This post is part of our special series “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
How to use PARTICIPLES and INFINITIVES
- Verbs such as “ask, advice, allow, command, force, forbid, invite, encourage, compel, beg, order, imagine, instruct, permit, persuade, tell, require, remind, teach, etc” are followed by Object + “to” + “second verb”.
For example
Incorrect – My teacher reminded to wash hands by me.
Correct – My teacher reminded me to wash hands.
- “Know” is always followed by either of “how, where, when or why” and infinitive.
For Example
Incorrect – I know to swim.
Correct – I know how to swim.
- After verbs such as let, bid, behold, watch, see, feel, make etc. we use “bare Infinitive” instead of “to infinitive”.
For example
Incorrect – We all heard him to give the lecture.
Correct – We all heard him give the lecture.
- Bare-infinitive is used after Modal Auxiliaries (can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must, dare not, need not)
For example
Incorrect – I must to win the race.
Correct – I must win the race.
- If there are phrases “had better, had rather, had as soon as, had sooner”, then use bare infinitive.
For example
Incorrect – He had better to go not or else he would be late for school.
Correct – He had better go or else he would be late for school.
- “Than” conjunction is followed by bare infinitive.
For example
Incorrect – He had better be late than to never.
Correct – He had better be late than never.
- When the word “but” is used as preposition and is preceded by any form of verb “do”, then but is followed by bare infinitive
For example
Incorrect – Whole afternoon she did nothing but to gardening.
Correct – Whole afternoon she did nothing but gardening.
- Participle must have a subject as reference.
For example
Incorrect – Being a holiday, he decided to arrange his closet.
Correct – It being a holiday, he decided to arrange his closet.
- “After” word should NOT be used for actions that have been completed and has “having + verb” in active voice while “having + been + verb” or “being + verb” in passive voice.
`For example
Incorrect – After the president being killed, the mob ran away.
Correct – The president having been killed, the mob ran away.
- Some participles such as “considering, judging, referring, concerning, regarding, viewing, broadly speaking etc.” Do not have any reference of subject.
For example
Incorrect – He considering the weather, he took umbrella.
Correct – Considering the weather, he took umbrella. (This type of participles does not need subject, yet the sentence construction is correct)
To view all the posts in this series, go to — “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
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