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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #105721: Infinitive after verbs expressing will power ...
    > Other English exercises on the same topic: Infinitive [Change theme]
    > Similar tests: - Infinitive clause - Infinitive phrase - Infinitive in sentences - TO + verb base or TO + V + ing - Doing, Do, To do... - Gerunds or Infinitives - Gerund or Infinitve - To try, followed by...
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    Infinitive after verbs expressing will power ...


    It's very tiring and exasperating for  teachers to see this structure being always (or at least, very, very frequently ...) 'ill-treated' by students. Learners who haven't yet understood that they shouldn't translate their own language into English, insist on building 'want' with a subordinate introduced by *'that', just as they do in their mother tongues ...

    Indeed, even at an advanced level, we can still find  * I want that my parents let me go out at night! in students' essays or exams ...and it's a pity !

    I promise , the repetition of the structure, learning it really,  and a systematic and rehashing training to this unusual construction will help you get rid of this annoying mistake ...

    Clearly, the corresponding structures in French and English, (as well as those of many other languages, I've checked ! ) have so little in common that simple reproduction is bound to fail !

    1) Let's start from the beginning : If the verb 'want' has 'one only subject' (without the intervention of 'a second person') you already have to remember that 'WANT' is immediately followed by an infinitive.

    ex :  I want to help you.

    ex : My father doesn't want to buy a new car. 

    ex : Do you want to answer, please?

    2) It becomes more 'complicated' still, when another person (a second one) is introduced as a direct 'object', a 'complement' to the verb !

    Ex : I want him to do his homework ; My mother doesn't want my father to buy a new car !

    The word which is  separating the 2 verbs is the  subject of the second verb (he - my father) but takes the form of a complement ( 'him' and not 'he'!)  

    ex : My parents want us to tidy up our room.  ('us'and not 'we') 

     

    In English, 'the infinitive' MUST BE USED, to the exclusion of all subordinate clauses, after the verbs expressing  willpower and a refusal  : ( WANT, hate, like, love, prefer, wish ...).

    'Getting rid of the bad reflex' of putting a subordinate clause after WANT has proved to be so difficult and demanding, (like giving up an addiction ), that I've prefered to study only the verbs expressing willpower and appreciation here ; the other categories of verbs will be studied in a complementary lesson, once the bases are understood and have become automatic. I think you have 'enough on your plate' just now ! Enjoy !

     

     

                   







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    English exercise "Infinitive after verbs expressing will power ..." created by here4u with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from here4u]
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    My Birthday Party LIST : by Ann Wilson.
    This is what I WANT and DON'T want (Err ... Mom would say 'would like', 'would wish or wouldn't') for my coming Birthday party :

    1) I'd like to have dozens of friends at home but Mom and Dad more than six friends ! They say we'll be a handful already ...
    Lucy, my best friend, but she Patrick ! She says he's a bore !
    I about Princesses ! but as Lucy hates Princesses, she about Pirates ! Well ! Pirates are OK, but, I a Princess that I told her ... Finally, Lucy said Princesses would be OK, because she for my Birthday party.
    Yet, for my party, Lucy pink ! Therefore, I've chosen yellow and she agreed... I like yellow !
    I'll have yellow cups, plates and napkins, and I with a lot of hearts !
    If Mom agrees, I in the shape of a heart, a pink heart ! A heart can't be yellow,can it ? It has to be red, ... or pink ! I love pink !
    I absolutely . He's not a bore to me ... I like him a lot and after all ... it's MY party, isn't it ?









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