Followed by ato-infinitive

afford

• I canafford to buy a new car now.

agree

• Heagreed to meet on Saturday.

aim

• Weaim to please all our clients.

appear

• Iappear to have forgotten my glasses.

arrange

• I think we canarrange to put you in a double room.

ask

• Heasked to leave early.
• Hewas asked to leave early.

attempt

• This is the second time we haveattempted to climb the mountain.

be able

Note Generally equivalent tocan, but sometimes used to differentiate between general ability and a particular situation.

• Ask John. He willbe able to help you.
  
• Normally I can do these problems, but Iam not able to solve this one.

beg

• Ibeg to differ on that point.

begin

• No sooner had we gotten all the laundry hung out to dry than itbegan to rain.

call

• Hecalled to ask for help.
• Those who are rescuedare called to help rescue others.

care

• Would youcare to choose another one, sir?

choose

• I will go when Ichoose to go, and not before.
• I think I willbe chosen to go.

condescend

• I don’t know if the Senator willcondescend to see us.

consent

• Heconsented to pay for the dinner.

dare

Note This is also considered a semi-modal auxiliary verb. Particularly in the negative, the modal form is preferred.

• I didn’tdare to climb the tree.
• I didn’tdare climb the tree.
• Idaren’t climb the tree.
• Iwas dared to climb the tree.

decide

• Wedecided to buy the pink one in the end.
• Itwas decided to buy the pink one.

deign

• The archbishopdeigned to pay our little diocese a visit.

demand

• Shedemanded to see to see proof of his claims.
• Hewas demanded to show proof of his claims.

deserve

• You don’tdeserve to be treated like that.

elect

• Heelected to stay in college the full four years.

expect

• Iexpect to receive the payment any day now.
• Youare expected to receive the payment from them.

fail

• Ifail to understand your argument.

forget

• Please don’tforget to water the plants while I’m gone.

happen

• If ithappens to fall, just put it back up again.

have

Notehave to is also considered an auxiliary modal verb similar tomust, meaningobligation. Also, note the alternative versionhave got to and its variants.

• Ihave to go to work now.

help

Note Theto is optional.

• Ihelped to pack her bags.
• Ihelped pack her bags.

hesitate

• If youhesitate to make the reservation, you could lose the discount.

hope

• Ihope to see my aunt this week-end.

intend

• Do youintend to leave tomorrow?
• Heis intended to leave tomorrow?

know

• Heknows to be welcoming to guests.
• Heis known to be friendly and warm.

learn

• Ilearned to speak Spanish three years ago.

long

• I amlonging to go to Paris.

look

• I amlooking to go with someone.

manage

• Despite his injury, hemanaged to carry the armchair upstairs by himself.

mean

• I didn'tmean to hurt you.
• Iam not meant to do that.

move (meaningpropose in a formal setting)

• Imove to adjourn the meeting for lunch.

need

• Ineed to eat my lunch.

offer

• Ioffered to carry her suitcase for her.
• Iwas offered to use a new suitcase of theirs.

plan

• Iplan to play football this weekend.

prepare

• We wouldprepare to help our neighbors if a storm was coming.
• Weare prepared to help our neighbors.

pretend

• I know you are onlypretending to be asleep.

proceed

• Heproceeded to apply the lotion as instructed.

promise

• Ipromise to tell the truth.

refuse

• Irefuse to take such silly advice.

remember

• Iremembered to wish her a happy birthday.

request

• Herequested to leave immediately.
• Hewas requested to leave immediately.

say

• Hesays to look for it over there.
• Heis said to know where it is.

scorn

• Shescorned to show weakness.

seek

• Iseek to triumph over our enemies.

seem

• Youseem to be rather tired today.

start

• Iam starting to doubt they’ll ever get married.

strive

• Hestrives to teach well.

struggle

• The company will have tostruggle to survive the economic downturn.

swear

• Iswear to tell the truth.

tend

• Ittends to snow here in winter.

threaten

• Hethreatened to call the police.

try

• Theytried to help, but it only made things worse.

undertake

• Heundertook to finish the job in less than ten days.

wait

• I can’twait to see her face when I tell her!

want

• Iwant to play the guitar.
• Iwas wanted to play the guitar.

Note (UK) usage with gerund below.

wish

• Iwish to complain to the manager.

would like

• Iwould like to drink some water.

yearn

• I amyearning to spend some time off work.

In the passive voice followed by ato-infinitive

advise

• Youare advised to wear nice clothing here.

allow

• Youare allowed to wear jeans here.

ask

• Youare asked to go home and change if you wore jeans.

assume

• Hewas assumed to have gone home to change.

believe

• Heis believed to be competent.

command

• The soldierswere commanded to perform the exercise again.

commission

• Several local artistswere commissioned to produce works to hang in the new city hall.

compel

• The bystanderwas compelled to carry Jesus' cross.

destine

• My child, youare destined to achieve great things.

encourage

• Youare encouraged to leave if you wish to smoke.

entitle

• A true herois entitled to enjoy a hero's welcome.

forbid

• Youare forbidden to smoke in here.

force

• Many employeeshave been forced to work unpaid overtime.

incline

• Theyare inclined to avoid confrontation, so be careful.

influence

• Iwas influenced to try it by something I saw online.

instruct

• The babysitterwas instructed to stay off the parents' phone.

intend

• That valveis intended to help keep the machine from overheating.

invite

• Never had guestsbeen invited to enjoy such a sumptuous meal as this.

made

• The sheepwere made to lie down and drink.

move

• At last hewas moved to treat people more compassionately.

order

• Usersare ordered to refrain from adding frivolous content.

permit

• But youare permitted to smoke in here.

persuade

• The suspectwas persuaded to give himself up without a fight.

remind

• The childrenwere reminded to buckle their seatbelts.

require

• Youare required to leave now.

suppose

• Youwere supposed to leave yesterday.

teach

• The childhad been taught to say "please" and "thank you".

tell

• Wewere told to call the police, not our parents.

tempt

• Iam tempted to keep adding examples all night.

think

• Heis thought to work well with others.

train

• Firefightersare trained to save lives.

Followed by a gerund/present participle

admit

• Headmitted taking the money.

advise

• Iadvise leaving immediately.

allow

• We do notallow smoking here.

appreciate

• I wouldappreciate receiving more help with this.

avoid

• Pleaseavoid touching the goods on display.

can't help

• Ican’t help liking the way he smiles.

complete

• I havecompleted painting the kitchen.

consider

• Have youconsidered working at the factory?

contemplate

• Yes, Icontemplated eating the forbidden cookies.

delay

• We had todelay travelling because of the weather.

deny

• Ideny taking the money.

detest

• Idetest working on Sundays.

dislike

• Idislike working on Saturdays.

encourage

• This museumencourages touching its displays.

enjoy

• Ienjoy watching snooker on the TV.

entail

• The new jobentails keeping meticulous records.

envision

• Ienvision standing in long lines when I think of airports.

escape

• Heescaped being run over by about a millisecond!

finish

• When youfinish painting the shed, let me know.

forbid

• Theyforbid smoking in the restaurant.

give up

Note Catenative phrasal verbs in general are followed by the gerund.

• Igave up smoking last year.

imagine

• Can youimagine winning the lottery?

imply

• This planimplies buying an expensive piece of equipment.

involve

• The second planinvolves buying an even more expensive piece of equipment.

keep

• I didn't get anything, so Ikept trying my best.

leave off

• Leave off hitting your brother this minute!

mind

• Would youmind closing the window, please?

miss

• Imiss playing football with my friends.

need

Note (US) usage. Meansrequire or (BrE)want.

• That doorneeds painting.

permit

• Do theypermit smoking in here?

picture

• I alsopicture waiting in long lines when I think of theme parks.

practise(universal, especially UK and Commonwealth),practice(US)

• I like topractise playing the piano every day.

prohibit

• Theyprohibit smoking in the restaurant.

quit

• I wish I couldquit smoking.

recall

• Irecall meeting you at the convention in New York.

recommend

• I canrecommend washing your clothes with this product.

regret

Note This verb is found withto infinitive in some set phrases. See next section.

• Iregret telling him about the party now.

require

• Losing weightrequires disciplining oneself.

resent

• Iresent seeing him enjoying himself as if nothing has happened.

resist

• How can youresist eating those lovely chocolates?

resume

• We willresume discussing this matter tomorrow.

risk

• We can’trisk working in the dark.

see

Note This verb usually is concatenative only with forms ofcan,be able to, or other verbs of similar meaning.

• Ican see giving some reimbursement for expenses, but that's way too much!

suggest

• Isuggest asking your teacher about it.

tolerate

• I won’ttolerate swearing in this office.

want

Note (UK) usage. Meansrequire or (US)need.

• That doorwants painting.

Followed by ato-infinitive or a gerund/present participle

No difference in meaning

bear

Note This verb is most commonly found in the formcan bear/can’t bear.

• Ican’t bear to hear him sing.
• Ican’t bear hearing him sing.

begin

• Itbegan to rain.
• Itbegan raining.

bother

• He didn'tbother to ask for permission.
• He didn'tbother asking for permission.

cease

• You mustcease to waste so much time on the computer.
• You mustcease wasting so much time on the computer.

continue

• Itcontinued to rain.
• Itcontinued raining.

disdain

• Hedisdained to speak with us.
• Hedisdained speaking with us.

hate

• Ihate to brush my teeth.
• Ihate brushing my teeth.

intend

• Iintend to finish this.
• Iintend finishing this.

like

• Ilike to eat pilaf.
• Ilike eating pilaf.

Note: See also section "Difference in meaning", where the verb followed by a to-infinitive sometimes has a specific meaning.

love

• Ilove to swim in the sea.
• Ilove swimming in the sea.

neglect

• Ineglected to paint behind the cupboard.
• Ineglected painting behind the cupboard.

prefer

• Iprefer to work alone.
• Iprefer working alone.

regret

Note This verb is normally followed by the gerund, except in certain set phrases withtell,say, andinform.

• Iregret inviting him to the party now.
• Iregret to tell you that the show has been cancelled.
• Iregret to have to inform you that your brother has had a serious accident.

stand

Note This usage is most commonly found in the formcan’t stand, or in questions.

• Ican’t stand to walk in the rain.
• How can youstand walking in the rain?

start

• Istarted to learn Spanish three years ago.
• Istarted learning Spanish three years ago.

Difference in meaning

come

• Shecame to realise that things were not as they seemed. (She underwent a slow realisation.)
• Shecame dancing with me last night. (She accompanied me in this activity.)

Note The second usage should not to be confused with that inAnd when you come...be sure to come dancing, wheredancing functions as a descriptive gerund.

forget

• Iforgot to go to the shopping centre. (I remember that it is something I meant to do but didn’t do.)
• Iforget going to the shopping centre. (I cannot remember the experience of going to the store.)
• Don't forget to lock the door when you go out. (Compareremember below.)

get

• Successful actors oftenget to go to film premières free. (They have the privilege.)
• Get going! (Hurry up!)

go

• Theyhave gone to see a movie. (The infinitive can be used for any verb that followsgo.)*
• Theyhave gone fishing. ( activities ending in-ing.)

go on

• After a long career, Kenwent on to be a manager. (He changed to a different, more prestigious activity.)
• Some goalkeepersgo on playing until they are 40. (They continue doing the same activity.)

go around (orgo round)

• Hewent around to see if she was OK. (He went to one place.)*
• Hewent around sayingterrible things about her. (He went to lots of different places [while] saying terrible things about her.)

like

• Ilike to go to the dentist every 6 months. (I have the custom. I do not necessarily enjoy it.)
• Ilike going to the cinema every week. (An activity that I enjoy.)

mean

• Imeant to tell her yesterday, but I forgot. (Intention. I intended to tell her.)
• The promotion willmean moving to a new area. (Signify, imply, entail, necessitate.)
• I meanmoving to a new area, not within the city. (Clarification)

need (there is also with bare infinitive; seeneed#Usage notes)

• Ineed to paint the house. (I need to do the activity .)
• The houseneeds painting. (The activity needs to be done to the house.)

regret is covered in the "No difference" section, where "regret" still means "sorry", but there are a very few very specific set phrases which take the "to" infinitive, "regret to inform" being one of them.

• Weregret to inform you that the next train to Kew has been delayed. (We are giving bad news.)
• Iregret taking the money. (I'm sorry for what I did.)→

remember

• Iremembered to lock the door. (I did not forget that I was supposed to lock the door, and I locked it.)
• Remember to lock the door when you go out.
• Iremember locking the door. (I know I did it because I can mentally picture the experience.)

propose

• Ipropose to open up a little shop. (I have the intention of doing something)
• Ipropose going to that nice little restaurant by the beach. (I suggest, or make a proposal, for a group activity.)

stop

Note Many sources state that this has two meanings. But some sources state that it is nothing more thanellipsis of the first activity in gerund form, as context will always allow us to know what activity has stopped, followed by aninfinitive of purpose.

• Istopped driving.
• Istopped to drink some coffee. (This could be an elliptical form ofIstopped driving. followed by the purposeto drink some coffee.)*

try

• Itried to open the door, but it was locked. (I attempted and failed in an activity.)
• Itried opening the door. Then Itried opening the window. (I made an attempt or experiment. Neither success nor failure is implied.)

Followed by a bare infinitive

dare

Note This is considered a semi-modal auxiliary verb. Particularly in the negative, themodal form is preferred.

• Hedaren’t climb the tree.
• He didn’tdare to climb the tree.
• He didn’tdare climb the tree.

help

Note Theto is optional.

• Ihelped to pack her bags.
• Ihelped pack her bags.

go /come

Note This is most common in American English. In other varieties,and is generally inserted between the two words.

Come andgo are not used this way except in their bare forms, ie, not *Hewent/came sit with her. or *Hegoes/comes sit with her. or *He isgoing/coming sit with her. or *He hadgone/come sit with her.

• Go clean your room.
• Go and clean your room.
• I can’tgo watch that movie.
• I can’tgo and watch that movie.
• Come sit with me.
• Come and sit with me.

Followed byand