VOA慢速英语--在日常生活中的不定式

 

Imagine you are in an American city. While standing¹ along the street, you hear someone asking for directions.

"What's the best way to get to the airport?"

"Continue straight and take the second right. It will only take about five minutes."

"Thanks! I'm running late - I hope I can find a place to park. Take care!

"Bye!"

Our report today is not about asking for traffic directions. Instead, it is about another useful subject: infinitives³ in everyday speech.

In this Everyday Grammar, we are going to explore infinitives and the words that they often modify.

What are infinitives?

An infinitive² is the base form of the verb. Sometimes the word to appears before the base form. The word serves as a sign of the infinitive.

Unlike other verbs, infinitives do not have a tense, something to express time or the length of an action.

Infinitives can act as adjectives. In other words, they can describe or provide more information about a noun.

English has many possible noun and infinitive combinations. You would never be able to memorize all of them!

However, the good news is this: in everyday speech, only a few nouns are generally modified by infinitives.

#1 Objects – thing, stuff, a lot

Nouns that suggest objects are often modified by infinitives. The three most common examples are the nouns thing, stuff, and a lot.

All three words are inexact, so English speakers often need to use adjective phrases to clarify their meaning.

Here is an example. Imagine you hear someone say unkind words.

You could say to them, "That wasn't a nice thing to say."

The infinitive to say gives more information about the noun thing. The infinitive is acting⁴ as an adjective. It helps to define the word thing. In this situation, thing means hurtful words.

The word stuff is also unclear. Here's an example. Imagine you are invited to a party. After inviting⁵ you, your friend might say this:

"Oh! I forgot to tell you – it would be great if you brought stuff to snack on."

Here, the infinitive to snack on tells us about the noun stuff. If the sentence ended with stuff, the meaning might not be clear to the listener.

But by adding the infinitive, the meaning becomes clear: your friend is talking about food!

When taking leave of a friend, you might say "Sorry, I have to go now. I have got a lot to do!"

#2 Time, place, way

Three other nouns are commonly modified by infinitives in everyday speech. They are the words time, place and way.

Time and place have a clearer meaning than some of the other nouns we have discussed.

Most American parents have probably told their children, "It's time to go to bed." Many tired, hungry travelers have probably said, "This looks like a great place to eat!"

The word way, meaning the method in which something is done, is often used when asking questions or giving advice.

So a student might ask a teacher, "Is there a better way to write this sentence?"

Unstated and Stated Subjects

You might notice that there is something missing from our examples.

One feature of adjectival infinitives – the technical term for today's program – is that the subject is not stated.

The subject is understood; it is the object in a prepositional phrase.

This information comes from Martha Kolln, an expert on English grammar.

Consider our earlier example: "That wasn't a nice thing to say."

The understood, or unstated subject, is the word you. You is the object of an understood prepositional phrase, for you.

The entire sentence, if it had all of these elements, would read:

"That wasn't a nice thing [for you] to say."

Our other example, ""This seems like a great place to eat!" could become "This seems like a great place [for me/for us] to eat!"

Now you can understand why native speakers sometimes do not always state the subject. It makes the sentence longer, and it might not add much information.

Infinitives in conversations

Think back to the exchange you heard at the beginning of this program.

"What's the best way to get to the airport?"

"Continue straight and take the second right. It will only take about five minutes."

Thanks! I'm running late - I hope I can find a place to park!. Take care!

"Bye!"

You will recognize that two of the nouns we discussed, way and place, were modified by infinitives.

The first speaker said, "What's the best way to get to the airport?"

The speaker could have said "What's the best way [for me] to get to the airport?" But as you have heard, English speakers will leave out the subject when the meaning is clear.

What can you do?

The nouns and infinitives we have studied today can be used in almost any situation, with the exception of stuff.

While it would be acceptable to use stuff when talking to friends or family, you would not use it when speaking with someone important, especially if you did not know the person well. Stuff is not an offensive word, but it is an informal one.

The next time you are reading, watching, or listening to something in English, try to notice the noun + infinitive structures we have discussed today.

Ask yourself how speakers use these structures in different situations. Try using these structures whenever you get the chance.

Remember: practice is the best way to improve.

And now it's time to take a break. Until next week!

Words in This Story

infinitive – n. grammar the basic form of a verb

conversation – n. a spoken exchange involving two people or a small group of people

modify – v. grammar: to limit or describe the meaning of (a word or group of words)

tense – n. grammar a form of a verb that is used to show when an action happened

imprecise – n. not clear or exact

phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

stuff – n. materials or things

feature – n. the structure, form or appearance of something; a quality

grammar – n. the study of words and their uses in sentences

informal – adj. lacking ceremony; of or related to familiar use

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。

3 infinitives   

n.（动词）不定式( infinitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her litmus test for good breeding is whether you split infinitives. 她测试别人是否具有良好教养的标准是看对方是否在不定式的动词前加修饰副词。 来自互联网
• Nouns, adjectives and infinitives can be used as objective complements. 名词，形容词及不定式可用作补语。 来自互联网

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。