- I never knew him do anything illegal.
- I never knew him to do anything illegal.
Are these sentence correct?
Is ‘know’ a bare infinitive verb?
Both the sentences are acceptable, though the second is preferable. You could also say: I never knew him/I have never known him to be doing anything illegal.
We call a verb bare infinitive when it is not preceded by the infinitive marker ‘to’. All the Be-Have-Do verbs can be used either as ‘to’ infinitive (to be, to have, to do etc) or as bare infinitive (without ‘to’).
Modals, however, are an exception because they have no infinitive forms as such, but a verb that follows a modal (except ‘ought’) will always be in the bare infinitive form.
We usually do not use an infinitive verb immediately after ‘know’ and it is followed by ‘how’ plus ‘to infinitive’. For instance, I do not know how to explain this better.(NOT I do not [color=red]know to explain this better).
[quote=“Anglophile”]
“Modals, however, are an exception because they have no infinitive forms as such, but a verb that follows a modal (except ‘ought’) will always be in the bare infinitive form.”
I would add that “dare” and “need” can be both modals and ordinary verbs. See this: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv274.shtml
Anglophile,
“She helped her brother (to) do his homework.”
In this sentence the verb - help is followed either by bare infinitive or to infinitive.
So We can join know, help as one variety of bare infinitives. Is it OK?
Help is a catenative verb which can be followed by the to-infinitive or the bare one.
“She helped her brother (to) do his homework.”
In this sentence the verb - help is followed either by ‘bare infinitive’ or ‘to infinitive’.
You are right; it is optional.
I would add that “dare” and “need” can be both modals and ordinary verbs.
Yes, you are right. And you can dare to add what needs to be said in such contexts.
Anglophile,
- I’ll have another man repair the car for you.
- I’ll bring another man repair the car for you.
Are these sentences OK with bare infinitive - ‘repair’?
Only 1. is correct.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Chefs in a kitchen[YSaerTTEW443543]
No 2 needs a ‘to infinitive’ (to repair).
Even if you ad ‘to’ in the second sentence it still sounds strange. I don’t think you can just ‘bring another man’.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Girls shopping[YSaerTTEW443543]
Torsten, what is meant by ‘bring’ is ‘hire’ or ‘deploy’, though it may not be collocative.
I know what you mean by it but I don’t think it’s natural English.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Construction workers[YSaerTTEW443543]
I hope Fathima will note it.
Anglophile,
For Be-Have-Do verbs, could you please give some examples using bare infinitives?
Thanks.
I like to be free. (To-infinitive)
I should be free. (Bare infinitive)
Allow me to have a glimpse of her picture. (To-infinitive)
Let me have a glimpse of her picture. (Bare infinitive)
Oughtn’t he to help his parents? (To-infinitive)
Why can’t he help his parents? (Bare infinitive)
Anglophile,
You don’t give me examples for ‘do’.
I think you can give.
I helped her to do it.
I helped her do it.
Fathima, a Do-verb is one in which you will find a form of ‘do’ inherently available. For example ‘do’ itself is a Do-verb whose tense forms are ‘do’/‘does’ and ‘did’. When you split them in terms of ‘do’, they will reappear like this: Do=do+do, Does=does+do and did=did+do. (we split a verb like this when we need to turn it into an interrogative or a negative)
A Do-verb need not necessarily be the verb ‘do’ alone; it can be any other verb like EAT, SLEEP, RISE, PLAY, LEARN, SPEAK etc. When you split the tense forms of these verbs, you get: eat= do+eat, eats=does+eat and ate=did+eat; sleep=do+sleep, sleeps=does+sleep and slept=did+sleep, and so on. (A Do-verb is always pregnant with a form of ‘do’/‘does’/‘did’.)
It, therefore, follows that a verb capable of being split as above, is called a Do-verb. Now look at the following:
She wants to do her homework now. (to-infinitive)
She may do it in her study presently. (bare infinitive)
She wants to sleep now. (to-infinitive)
She will sleep in her bedroom soon. (bare infinitive)
I believe I haven’t confused you, have I? Thank you.
Anglophile,
She may do it in her study presently. (bare infinitive)
This example shows the verb -‘do’ is used by auxiliary verb ‘may’ as a bare infinitive.
She wants to do her homework now. (to-infinitive)
This example shows only the verb - want is using ‘do’ as to-infinitive.
I want 'do-verb ’ using to-infinitive.
Could you give an example? Thanks.