At the heart of most sentences, there is a verb (the action), and before the verb, you have the subject (who does the action?). Sentences mostly have subjects (but see below, “more complicated” stuff), and they nearly always have verbs.
But then what comes after the verb is more variable, and can be many different things. Here are three of them:
- Object (usually a noun or a noun phrase): Tom broke his glasses.
- To-infinitive: I want to go.
- Object + to-infinitive: I need everybody to sit down.
The third example, object + to-infinitive, is only used after a few verbs (listed below), but they are common verbs. Here are three very common ones, and there is a curious thing: they’re all related in meaning:
- I want you to help me.
- I need you to help me.
- I’d like you to help me.
And you can’t say:
I want that you help me.nopeI need that you help me.nopeI’d like that you help me.nope
Many languages use something like examples 1 and 2, above; the problem is mostly with example three: object + infinitive. Here’s another example:
“She wants Sammy to go swimming”
I made a short video about this, which you can see here:
The meaning link is this: the verbs are all about getting somebody to do something, by telling them what you want them to do, asking them, advising them, encouraging them . . .
2 Here are some other verbs which follow the same pattern:
Subject Verb Object To-infinitive
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
- She asked him to wait for 10 minutes.
- They requested the supplier to modify the order.
- The police advised him to be more careful
- His dad encouraged him to do more exercise.
- The teacher taught her students to be more curious.
Those are the most common verbs that are followed by an object and the to-infinitive.
Notes on the “more complicated” stuff
Need
We described need above, but there’s another way we use it, as a modal verb:
- You needn’t worry, we have time.
- I needn’t have waited because he didn’t come.
Both examples are negative; that’s the most common way we use need as a modal verb,.
“Sentences mostly have subjects”
Language is diverse and unpredictable; in fact it’s more biological than logical. You can – and should – use language to express logical ideas, but that doesn’t mean that the language itself is logical, which is why mostly is a good word to keep in mind. Language grows, and twists about, and changes in the mouths of millions of speakers.
Years ago, these speakers were mostly in the English speaking countries, but now English is a lingua franca that is widely used in many countries, which all have their own ways of pronouncing it and modifying it. English is a rich, diverse plant which is finding fertile ground wherever people from different language backgrounds want to talk to each other. And they do want to do exactly that, more and more.
Almost anything you say about language will be, at best, mostly true.
Intransitive verbs
A small number of verbs are intransitive, which means they don’t pass any actions or ideas on to someone or something else.
- They’re often body movements: standing, sitting, walking, swimming, coming, going. .
- Or mouth and face movements: coughing, sneezing, crying, smiling, speaking, talking, listening . . .
- Or about existence: existing, disappearing, staying, happening, occurring, dying . . .
This is not a complete list, but all these verbs have one thing in common: no person or thing receives the action of the verb. You just do it. It happens.
That’s all for now! © Shepherd School of English