Verb + to+infinitive

A Introduction

After some verbs we can use a to+infinitive, e.g. decided to have, arranged to play.

Here are some more examples.

I expect to get my money back.

Sarah agreed to work late at the office.

We can't afford to go to Australia.

Are you hoping to get a job in London?

Melanie has offered to help us when we move house.

We can put not before the to+infinitive.

Some people just choose not to get married.

At least I managed not to lose my temper.

With some other verbs we use an ing-form, not a to+infinitive (see insert next two pages)

B Seem and appear

We can use a to+infinitive after seem and appear.

Sarah seemed to be quite annoyed.

The computer program appears to have a bug in it.

The person I spoke to didn't seem to know anything about the company's products.

We can use a continuous or a perfect to+infinitive.

Continuous: Andrew seems to be studying even harder.

Perfect: David appeared to have hurt himself.

C Tend, manage and fail

We use tend to for things that usually happen.

We tend to get up later at weekends. (We usually get up later at weekends.)

We use manage to for being able to do something.

Luckily I managed to find my way here all right. (I was able to find my way.)

We use fail to for things that don't happen.

David failed to pay his electricity bill. (David didn't pay his electricity bill.)

D He promised to go, his promise to go

Some nouns can come before a to+infinitive.

Compare these sentences.

Verb + to + infinitive: Mark promised to go shopping. But then he arranged to play golf.

Noun + to + infinitive: Mark forgot about his promise to go shopping. Sarah found out about his arrangement to play golf.

Here are some nouns we can use: agreement, arrangement, decision, demand, desire, failure, offer, plan, promise, refusal, tendency, threat.