{"id":2450,"date":"2012-08-02T18:05:38","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T01:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?p=2450"},"modified":"2012-11-27T09:37:41","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T17:37:41","slug":"infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Infinitives<\/h2>\n

The infinitive is the most basic default form of a verb.\u00a0 Verbs are listed in the dictionary by their infinitive forms.\u00a0 To make an infinitive, we add the preposition “to” in front of the verb: to walk, to run, to love, to buy, to sell, to be or not to be.\u00a0 Even though it begins with a preposition, it is not a prepositional phrase.\u00a0 It is an infinitive.<\/p>\n

Infinitives function as nouns, and can take any role a noun can take.\u00a0 For example, an infinitive can be the subject of a sentence:<\/p>\n

1) “To err is human.” — Seneca the Younger<\/a> (4 BC-65 AD).<\/p>\n

2) “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”\u00a0 — Alexander Pope<\/a> (1688-1744)<\/p>\n

3) “To err is human, but it feels divine.”\u00a0 — Mae West<\/a> (1893-1980) \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

An infinitive can also be the direct object of certain verbs.\u00a0 The following are some verbs that idiomatically can take an infinitive as a direct object: appear, ask, claim, help, hope, know, like, make, need, persuade, propose, require, want.\u00a0 The following are some verbs that idiomatically do not take an infinitive as a direct object: find, prohibit, request, reveal, succeed, suggest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Infinitive phrases<\/h2>\n

Any grammatical role that can be filled by a simple infinitive can be filled by a full infinitive phrase.\u00a0 What’s an infinitive phrase?<\/p>\n

Well, the verb in an infinitive can have all the accoutrements of a normal verb: a direct object, adverbs, prepositional phrases, etc.\u00a0 In fact, the verb of an infinitive can have a subject: that subject will always be in the objective form (me, her, him, them) as opposed to the subjective form (I, he, she, they) normally used for subjects.\u00a0 Here’s an assortment of infinitives and infinitive phrases.<\/p>\n

4) To sleep<\/span>, perchance to dream<\/span>: ay, there’s the rub.<\/p>\n

5) He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance<\/span>, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspected he has utterly neglected to attend to them<\/span>.<\/p>\n

6) A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the\u00a0security\u00a0of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms<\/span>, shall not be\u00a0infringed.<\/p>\n

7) Is it necessary for me to give further examples<\/span>?<\/p>\n

The esteemed authors of these: #4 = William Shakespeare (1564-1616), a sentence from the famous soliloquy in Hamlet<\/em>; #5 = Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of the complaints against George III in the Declaration of Independence<\/em>; #6 = James Madison (1751-1836), the complete text of the Second Amendment in his Bill of Rights.\u00a0 The last, considerably less lofty, is my own ironic self-referential example sentence J, one that demonstrates a pronoun in the objective form as the subject of the infinitive.<\/p>\n

If such lofty sources use infinitive phrase, you can bet you will see them with regularity on the GMAT.\u00a0 For example, in the OG13, see SC #8, #13, #15, #16, #18, #28, #34, #39, #42 and #45: those are just a few examples of OG SC problems in which an infinitive phrase plays out either as the correct answer or as part of an incorrect answer.\u00a0\u00a0 That’s ten examples in the first 50 practice SC questions: clearly, infinitive phrases are all over the SC section!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here’s another practice question:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/gmat.magoosh.com\/questions\/1131<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Infinitives The infinitive is the most basic default form of a verb.\u00a0 Verbs are listed in the dictionary by their infinitive forms.\u00a0 To make an infinitive, we add the preposition “to” in front of the verb: to walk, to run, to love, to buy, to sell, to be or not to be.\u00a0 Even though it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13209],"class_list":["post-2450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInfinitives Phrases on the GMAT - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Infinitives The infinitive is the most basic default form of a verb.\u00a0 Verbs are listed in the dictionary by their infinitive forms.\u00a0 To make an infinitive, we add the preposition “to” in front of the verb: to walk, to run, to love, to buy, to sell, to be or not to be.\u00a0 Even though it […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshGMAT\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-03T01:05:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-27T17:37:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshGMAT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshGMAT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/person\/320346c205075513344435baf9b0521b\"},\"headline\":\"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-03T01:05:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"commentCount\":19,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"GMAT Grammar\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/\",\"name\":\"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-03T01:05:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam\",\"description\":\"Everything you need to know about the GMAT\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Magoosh\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/files\/2019\/04\/Magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/files\/2019\/04\/Magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"width\":265,\"height\":60,\"caption\":\"Magoosh\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshGMAT\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MagooshGMAT\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/person\/320346c205075513344435baf9b0521b\",\"name\":\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/15a1e36ef1c2c3940179212433de141a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b06de81592cd77bb46aa560cc59aee179cba4d042835c3529221ea1b344cce0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b06de81592cd77bb46aa560cc59aee179cba4d042835c3529221ea1b344cce0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\"},\"description\":\"Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating magna cum laude) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's Youtube video explanations.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured\"],\"award\":[\"Magna cum laude from Harvard\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"GMAT\"],\"knowsLanguage\":[\"English\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Content Creator\",\"worksFor\":\"Magoosh\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/author\/mikemcgarry\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT","og_description":"Infinitives The infinitive is the most basic default form of a verb.\u00a0 Verbs are listed in the dictionary by their infinitive forms.\u00a0 To make an infinitive, we add the preposition “to” in front of the verb: to walk, to run, to love, to buy, to sell, to be or not to be.\u00a0 Even though it […]","og_url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/","og_site_name":"Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshGMAT\/","article_published_time":"2012-08-03T01:05:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-11-27T17:37:41+00:00","author":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MagooshGMAT","twitter_site":"@MagooshGMAT","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/"},"author":{"name":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/person\/320346c205075513344435baf9b0521b"},"headline":"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT","datePublished":"2012-08-03T01:05:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/"},"wordCount":530,"commentCount":19,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#organization"},"articleSection":["GMAT Grammar"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/","name":"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-03T01:05:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/infinitives-phrases-on-the-gmat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Infinitives Phrases on the GMAT"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/","name":"Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam","description":"Everything you need to know about the GMAT","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#organization","name":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/files\/2019\/04\/Magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/files\/2019\/04\/Magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","width":265,"height":60,"caption":"Magoosh"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshGMAT\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/MagooshGMAT"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/person\/320346c205075513344435baf9b0521b","name":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/15a1e36ef1c2c3940179212433de141a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b06de81592cd77bb46aa560cc59aee179cba4d042835c3529221ea1b344cce0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b06de81592cd77bb46aa560cc59aee179cba4d042835c3529221ea1b344cce0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry"},"description":"Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating magna cum laude) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's Youtube video explanations.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured"],"award":["Magna cum laude from Harvard"],"knowsAbout":["GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/author\/mikemcgarry\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13209,"user_id":26,"is_guest":0,"slug":"mikemcgarry","display_name":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b06de81592cd77bb46aa560cc59aee179cba4d042835c3529221ea1b344cce0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"M\u1d9cGarry","first_name":"Mike","description":"Mike served as a GMAT Expert at Magoosh, helping create hundreds of lesson videos and practice questions to help guide GMAT students to success. He was also featured as \"member of the month\" for over two years at <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/mike-mcgarrys-gmat-experience\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Club<\/a>. Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating <em>magna cum laude<\/em>) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youtube <\/a>video explanations and resources like <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/whats-a-good-gmat-score\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What is a Good GMAT Score?<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-diagnostic-test\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Diagnostic Test<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}