Answer to English Grammar Question 164
Are verb forms in the infinitive the same in meaning and form as base verbs?
From member: Mary Gorden in USA
Answer
The base form and the infintive are easy to confuse, Mary.
The base form of the verb is the verb with no tense formation or other grammatical indicator at all,e.g., 'speak'. The infinitive is usually written with the 'to',e.g., 'to speak' (although, there are uses of the infinitive without 'to')
Have a look at the section on infinitives in the Online English Grammar
- © English4Today |
- Report an error |
- Add to this page |
- Send to a friend |
- follow us:
| 
Search
Grammar FAQ
Question Categories
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Common Confusions
- Could and Would
- Dates
- Determiners
- Direct and Indirect Speech
- Examinations
- Gender
- Interrogative Words
- Irregular Verbs
- May and Might
- Meanings
- Nationalities
- Not Sure
- Nouns
- Numbers
- Origin of words
- Passive
- Plurals
- Possessive with 's and '
- Prefixes and Suffixes
- Prepositions
- Pronouns
- Pronunciation
- Punctuation
- Reading
- Relative Clauses
- Sentence Structure
- So Much and So Many
- Spellings
- The Infinitive
- Usage
- Verbs and Verb Tenses
- Vocabulary and Usage
- Writing
