowyOwl-zg2ck]

This helps, but you only explain how we can use 'tricks' to decide what the infinitive phrases are. I would like a video that explains the 'real' way to know why they are an adverb, noun, or adjectives with some examples of each kind. Thanks.

[@ericyorkify]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Infinitive phrases had me completely lost before this video

[@jessicalamisiapana9676]

I love your sense of humor 😁😁😁

[@marikajames2134]

Thank you!!! You explained this very clearly I wish I was your student

[@nirvana_delev]

Thank You! This helped me by not making want to rip my hair out in frustration💯

[@farrellventigan9096]

Professor, you are so amazing! You are so good at this Prof!

[@lorraine8076]

How is he have low subscribers, come on, he helped me a lot, he deserved more,

[@randamansour7200]

and on top of all of that this vedio have saved my life thak u mr .Hepworth

[@layanhalawani6281]

I can't stop telling everyone about ur video, I tried getting help from everyone ...I never understood anything..BUT thx to u I understood it like a pro but I would've like if u explained the adjective too and the noun direct object and subject but thank uuuuu ..u have helped me alot

[@EricTu-n4s]

D1 glazer honor roll A+

[@ezaz.lr4528]

Thanks. This was very helpful and entertaning.

[@michelleyoon3856]

THANK YOU SO MUCH THESE ARE SO HELPFUL AND HELP ME UNDERSTAND SO MUCH BETTER

[@zachm.5704]

An infinitive is usually begins with the word to, not always. :)

[@neilhepworth6968]

Zack Gamer Do you have an example of this?

[@zachm.5704]

Neil Hepworth We use the infinitive without to after modal verbs.. e.x: in this sentence: mightIt might rain later in the morning. (NOT It might to rain later in the morning. it is still an infinitive.

[@neilhepworth6968]

Zack Gamer Ah, true enough.

[@hamzakeroum9808]

10000 thanks ♡ you have been too kind to me . the best teachrr I have ever seen .

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hamza Keroum No problem. :)

[@baycityworldful]

Mr Hepworth: Loved this lesson on infinitives. However another site listed these two sentences as examples of infinitives acting as adjectives: We will hire some workers to put up a fence. /// I need a tutor to teach me Spanish. However it appears to me that both of these infinitives can be moved to the front of the sentence and be grammatically correct which would make them adverbial according to your formula. Do you think that other site was incorrect.In the first sentence the inf. phrase is modifying workers and the second has the phrase modifying tutor which I suppose would have to make them adjectival. So which is it?

[@sansholamarocaine3718]

Thank you for your help ❤

[@mrhopkins3479]

Nice guide I liked it

[@randamansour7200]

Thank you so much Mr. Hepworth it did really help me

[@Dylank001]

Thank you for this video, it was very helpful!

[@charleshanselbugaoan6205]

saved my life for my english quiz tomorrow . lol thanks

[@neilhepworth6968]

+knight sven You're welcome. :)

[@linaouafek6592]

Thanks a lot everything is clear to me now thank uu soo much u really helped me to understand it

[@gabilowenstein9926]

Thank you so much with the clarifying what it was doing. I was really confused, but now I'm feeling ready for my test!

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Gabi Lowenstein You're welcome. :)

[@SanKirtan-Yagya]

1.I advised him to play cricket. 2.The letter to have been written by her has been received to me. 3.I have something to give you. In these clauses, what is the grammatical part of 'to play'/ 'to have been written' / 'to give' ? (Adj. Or noun Or adv.)

[@youssefelhamdaoui9806]

thank you so much Mr. Hepworth you help me soooooooooo much really god bless you

[@neilhepworth6968]

:)

[@FatimaZahra-mv4pc]

Quite helpful

[@amirabennis9066]

Nop you don't have a horrible face😍. I like your way of clarification sire. I have an exam tomorrow but Im not scared anymore about it. Thank you sire. Im an English department student from Morocco 🇲🇦

[@EricTu-n4s]

you miss every shot you dont take right

[@jamesjordan4796]

Thx this saved me from failing a test

[@juliebeachy7967]

Thanks! Infinitive phrases made easy!

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Julie Beachy You're welcome. :)

[@laserwriter7782]

I'm still a little confused. I found these examples online for infinitives as adjectives: 1) The fair is the place to go. -I asked myself "where" to "to go" in my head in order for me to find the infinitive phrase, and I got these answers: To go to the fair or to go to the place I don't know which is the right infinitive phrase. 2) I have some jeans to wash. -I tried replacing "some jeans to wash" with "that/this/something" and it made sense since it formed "I have that/something" I'm not sure if i am doing it right.

[@neilhepworth6968]

...I don't quite understand your question, but I think I see one error in your thinking: an infinitive phrase will always (for our purposes) start with to + a verb. So in the second example "some jeans" is not part of the phrase because they come before the infinitive "to wash".

[@basharhamodeh7161]

thanks a lot you helped me a lot in understanding this lesson i don't know how to thank you for this.

[@neilhepworth6968]

You're welcome! :)

[@learnerlearner2189]

Thanks for your video. how about the following sentences:?! 1-For some, the attempt to understand his writing is a challenge. 2-They find it hard to understand the sixteenth-century expressions. 3-However, most people like to see the plays performed.

[@neilhepworth6968]

What about 'em?

[@learnerlearner2189]

Neil Hepworth I want to know the grammatical role of infinitive phrases in the following sentences base on your rules (they are noun,adverb,or adjective?!) : 1-For some, the attempt to understand his writing is a challenge. 2-They find it hard to understand the sixteenth-century expressions. 3-However, most people like to see the plays performed. Thanks

[@neilhepworth6968]

It is ME Am I doing your homework for you? 1. adj. 2. adv. 3. noun

[@learnerlearner2189]

Oh..No... that was not my homework.. I watched the video about infinitive phrases and those examples were described and I wasn't able to distinguish the grammatical rules of them. Thanks. I posted those questions on some English forum and I got detailed-explained replies . Thanks anyway

[@Almuttaqia]

Neil Hepworth Hello. I have a question if you don't mind. I read that the Infinitive Phrase can have a fourth function: complement of an adjective. This being said, sentence number 2, in the previous comment, contains an Inf. preceded by an adjective, doen't it? If you say it functions as an adverb, this means we can move it elsewhere, which is not the case. "To understand the sixteenth-century expressions" seems to give us information about the thing that is "hard" not about the verb "find". As in: She was happy to help. "to help" being an infinitive that tells us why (or what for) she was happy, in other words: extra information about her happiness. Am I wrong, Mr. Hepworth?

[@hamzakeroum9808]

yep ! it becomes clear . but here it is obligatory since it helps to complete the meaning . (not optional as you mentioned ) :)

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hamza Keroum Ah, I see what you're saying. It is true that the infinitive is needed for complete understanding, however it NOT needed in order to make the sentence a grammatically correct sentence, which is all you need to see if you can pull out an adjective phrase. Hopefully that didn't make it more confusing...

[@cendytrejo7716]

I wish my English teacher could be this fun 😭

[@sakinashifa6602]

Am I the only one seeing this 7 years after it was uploaded

[@hamzakeroum9808]

i got you . would you mind giving us wht is the function of this inf phrase drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hamza Keroum Is this supposed to say "She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks."? In any case, "to avoid hitting the rocks" is acting as an adverb either to modify and tell us why she drives "slowly" or to modify and tell us how she "drives" her boat. If I had to pick one, I'd say the first option (modifying "slowly") makes the most sense.

[@swervo4195]

"to come with a warning sings" is modifying "one" or "places"? Btw thank you for this lesson

[@ultravader93]

thanks u saved my life i have an English final tmrw may the english be with u XD

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Ultra Vader You're very welcome. Great screen-name, BTW. :)

[@ohmikans]

Great

[@effzzzzz8871]

thanks a lot! please I have a question about this sentence : she was ready to do whatever he liked. What's the function of the infinitive phrase in here?

[@shwin7263]

Super helpful:)

[@jackjoyce509]

I live in atlanta ga and my english teacher makes no sense, but this is going to get me the A thanks!

[@neilhepworth6968]

Glad I could be of help. :)

[@daniabatool8079]

I've a sentence "We made a new plan to contruct a new building" here 'to contruct a new building ' is an infinitive phrase..working as an adjective as describes 'plan' but we can also put it at the beginning and the sentence sounds pretty okay so is it also an Adverbial infintive phrase? So can we have 2 infinitives in one sentence ?

[@hashemalshukri1068]

Ur the best

[@bip8821]

Thank you!

[@assimimaghri1525]

thank you so much

[@yousefayyad3548]

you just saved my life

[@user-eb1yw8gs5x]

Thank you.

[@juancalmo4902]

this so help me so much.

[@Davrin]

Thank you, you've gotten me out of quite the jam. Thank you

[@mariamkinen8036]

Thanks. Good!

[@basicallyid0rand0mwork18]

Is there any commas after moving the adverb?

[@willdixon2630]

Finally! Thank you so much!!!

[@manaralmarshad4660]

Wish you were my english teacher.

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Manar Almarshad :)

[@nikitayla3985]

very helpful

[@ctrla4717]

Thank you

[@amyzliu]

wait can an infinitive be for example "to completely follow" like with an adverb in it or something

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Amy L. The super-picky English teacher would call that a split-infinitive. In formal writing we try to avoid split-infinitives by rewording it like this: "I would like you completely to follow the directions." I does sound super formal, which is why most people don't talk that way, but in formal writing we should avoid split-infinitives. Did that answer your question?

[@BumN8]

what if you cant switch the phrase to the front or the back but it says the correct answer is an adverb? and i came across this problem where it could be a noun and/or an adverb

[@neilhepworth6968]

+nathanvaldez45 The trick to move the adverb clause only works when it is modifying a verb - which 90% of adverb phrases do. If the adverb phrase is modifying an adjective or an adverb, then it can't be moved. Did you have a specific example that you wanted me to explain?

[@BumN8]

i cant think of the problem from the top of my head.. however this video did help. i hardly knew how to do this and after the video i understood it a lot more

[@roozalismail7038]

What about this sentence To climb a mountain takes a lot of dedication . It’s an adverb right?

i think its a noun (subject)

[@bobelgamed7094]

can you explain how to know if its an adjective because sometimes I make a mistake

[@hahosy6739]

Hi teacher Neil Hepworth, I have a question for you and my question is that with a verb preceding by a phrases (relative phrase, adverb phrase, noun phrase), gerund phrase, and infinitive phrase which type of the verb should be, a plurar verb or singular verb?Thanks.

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hà Hồ Sỹ If I understand your question correctly, then the answer is for a participle phrase the verb will always be either the past (ends in -ed, unless it's an irregular verb) or present (ends in -ing) participle form. A gerund verb will always end in -ing, and an infinitive will always (well, 99% of the time) come in the form of "to" plus a verb. Hope that helps.

[@hahosy6739]

+Neil Hepworth First of all, thanks for replying me. Second, I'm sorry for my unclear question. Here I only want to focus on subject and verb agreement. My intended question is that if a phrase that works as a noun, especially a subject, is followed by a verb so which type of the verb should be, a plurar or singular verb? Thanks.

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hà Hồ Sỹ Ah, I understand your question now. If a verbal phrase is acting as the subject of a sentence, then its verb should be singular.

[@hahosy6739]

+Neil Hepworth Thanks a lot. By the way, I have a problem with this context: "Uncle Wong’s insistence on quality is not surprising, given his background as hotel banquet chef at five-star hotels such as Four Seasons Hotel and Shangri-La Hotel." In this context above, I cannot distinguish where the subject of the verb 'given' is? I guest it is a kind of a reduced clause but I cannot say for sure. Can you help me resolve this problem. Thanks.

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hà Hồ Sỹ In this case the word "given" starts a participle phrase that modifies the word "insistence". It's a phrase so it has no subject nor verb. On the other hand, it's a badly placed phrase. An adjective phrase should be placed as close as possible to the word it modifies. In this sentence, the participle phrase would make much more sense at the beginning of the sentence rather than at the end.

[@mariamkinen8036]

Clear . Needs internalising. As well as Writing down. !

[@terrysemple8260]

Is the phrase "to finally take" an Infinitive Phrase?

[@barbaraberwick8993]

I have watched 5 different youtube videos on infinitives with a bit of conflicting information. The most confusing to me is whether the form of the verb following "to" has to be only the base form of the verb- no ing's, no ed's, etc. Can you help clarify ?

[@neilhepworth6968]

The verb that follows "to" must be its base form. If you can find an example of another form, I'll look at it, if you want.

[@mariannerario8631]

thanks... this video really makes sense:)

[@ThrillDrift]

yea me too i live in dubai also Thx soo much for the help

[@yousefalramahi3588]

I have a quick question.. In this sentence ( Please write down the numbers to win the lottery on this form) is it considered an adjective or and adverb infinitive phrase......

[@neilhepworth6968]

In your sentence, the infinitive phrase is just "to win the lottery" and it is acting as an adjective phrase that is telling which numbers. "On this form" is NOT part of the infinitive phrase because it is acting as an adverb prepositional phrase that is telling where you should write the numbers. Hope this helps. :)

[@yousefalramahi3588]

+Neil Hepworth Thanks but in the video you said that if you moved the infinitive phrase and it makes sense then its an adverb infinitive phrase

[@yousefalramahi3588]

+Neil Hepworth oh now i got it.. so the other part should be also a part of the infinitive phrase thanks :) u saved me.

[@crawfordoutland6124]

Thank you so much!!!

[@neilhepworth6968]

Crawford Outland You're welcome! :)

[@lukekjohnson100]

thanks you helped alot

[@oscarnicholson639]

THANK YOU

[@neilhepworth6968]

You're welcome. :)

[@ECLJohn]

are there any other way to figure these out? adj,adv,and n

[@jackrietman7575]

2 times speed anyone

[@owenzausch7391]

no cutie

[@owenzausch7391]

no

[@owenzausch7391]

why is hepworth sucking the wartm our of the room

[@hashimskhan602]

@@owenzausch7391 shut up

[@owenzausch7391]

kidding

[@TheDarkersGamings]

I got 99/100 in my final bcz of this video

[@neilhepworth6968]

TheDarkersGamings Awesome!

[@Malak9991]

thanks

[@lollol-gj3wc]

so if one of the sentence you had up there was acting like a noun, adjective or adverb, it won't be an Infinitive Phrases. it will actually be an adverb or something in a sentence?

[@neilhepworth6968]

All infinitives act like either an adjective, adverb, or noun. We treat the infinitive phrase just like we'd treat any other adj., adv., or noun... Did that answer your question...?

[@lollol-gj3wc]

Neil Hepworth oh so we treat it like an adjective, adverb, or noun. but not necessarily it's an adjective, adverb, or noun. it's still infinitive phrase in a sentence?

[@neilhepworth6968]

Correct.

[@lollol-gj3wc]

Oh OK thank you so much!! :)

[@Idwqueen123]

Thx

[@ipseity]

Do you know how to diagram them? I'm having problems with that >_

[@justyeet2432]

I think i can survive the summative test now

[@hamzakeroum9808]

If the last infinitive phrase is an adjective so what does it modify ?

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hamza Keroum Do you have a specific example in mind? Otherwise, there is no reason that an infinitive phrase can't modify a noun that comes before it.

[@hamzakeroum9808]

could you please show us at least just one example ?

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Hamza Keroum "You are the first person to ask me this question." In this sentence the infinitive phrase "to ask me this question" is acting like an adjective and modifying the word "person". Does this help?

[@ezramarks6798]

Saved my life from english class

[@neilhepworth6968]

+Ezra Marks Glad it helped. :)

[@bonbonpony]

00:18 Except for the bare infinitives ;>

[@animeworld1901]

what is the difference between infinitive phrase and infinitive clause?

[@neilhepworth6968]

...there is no such thing as an infinitive clause.

[@hamzaabdulfattah9362]

teachers show this to their students after they give up

[@lovepeace1518]

I need you to elaborate on the noun phrases. The second sentence made no sense.

[@travisplugge7391]

if its a noun will it always come after the verb?

[@neilhepworth6968]

No. It could be the subject of the sentence, in which case it would come before the verb.