1. Syntactical and morphological characteristics of the Infinitive

6. Verbals as an Object.
Infinitive:
The Inf. can have the function of object after verbs, adjectives, adjectivized participles & statives.
Ī. After verbs the inf. may be either the only object of a verb or one of 2 objects.
1. Verbs that take only 1 object: agree, claim, decide, expect, fail, forget, hope, like, love, plan, refuse, regret.
Ex.: She agreed to come at 10. He planned to spend the day in town.
This verbs are generally used with the non-perfect forms of the inf.. Some of them also occur with perfect forms. Among them 2 groups of verbs can be distinguished: a) to claim, fail, forget, hate, like, omit, regret, remember, with which the perfect inf. expresses priority proper, that is actions which actually take place or are supposed to take place before the action of the finite verb: Ex.: I regret to have said it to her. b) verbs to attempt, hope, intend, mean, plan, try, which add to the perfect inf. a modal coloring showing that the action of the inf. was not fulfilled: Ex.: I hoped to have found him at home.
2. Verbs that take 2 objects, the first of which is a noun or a pronoun & the second an inf.. These are the verbs of inducement: advice, allow, ask, have, beg, direct, let, make, order, tell, permit.
Ex.: Tell him to hurry. What would u recommend me to do?
With all these verbs except to have, let, make, the inf. is used with the particle to. After to have, let and make it loses the particle. (She’ll have u do it at once. Don’t let it bother u.)
II. After certain adjectives (adjectivized participles), mostly used as predicatives.
III. After certain statives denoting psychological states, such as afraid, ashamed: I’d be afraid to step inside a house that Robert had designed all by himself.
Is such cases the inf. points out the source of the state expressed by the stative.
Gerund:
The G can be used as a direct or a prepositional object. As a direct O it follows a number of monotransitive verbs, some of which take only the G, while others may be followed either by the G or y the Inf.
Verbs followed only by the G: admit, avoid, deny, fancy, mind, postpone, resist, risk, suggest. Ex.: Avoid using very long sentences. Do u mind Ann’s joining us?
Verbs followed by either the G or the inf. are less numerous: like, dislike, hate, intend, plan, prefer, prefer, can’t bear, regret, forget, remember: I prefer walking home (to taking bus).
As a prepositional O the G may follow (a) monotransitive prepositional v, (b) distransitive v taking a direct & a prepositional O, (c) adjectives & statives & (d) P2, generally when used as a Predicative.
a)Agree to, consist in, think of, depend on: they are thinking of doing smth for him. b) suspect of, help in, thank for: Who will help me in hanging these pictures? c) to be afraid of, to be fond of, keen on: I’m afraid of disturbing the neighbors. d)to be used to, to be tired of: I’m not used to being talked to in that rude way.