Overview
Verb Patterns are used to showcase an action or state as a complement rather than as the main verb, perhaps because that verb is not directly carried out by the agent of the sentence. In the examples, “Daria starts to dance,” “Daria loves dancing,” and “Daria encourages dancing,” the dance action is structurally secondary to Daria carrying out the main verb of the clause (in which she initiates, feels, and supports, respectively). Furthermore, in Verb Patterns like these, ‘dance’ might be hypothetical or habitual instead of indicative of what’s actually happening in the moment. However, ‘dance’ is likely more significant to the topic of discussion than ‘start’, ‘love’, or ‘encourage’.
The meaning of a Verb Pattern largely depends on the form of the verbal complement. The most common constructions for Verb Patterns have either a Full Infinitive or an Active Participle as their verbal complement.
- Full Infinitives — or the to [verb] form — typically indicate intention or purpose, and they usually refer to specific instances.
- Active Participles — or the [verb]-ing form — often indicate actions or events in progress, and they can have more general applications.
Finally, the subject of the sentence is not always the agent of the verbal complement. Some Verb Patterns feature a noun between the main verb and the verbal complement to communicate who that agent is.
Structure
Note that the terminology of Verb Patterns may vary from one resource to the next. Full Infinitives might be called simply ‘infinitives’ or ‘the to form’; Active Participles might be called simply ‘participles’, ‘the -ing form’, or even ‘gerunds’. You can read more details about this in the Advanced Concepts section of this page. But for now, just know that these sources are really talking about the same thing, regardless of terminology.
Verb + Verbal
Verb Patterns are composed primarily of a main verb followed by a nonfinite verb form (which is the verbal complement). Nonfinite verb forms include Bare Infinitives, Full Infinitives, Active Participles, and Perfect/Passive Participles. Standard Verb Patterns typically make use of Full Infinitives and Active Participles.
- with Full Infinitive: The main verb is followed by ‘to’ plus a verb in its otherwise base form, as in “would prefer to go” or “stop to smell the roses”.
- with Active Participle: The main verb is followed by a verb with an -ing suffix, as in “prefer waiting till dark” or “stop crying“.
The verbals almost always immediately follow the main verb — or else follow the agent noun sandwiched between (see below) — but there are some exceptions. The negator not might come before the verbal (as in “would prefer not to go“). Similarly, Adverbs of Manner, Adverbs of Degree, and Modal Adverbs might come between the two verbs.
Less common verbal complements are the Bare Infinitive or the Passive Participle, which are more likely to be used as Causative expressions, but they are occasionally featured in standard Verb Patterns as well (see the relevant subsection in Advanced Concepts later on this page).
Participles after Adpositions
When an adposition is in the middle of a Verb Pattern, the verbal used should almost always be an Active Participle, not an infinitive. This overrides other categories that would otherwise sort them into Infinitive Verb Phrases. In particular, while verbs of intent are usually followed by infinitives, expressions like ‘look forward to’, ‘think about’, and ‘plan on’ should instead be followed by Active Participles.
Other instances of adpositions can be found in ‘deter from’, ‘take pride in’, and ‘apologize for’, just to name a few.
Target Nouns Between
Some Verb Patterns sandwich a nominal — meaning: a solitary noun, a pronoun, or a noun phrase — between the main verb and the verbal, as in “need you to pay attention”, “convince them to upgrade their subscription”, or “witnessed the scoundrel trespassing“. These nominals are the target of the main verb while also being the noun that theoretically carries out the following verbal.
For instance, in “Jean witnessed the scoundrel trespassing,” Jean is the subject, and the scoundrel is the target of ‘witness’. But the scoundrel is also the alleged perpetrator of ‘trespassing’.
Grammatically speaking, target nouns are objects of the main verb, but they are also subjects of the verbal. This is called Exceptional Case-Marking (ECM). The form of ECM pronouns should ultimately depend on their role in the main clause. For Verb Patterns, that means that target nouns should always be in their object form, not their subject form. For instance, you should say “hire her to babysit,” not “hire she to babysit.“
Some Verb Patterns require target nouns, some should not include target nouns, and some have the option of including target nouns or not. Infinitive Verb Patterns are more likely than Participle Verb Patterns to require target nouns. They’re especially common after verbs of delegation or influence. Target nouns are also featured in Causatives.
Complex Verb Constructions
Main Verb Transformations
The main verb isn’t always as simple as is typically shown when Verb Patterns is taught (or even on most of this page). Whenever a verb phrase needs to be in a different tense, mood, or voice, those features are applied to the main verb while the verbal remains unchanged. Take for example these variations of the same Infinitive Verb Pattern …
- “She teaches kids to read.” ← Present Simple
- “She taught kids to read.” ← Past Simple
- “She has taught kids to read.” ← Past Perfect
- “The kids were taught to read.” ← Passive Voice (Past Simple)
… or these variations of the same Participle Verb Pattern:
- “He recommends taking two tablets each day.” ← Present Simple
- “He might recommend taking two tablets each day.” ← Present Simple with modal
- “He is recommending taking two tablets each day.” ← Present Continuous
- “He has been recommending taking two tablets each day.” ← Present Perfect Continuous
Across each quartet of example sentences, the main verb changes its form each time, while the verbal (‘to read’ or ‘taking’) remains the same throughout.
Verbal Phrases
The verbal of a Verb Pattern — whether it’s an infinitive or participle — may not be the main verb of the sentence, but it still has the properties of a verb. This means it can be modified (by adverbs, prepositional phrases, and more) and it can have its own complements (like direct or indirect objects).
In the “recommend taking” example above, the verbal ‘taking’ is not by itself; rather, it is the head of an entire phrase: “taking two tablets each day”. We see that ‘taking’ has a direct object (‘two tablets’) and a modifier in the form of a time expression (‘each day’).
Other verbal phrases already displayed on this page include “to wake up early” and “waiting till dark,” just to name a couple.
Categories
The first verb in a Verb Pattern (the main verb of its clause) is directly carried out by its subject, while the second verb (the verbal complement) is indirect and may be in the real or unreal mood. The second verb usually carries more semantic weight — meaning, it’s typically more relevant to the greater context — and virtually any verb can be apply here, especially action verbs. The first verb is still significant, though, as it provides a framework through which the extent, purpose, or method of the second verb is understood.
Not every verb can work as the first verb of a Verb Pattern. Since the general meaning of the first verb determines the form of the second verb, let’s begin by considering the categories in which we might find these first verbs.
Prospective
Some of the verbs that can initiate Verb Patterns are ones that indicate what the subject wants to do or wants someone else to do:
- Verbs of Desire: desire, dream, long, need, want, wish, would like, yearn, etc.
- Verbs of Influence: command, dare, encourage, forbid, invite, permit, provoke, urge, etc.
- Verbs of Delegation: appoint, commission, designation, handpick, nominate, recruit, etc.
- Verbs of Intent: aim, attempt, begin, conspire, hesitate, intend, scheme, seek, try, etc.
- Verbs of Opportunity: afford, deserve, expect, get, manage, neglect, etc.
For example, “The counsel should nominate someone to investigate these claims,” and “Julia encouraged Ansel to apply for the job,” express that the subject pushes someone else to investigate and apply, respectively. Meanwhile, the subject sets out to accomplish their own goals in the examples: “Robert longs to own his own restaurant,” “Terry’s trying to fix the TV,” and “I’ll never get to see Easter Island.”
We might call these ‘prospective’ or ‘future-facing’ verbs, but that doesn’t mean their following verbals always take place in the future tense. In fact, they can occur in any tense. What makes it prospective is that those verbals generally happen after their main verbs, whether it’s long after or just one second after.
Also, just because these verbals are planned or desired doesn’t necessarily mean that they come to pass. For instance, while “Julia encouraged Ansel to apply for the job,” no mention is made as to whether Ansel does in fact apply for the job. Therefore, the verbals that follow prospective verbs might be considered unreal.
Future-facing verbs are followed by Full Infinitives as their verbal complements.
Perceptional
Some of the verbs that can initiate Verb Patterns are ones that indicate what the subject observes or thinks about, or how they feel about it:
- Verbs of Awareness: contemplate, detect, experience, hear, imagine, notice, recognize, etc.
- Verbs of Discussion: cite, debate, describe, explain, indicate, mention, report, underscore, etc.
- Verbs of Preference: adore, appreciate, despise, enjoy, fancy, hate, like, prefer, resent, etc.
- Verbs of Retrospection: apologize for, deny, forget, miss, reflect on, regret, remember, etc.
Unlike the prospective category, perceptional verbals rarely occur after the main verbs. Verbs of Awareness tend to occur simultaneous with their verbals; Verbs of Discussion and Preference may be followed by hypothetical or habitual verbals; and for Verbs of Retrospection, the verbal typically occurs beforehand.
Perceptional verbs are followed by Active Participles as their verbal complements.*
Some examples include: “I’ll never forget visiting the Amalfi Coast.”; “Imagine winning a thousand dollars!”; and “Our pet adores meeting new people.” The first references a time in the past, the second references a hypothetical situation, and the third references an event that is not specific to any time.
* As an exception, feel, hear, and see can instead be followed by Bare Infinitives as their verbal complements.
Procedural
Some of the verbs that can initiate Verb Patterns are ones that indicate how a process is initiated, carried out, progressed, etc.:
- Verbs of Accounting: consist of, entail, justify, necessitate, preclude, require, warrant, etc.
- Verbs of Behavior: demonstrate, exaggerate, fake, imitate, model, practice, portray, etc.
- Verbs of Influence: allow, enable, forbid, insist on, permit, prevent, recommend, suggest, etc.
- Verbs of Operation: begin, delay, eliminate, finish, implement, postpone, resume, stop, etc.
- Verbs of Persistence: can’t help, carry on, continue, endure, keep on, resist, stomach, etc.
These procedural verbs are followed by Active Participles as their verbal complements.
But other procedural verbs are followed by Full Infinitives as their verbal complements, including:
- Verbs of Development: begin, come, fail, grow, learn
- Verbs of Inclination: can’t stand, continue, hate, like, love, prefer, tend, etc.
- Verbs of Purport: allege, appear, claim, pretend, purport, seem, etc.
Procedural verbs in the participle camp tend to have more of an in-progress focus, while procedural verbs in the infinitive camp tend to have more of a big-picture scope. For instance, “Bryan began playing his guitar,” draws attention to the start of his process (without more information, we don’t know what happened after the start). Meanwhile, “Britta began to understand the value of hard work,” places emphasis on ‘understand’ while drawing contrast to a previous lack of understanding.
Overlap
There are plenty of verbs that can be followed by either a Full Infinitive or an Active Participle to form a Verb Pattern.
A few of these are Verbs of Preference like hate, like, love, and prefer. The distinction between an infinitive pattern and a participle pattern is minimal for these. For instance, “I like to ski,” and “I like skiing,” essentially mean the same thing. If anything, the former refers to an action, while the later refers to an activity (for example, it’s possible that if Skyler likes skiing, it means she enjoys watching it in the Olympics, not necessarily that she partakes in the event herself).
But there are far more instances of verbs that can be used for either type of pattern but that have different implications, or very different meanings altogether. For instance, “Samira remembered to walk the dog,” and “Samira remembers walking the dog,” convey two different ideas. In cases like these, the distinction comes from the fact that such verbs have multiple definitions. In this example, the first remember means ‘remind oneself’, while the second remember means ‘recall’.
Here are some distinctions to keep in mind:
- The verbs consider, forget, regret, and remember may refer to intentions — in which case they should be followed by Full Infinitives — or they may refer to awareness or retrospection — in which case they should be followed by Active Participles.
- The verbs begin, (don’t) bother, cease, continue, start, stop, and try may refer to intentions — in which case they should be followed by Full Infinitives — or they may refer to steps in a process — in which case they should be followed by Active Participles.
- Many Influence Verbs — including advise, allow, cause, enable, encourage, forbid, incite, inspire, permit, prompt, propose, and urge — may work for either type of pattern and may broadly cover the same meaning. However, when these verbs are meant to influence specific people and/or concern specific instances, they should be followed by an infinitive; when they are meant to be more generic, they should be followed by a participle.
In general, consider whether the following verbal occurs after the main verb. If it does, it should probably by in the Full Infinitive form. If it occurs before or during the main verb, it should definitely be in the Active Participle form.
Notable Distinctions
Here are some of the differences between Verb Patterns with Full Infinitives and those with Active Participles:
|
FULL INFINITIVE |
ACTIVE PARTICIPLE |
|---|---|
|
When the main verb is followed by the Full Infinitive, the resulting Verb Pattern tends to communicate intention or purpose and is future-facing (meaning the verbal complement occurs after the main verb). |
When the main verb is followed by the Active Participle, the resulting Verb Pattern tends to communicate ongoing actions or events, though their timing could be at any point relative to the main verb. |
|
Infinitive Verb Patterns usually reference specific instances. For example: “I would like to drink coffee, please,” means that the speaker wants coffee at that particular time, but we don’t know whether they usually enjoy coffee. |
Participle Verb Patterns could have either specific or generic applications. In the example, “I like drinking coffee,” the speaker typically enjoys coffee, but we don’t know whether they want coffee at that particular time. |
|
Full Infinitives work best following main verbs of delegation (‘pick’, ‘recruit’); desire (‘want’, ‘would like’); inclination (‘tend’, ‘used’); influence (‘allow’, ‘compel’); intent (‘plan’, ‘aim’); opportunity (‘get’, ‘wait’); and purport (‘appear’, ‘claim’). As such, the occurrence of those Full Infinitive actions might be UNREAL (for instance, Javier may ‘intend to wake up early’, but there’s no guarantee that he will in fact wake up earlier than usual; the only thing that’s real is his intention). |
Active Participles work best following main verbs of accounting (‘entail’, ‘require’); awareness (‘notice’, ‘understand’); behavior (‘depict’, ‘spend time’); discussion (‘debate’, ‘mention’); influence (‘allow’, ‘prohibit’); operation (‘commence’, ‘postpone’); persistence (‘carry on’, ‘resist’); preference (‘detest’, ‘enjoy’); or retrospection (‘forget’, ‘recall’). The actions or events expressed as Active Participles are generally believed to be REAL. |
|
The agent that carries out the verbal is the subject of the clause, unless specified otherwise by a sandwiched target noun (see the subsection in Structure above). |
The agent that carries out the verbal might be the subject of the clause, or a different specified noun, or no one in particular; determining which is the case likely depends on context. |
|
When an adverbial Question Word (when, where, or how) precedes the verb phrase, it probably addresses how the Infinitive complement would take place (and not references the main verb). |
When an adverbial Question Word (when, where, or how) precedes the verb phrase, it probably seeks a modifier for the main verb (and not references the Participle complement). |
Variations
Standard Verb Patterns
Most Verb Patterns, at least as they are taught in English classes, are ways to voice a verb (or potential verb) in a secondary or indirect position. In the sentence “Piper tries to pick a lock,” the verb ‘pick’ occurs (or at least is attempted), but what’s more important is ‘try’; the speaker of this example sentence places more focus on Piper’s attempt than on whether she is successful at picking the lock.
Full Infinitive Verb Patterns are more likely to express the subject’s intentions, expectations, and wants, whereas Active Participle Verb Patterns are more likely to express the subject’s experience, thoughts, or feelings of an action or event.
|
before FULL INFINITIVES |
before ACTIVE PARTICIPLES |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Target Noun |
verbs of Delegation verbs of Influence |
|
|
Target Noun |
verbs of Desire |
verbs of Accounting verbs of Awareness verbs of Influence verbs of Preference verbs of Retrospection |
|
No |
verbs of Inclination verbs of Intent verbs of Opportunity verbs of Purport |
verbs of Behavior verbs of Discussion verbs of Operation verbs of Persistence |
Reporting Verb Patterns
Reported Speech is often made with Content Clauses, perhaps starting with the linker ‘that’ (as in “Nadine said that she would meet up with us later,”). But an alternative way is to use Verb Patterns. The main verbs for these are called reporting verbs (or speaking verbs) and include ‘tell’, ‘instruct’, ‘convince’, ‘explain’, and ‘mention’, among others. Reporting Verb Patterns often have a noun sandwiched between the reporting verb and the verbal complement, especially if it’s a Full Infinitive.
- “They told me to call back later.”
- “We discussed dining at a new restaurant.”
- “I warned you not to push too hard!”
- “He promised to attend the concert.”
- “She described visiting the ruins in great detail.”
Many reporting verbs are also verbs of Influence, and others may be verbs of Intent, Process, or Retrospection (though really there’s no limit to what categories reporting verbs may fall into).
Expressions of Recreation
Some common expressions are those of certain types of activities, usually hobbies or other recreational pursuits.
One type of such expressions is “GO ____-ING”. Not every verb can fit in here; it’s usually a fun and very active endeavor, like ‘biking’, ‘bowling’, ‘camping’, ‘fishing’, ‘shopping’, ‘skating’, ‘surfing’, etc. For example, one might say, “Let’s go hiking.”
The other type of recreational expression is “SPEND TIME ____-ING” and similar phrasing. For example, “Carol spends all her time writing songs.” Here are some variations on ‘spend time’:
- ‘waste time’, ‘kills time’
- ‘spend hours’, ‘spend months’, ‘spend nights’, etc.
- include determiners, like “wasted three days…” or “spend most of my time…”
Future and Modality
Full Infinitives express intentions for what might or could be. Therefore, it makes sense that they would be used in Future Forms. The most common is “be going to [verb]”, but other expressions include “be planning to [verb]”, “be hoping to [verb]”, and “be expected to [verb]”.
Full Infinitives also follow substitute phrases for Modal Verbs. We use expressions like:
- “be allowed to [verb]” (instead of may [verb] or could [verb])
- “have to [verb]” or “need to [verb]” (instead of must [verb])
- “ought to [verb]” or “be supposed to [verb]” (instead of should [verb])
- “be going to [verb]” (instead of will [verb] or would [verb])
Some of the most common expressions of habit (another type of modality) are expressed as infinitive Verb Patterns, as in “I used to play guitar” or “She tends to misplace her keys”.
Received Directives
Passive Voice Verb Patterns can be used for a number of reasons, but one common application is for received directives. To be clear, these are not the same as Verb Patterns with Passive Participles (in which the second verb, the verbal, is passive); instead, in Passive Voice Verb Patterns, it is the first verb (the clause’s main verb) that is in the Passive Voice.
A received directive can express what the speaker was told or otherwise influenced to do. As such, these directive Verb Patterns typically include reporting verbs and verbs of Influence. For example:
- “She was forced to admit her mistake.”
- “From a young age, I was taught to respect my elders.”
- “They were expected to complete their chores before dinner.”
Notice that the verbal in each of these cases is a Full Infinitive.
Causatives
Causative Verb Patterns express that the subject of the clause prompts an action, even if they do not directly carry out the action themselves. For example, “Frieda forced Franklin to apologize,” is Causative because Frieda initiated the apology, even though Frieda was not the one who actually apologized. (It was Franklin who apologized, but he did so at Frieda’s behest.)
There are only a handful of Causative verbs: bid, force, get, have, help, keep, let, make, need, see, want, and would like. But there is more variety in the structure of Causatives, since they can incorporate any of the four nonfinite verb forms, including Bare Infinitives and Passive Participles.
Advanced Concepts
Gerund Verb Patterns
It could be argued that in many cases the -ing Participles in Verb Patterns are also Gerunds. The sentence, “I hate driving large trucks,” could be evaluated two different ways:
- ‘hate driving’ is a participle Verb Pattern;
- ‘driving large trucks’ is a gerund phrase that serves as an object.
These considerations do not necessarily contradict each other, so we may regard both as true.
Participles that follow prepositions (as in “apologize for breaking the vase” or “insist on coming along“) are certainly Gerunds, playing the role of nouns within prepositional phrases.
More Verbal Complements
While Full Infinitives and Active Participles are the most common verbal forms to be used as verbal complements in Verb Patterns, they aren’t the only options.
Verb Patterns with Bare Infinitives
Bare Infinitives (which don’t include the particle to) are rare in Verb Patterns, but they can work after verbs of Perception and with a noun between, as in “I saw you do it!” or “In space, no one can hear you scream.” They might even work with the rare Influence verb, as in “I recommend you try the gnocci.”
Causative expressions can also make use of Bare Infinitives following the verbs ‘bid’, ‘have’, ‘help’, ‘let’, or ‘make’.
Verb Patterns with Passive Participles
Passive Participles (the -ed/en form) are even more rare in Verb Patterns, except that they too can apply to Causative expressions by following the verbs ‘get’, ‘force’, ‘have’, ‘need’, ‘see’, ‘want’, or ‘would like’.
Be + [Adjective] + Full Infinitive
While not quite Verb Patterns, the structure of BE + [adjective] + Full Infinitive overlaps with some of the usage of Verb Patterns. Consider the following examples:
- “Are you ready to go yet?”
- “They weren’t able to find anything.”
- “I‘m used to driving in bad weather.”
- “Jillian is interested in joining us.”
Each of these express some kind of modality. In fact, the first one is even another substitute for a Modal Verb phrase (see Future and Modality above).
Special Verb Types
Control Verbs
Control verbs are main verbs that prompt their following verb complements to be taken into action, or at least attempted.
- Inward control verbs mean the speaker or the subject is the one who carries out the verbal. For example, “Dave agrees to meet with the delegates,” or “We’ll finish arranging the books.” These might also be called subject control verbs.
- Outward control verbs mean someone else is prompted to carry out the verbal. For example, “They asked Dave to meet with the delegates,” or “She recommended arranging the books by genre.” These might also be called object control verbs.
- Infinitive Verb Patterns usually require a ECM noun to be sandwiched between the main verb and the verbal to specify the controlled object.
- Participle Verb Patterns don’t necessarily require a ECM noun, as they may have general applications instead of targeting a particular object.
Some control verbs can be either inward or outward (like ‘get’ or ‘need’), while others are inherently one or the other.
Non-control verbs don’t trigger an action, but rather observe or theorize an action or situation. Verbs of Accounting, Awareness, Discussion, Purport, and Retrospection are non-control verbs.
Factive & Implicative Verbs
Some Verb Patterns introduce a real verb phrase — meaning we understand that it happens — while others introduce an unreal verb phrase — meaning it’s not confirmed or assumed to happen. Verbs that introduce real verbal complements are either factive or implicative.
- FACTIVE verbs like ‘know’, ‘realize’, and ‘regret’ confirm that the following verbal is already real. These are retrospective verbs.
- IMPLICATIVE verbs like ‘bother’, ‘dare’, and ‘manage’ imply that the verbal later becomes real. These are prospective verbs.
When verbs are neither factive nor implicative, then their verbal complements are considered unreal, though some are possible (as in “I hope to visit the Great Pyramids of Giza”) while others are impossible (as in …”
Patterns & Moods
One of the ways that most grammatical moods can be expressed is through Verb Patterns. Here are the different types of verbs that tend to be associated with each mood. But keep in mind that these are not strict associations, and that there are many examples that deny these.
- Indicative Mood — Verbs of Accounting, Awareness, Operation, Persistence, Retrospection
- Habitual Mood — Verbs of Inclination, Persistence
- Epistemic Mood — Verbs of Purport
- Hypothetical Mood — Verbs of Awareness, Behavior
- Bouletic Mood — Verbs of Desire
- Deontic Mood — Verbs of Delegation, Influence
- Volitional Mood — Verbs of Intent
Teaching Tips
Verb Patterns for Beginners
One of the simplest verb patterns is “go ____ing” for activities, like “go biking” or “go shopping“. Though they might not be labeled as such in most ELT curricula, they do fall under the category of participle Verb Patterns.
The other sets of Verb Patterns that students are likely to encounter at early levels are those of Desire or Preference (with main verbs like ‘like’, ‘love’, ‘want’, and ‘hate’). These are often presented as fixed phrases to remember, but they set the stage for more Verb Patterns that students will learn as they advance.
Categories over Lists
Many grammar sources will say that Full Infinitive sand -ing Participles will each come ‘after certain verbs’, or some similar phrasing. The lists that follow are generally not comprehensive. Furthermore, producing these Verb Patterns relies on memorization.
Instead of resorting to lists of verbs, Insights encourages teachers to refer to the meaning of a Full Infinitive Verb Pattern as opposed to an Active Participle one:
- Full Infinitives are prospective, meaning they take place after the main verb (the occur in the future, from the main verb’s perspective). Full Infinitives communicate purpose, and they may be real or unreal. They also tend to have specific applications.
- Active Participles are progressive, meaning they are usually either ongoing or occurring at the same time as the main verb. Active Participles are rarely unreal, and their applications could be either specific or general.
This level of thinking might be challenging for younger learners or for students at lower proficiency levels, so another method is to group all those words form the lists that your grammar resources provide into just a few categories:
Full InfinitivesProspective Verbs
Procedural Verbs
|
Active ParticiplePerceptional Verbs
Procedural Verbs
|
This is much more sensible to memorize than a long list of verbs.
Commonality with Other Infinitives & Participles
Full Infinitives and Active Participles have fairly consistent meanings no matter how they are used.
Full Infinitives:
- As shown earlier on this page, Full Infinitives can be used for common future forms (like be going to). This should help us remember that Full Infinitives are future-facing, so in Verb Patterns, the verbal occurs after the main verb.
- Also, when Full Infinitives are used as adverbials, they communicate purpose. This overflows to following verbs of desire, influence, intent, or opportunity. These Verb Patterns reveal motive, regardless of whether they actually come true.
Active Participles:
- Active Participles are best known in Continuous tenses, where they convey that a verb happens in or around the moment in question. Thus, for Verb Patterns in which the main verb and the verbal occur more or less around the same time, an Active Participle is the best choice for the verbal form.
- Another common application of Active Participles is as Gerunds, where they convey activities. -ing Verb Patterns are more likely to refer to an activity in general (“Beth likes swimming”) rather than a particular instance of an action (“Beth would like to swim now.”)
If students are able to grasp the connections between future forms, to ___ adverbials, and to ___ Verb Patterns (all of which have Full Infinitives), or the connections between Continuous tenses, Gerunds, -ing Adjectives, and -ing Verb Patterns (all of which have Active Participles), they’re more likely to use the two variations of standard Verb Patterns properly.
Insider Access
Visit our How to Teach Verb Patterns page on www.insightstoEnglish.com for a demonstrational video, bonus notes, printouts, a slideshow for your class, practice activities, and more.
Further Reading
Encyclopedia Pages
- Future Forms — sometimes in the form of Verb Patterns
- Gerunds — as direct objects, they might just be indistinguishable from Verb Patterns
- Participles — more applications of the -ing form
Insights Articles
- project: Advice Videos
- project: Looking Ahead
Intermediate Topics
CEFR Levels B1-B2: Pre-Intermediate to Upper Intermediate courses
