321. Types of “-ing” Verb after a Verb

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There are  a variety of circumstances where a verb after another one has “-ing”

THE VARIETY OF POSSIBILITIES

A verb ending with -ing may be an adjective-like “participle” or a noun-like “gerund” (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). Either of these forms may combine closely with a verb placed just before them. They can do so in various ways, of which the main ones may be illustrated as follows:

(a) Doctors recommend taking a daily walk.

(b) Doctors foresee children becoming more obese.

(c) Children enjoy hearing (or adults telling) stories.

(d) Children like hearing (or adults telling) stories.

(e) Children can help friends struggling to learn.

(f) Parents should go walking with their children.

(g) A recommended form of exercise is walking.

In (a) here, taking directly follows the verb recommend and is understood as its grammatical object, making it noun-like and hence a gerund. In (b), becoming is separated from the verb foresee by the noun children, the gerund’s subject. Sentence (c) illustrates a verb (enjoy) that can go either directly before an -ing object (hearing) or before an intervening noun (adults telling). In the latter case, both words are the object but the primary meaning is still with the gerund (see 232. Verbs with an Object + “-ing”).

Sentence (d) above is similar to (c), but it illustrates a verb (like) that allows a following -ing verb (hearing, telling) to be replaced by a to (infinitive) verb carrying a slightly different meaning (to hear, to tell).

In (e), struggling follows the verb help and its noun object friends. Unlike in (b) and (c), however, this noun is the primary word in the object – it is only friends that receive the mentioned help, not their struggles. Thus, struggling is merely a description of the type of friends involved, making it adjective-like and hence a participle.

In (f), walking cannot be the object of go before it (because GO is an intransitive verb), but is instead a participle describing the subject of go (parents). In (g), walking is a complement of the verb BE, exactly identifying a recommended form of exercise, the subject of BE (see 117. Restating Generalizations More Specifically, #1). As such, it is a gerund.

The above sentences do not illustrate every possible way in which an -ing verb can follow another verb. One major excluded type is BE + participle, as in Children are playing. It is excluded because the participle is not sufficiently separate from BE, acting instead in partnership with it to make a single verb form, the present continuous tense of WALK. The other major excluded type is what I call “add-on” participles, which are not closely linked to the main verb in the sentence, but describe its subject, like this:

(h) The research ANALYSED markets PAYING particular attention to prices.

Here, the subject of paying is not markets, the object of analysed, but the research, its subject. For discussion of sentences like this, see 101. Add-on Participles.

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VERBS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH TYPE

1. Verbs like RECOMMEND

There seem to be relatively few verbs after which an -ing verb is always an object/gerund without an intervening noun, as in (a). Common ones are ADVISE, CONSIDER (= decide whether to perform the -ing action), DENY, RECOMMEND, REGRET, REJECT, RESUME and SUGGEST. Of these, ADVISE is most able to have a noun before a following verb, but the verb then needs to be changed into the to form (see 250. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar 1, #3).

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2. Verbs like FORESEE

Adding a noun before an -ing object, as in (b), is usually necessary after some cause-effect verbs of the prepositional kind, e.g. CONTRIBUTE TO, HOPE FOR, LEAD TO, LONG FOR, RESULT IN (see 32. Expressing Consequences) and WARN OF, plus a small number of other verbs, including DEMONSTRATE (= “present”), DISCOVER (= accidentally encounter”), FORECAST, FORESEE, PREDICT and SHOW (= “present”).

 

3. Verbs like ENJOY

Ability to be used equally with or without a noun before an -ing gerund is probably the most commonly found. Common verbs possessing it include ACCEPT, ANTICIPATE, APPRECIATE, AVOID, CATCH (= “observe … acting secretly”), ENDURE, ENJOY, ENTAIL, ENVISAGE, HINDER, IMAGINE, INSIST ON, INVOLVE, KEEP, LOOK FORWARD TO, MEAN (= entail), (NOT) MIND, MODEL, NECESSITATE, OBSERVE, PHOTOGRAPH, PREVENT, RECORD, RISK, STOP, STUDY and THINK OF (= picture).

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4. Verbs like LIKE

Verbs that can link with either -ing or to… after them, giving each a different meaning without changing themselves, are of two main types. With the more common, -ing (Children like hearing…) draws attention to its verb’s action through time, whereas an infinitive (Children like to hear…) presents the action as more instantaneous.

Verbs that can make this contrast fall into three meaning groups. LIKE is a like/dislike verb. Similar are LONG FOR, LOVE, PREFER, WANT, YEARN FOR and HATE. However, not all like/ dislike verbs allow the to/-ing choice: only -ing is possible after APPRECIATE, APPROVE OF, DISLIKE, ENJOY, WELCOME, ABHOR, DETEST, DISAGREE WITH and LOATH (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1, #b). Underlined verbs in both lists can also link with it that… (see 190. Special Uses of “it”, #4).

Next among verbs allowing the above -ing/to… choice are a few that express sensation. Examples are FEEL, HEAR, LISTEN TO, NOTICE, SEE, SENSE, SMELL and WATCH. With these, the choice is better said to involve an “infinitive” than a to verb because to must be dropped (see 148. Infinitive Verbs without “to”, #2).

The third choice-allowing group express dependency, with verbs like COUNT ON, DEPEND ON, NEED, RELY ON and REQUIRE. Outside of these three areas, HAVE meaning “cause” also allows the -ing/infinitive choice, the latter again without to (see the end of 116. Rarer Uses of HAVE).

The second broad type of verb that can link with a following verb ending in either -ing or to… also requires the choice to be made according to an aspect of the following verb’s meaning – but not the aspect outlined above.

The verbs FORGET and REMEMBER, for example, need -ing with past remembered events and to with future ones. They allow an intervening noun in the first case but not the second. BEGIN, CEASE and CONTINUE allow either –ing or to…, without any intervening noun. Often, there is no meaning difference, but sometimes there seems to be association with either a single extended action or multiple repeated ones.

TRY needs -ing to imply experimentation with a behaviour, and to… to imply that a preferred behaviour is being attempted with effort that may fail. PROPOSE means “suggest” with -ing and “intend” with to…. OMIT means “not mention” with -ing and “not do” with to…. For more on such distinctions, see 302. Verbs with a Partner Infinitive, #2.

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5. Verbs with an “-ing” Participle

Any verb that can have a noun object is likely to be usable with a subsequent -ing participle, as in (e) above. Some verbs, such as HELP in (e), will not allow an -ing gerund instead, but some will. With the latter, a double meaning sometimes occurs. Consider this:

(i) Some experiments involve animals suffering pain.

If suffering here is a participle, the message is that suffering pain is not the focus of some experiments. Rather, the type of animals involved in the experiments – those already suffering pain – is being specified. By contrast, if suffering here is a gerund, the message is that animal pain is induced during the experiments (see 257. Structures with a Double Meaning 4, #2).

 

6. Verbs like GO

GO is unusual in allowing a following -ing participle without an intervening noun. The noun it describes is instead the subject of the GO verb. Its most typical meaning in such cases is “go out to enjoy…”. Commonly-used participles are driving, hiking, hunting, riding, running, shopping, swimming, visiting and walking (see 176. Ways of Using “Go”, #3).

Similar to GO -ing are COME -ing (see 290. Ways of Using COME), and TAKE someone -ing (see 264. Variations in the Use of TAKE, #17).

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7. Verbs like BE

As mentioned above, BE may combine with an -ing participle to make a standard present continuous tense form. However, if the meaning does not fit this interpretation, as in sentence (g), an -ing form is likely to be a gerund (for a particularly interesting example, see 69. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 2, sentence #b).

The reason for the existence of two possibilities after BE is that it is a verb typically needing a “complement”, a sentence component that may be either adjective-like, opening the way for participles, or noun-like, opening the way for gerunds (see 220. Features of Complements, #2).

Different complement-taking verbs have different requirements. REMAIN is very like BE, but BECOME and SEEM are unlikely to have a following participle (preferring a noun or adjective instead). TURN is unlikely to have either a participle or gerund, normally preferring an adjective. Some complement-taking verbs, moreover, including BE and BECOME, allow a noun before a partner -ing word:

(j) The saddest sight was children begging for food.

In these cases, the distinction between a participle and gerund seems blurred.

318. “It is…” + Noun and Another Verb

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A noun is sometimes right after forward-referring “it is”, sometimes wrong and sometimes an option

FEATURES OF THIS STRUCTURE

There are various types of sentence that can start with It is… (see 190. Special Uses of “it”). They can be broadly divided into those where it refers to something obvious from previous words or the speech situation, and those where it refers forward to something mentioned later in its own sentence.

Here, the focus is on the second of these it types. What it refers forward to is a verb-based statement at the sentence end – the true subject of is:

(a) It is a challenge to maintain food supplies.

The underlined verb-based statement here is not in the starting position that is more typical of subjects because it is quite wordy, a feature that English speakers do not like at the start of a sentence. Such wordiness is typical of verb-based statements in general. The starting it is a “dummy” subject, needed to fill the space left by the transferred true subject (see 103. Representing a Later Statement with “it”).

The wording between this kind of It… and the later verb-based statement (is a challenge above) occasionally comprises a verb + object (e.g. makes sense), but is more typically a verb + complement. The verb BE (= is above) is by far the commonest complement-taking verb, but not the only one, possible alternatives including BECOME, REMAIN and SEEM. The complement is able, like complements in general, to be either a noun or a verb. As the above title indicates, it is noun complements that are of particular interest here.

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THE POTENTIAL FOR ERROR

The use of noun complements in the relevant kind of It is… sentence is complicated in two major respects. Firstly, there is the question of when a noun is able to be used. In some cases, it is the only means of expressing a particular meaning (e.g. It is a pity…); sometimes, it is not a possible means at all of doing so (e.g. It is strange…); and sometimes it is replaceable by a similarly-spelt adjective (e.g. It is a challenge/ challenging…).

The second complication is the variability of the wording directly after the noun complement, where the verb-based statement begins. In sentence (a) after challenge, there is a to verb (to maintain). Other nouns, however, may be followed by an -ing verb or by that (with an ordinary subject + verb), or by a question word.

The common feature of all these latter wording variations is that they mark the verb-based statement as a specification or identification of the general noun idea just before them. For example, to maintain… in (a) gives the exact nature of a challenge (see 117. Restating Generalizations More Specifically).

The usability of each variation depends on the choice of complement noun before it. Challenge allows to… but not that…; fact requires the reverse. Yet predicting the right choice is hampered by not just this variability but also the fact that some nouns combine with a following verb in a different way when they are outside the complement position. Placing the challenge, for example, at the start of a sentence before a specifying statement requires of -ing instead of to (The challenge of maintaining…); whereas the fact in this position still requires that.

As usual, the best way to acquire such a complicated area of knowledge is by communicating in English as much as possible. However, additional help may come from knowing some general noun meanings that seem to be associated with each option, and it is these that I wish to explore here.

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NOUN USAGE AFTER “IT IS”

It is not possible here to list all of the nouns that could follow the relevant kind of It is…, but a fairly extensive list may give some idea of what is possible:

NOUN ONLY

an achievement (to)
a bonus (to/that)
a conundrum (that/ wh-)
a disincentive (to/that)
a duty (to)
an experience (to)
a fact (that)
a failure (to)
a good question (wh-)
a joy (to)
a moot point (wh-)
a pity (that)
a priority (to)
a relief (to/that)
a requirement (to/that)
a shame (to/that)
a struggle (to)
common sense (to/that)
fun (to)
hard work (to)
standard practice (to)
time (to)

Most of these nouns owe their use, it seems, to the fact that they have no similarly-spelt adjective that could replace them without a clear meaning change. Some do actually have a similarly-spelt adjective (e.g. time/ timely, a joy/ joyous), but only one with a noticeably different meaning.

The meanings of the nouns perhaps form some distinct categories. A “good/bad” category includes bonus, failure, fun, joy, pity, pleasure, relief, shame, struggle and hard work. “Necessity” includes duty, priority and requirement. “Factual” might describe fact, common sense and standard practice. “Asking” includes conundrum, moot point and question.

NOUN OR ADJECTIVE

an advantage/ advantageous (to/that)
a burden/ burdensome (to/that)
a certainty/ certain (that)
a challenge/ challenging (to)
a consolation/ consoling (to/that)
a crime/ criminal (to/that )
a disappointment/ disappointing (that)
a disaster/ disastrous (that)
a help/ helpful (to/that)
a mystery/ mysterious (that)
a necessity/ necessary (to/that)
a novelty/ novel (to/that)
a possibility/ possible (that)
a probability/ probable (that)
#a problem/ problematic (that)
a puzzle/ puzzling (that)
a shock/ shocking (to/that)
a surprise/ surprising (to/that)
a trial/ trying (to)
the custom/ customary (to/that)
the fashion/ fashionable (to/that)
the truth/ true (that)

Pairs like these seem more numerous than nouns in the first list, which lack a derived adjective of similar-meaning. However, it should not be concluded that any adjective whose meaning and spelling exist in a corresponding noun can be replaced by it – there are plenty of such adjectives that must always be used. Often, their corresponding noun will be uncountable. Consider this:

(b) It is enjoyable to visit new places.

It would not be correct here to say an enjoyment to…. What would be possible, however, is an enjoyable experience. Other adjectives that have a noun of similar spelling and meaning without being replaceable by it include acceptable, appealing, typical, difficult, easy, futile, normal, premature, satisfying and painful.

However, some adjectives that cannot be replaced by their similarly-spelt noun after it is can actually be changed in this way in a sentence type that is practically a paraphrase of an it is sentence, namely one starting with there is. This is the case, for example, with appealing (corresponding noun = appeal). Appealing in the position of enjoyable in (b) would become appeal in a sentence like the following:

(c) There is appeal in visiting new places.

For more on this kind of correspondence, see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences, #6.

The meaning categories represented in the second list are similar to those in the first.

For further aspects of noun/ adjective alternation, see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds, #1.

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WORD CHOICES AFTER THE NOUN

Most of the above nouns, it is clear, need their following verb to be introduced with to. This may be because of the kind of meaning that the verb expresses: something to be done by either the speaker or addressee or both. Consider this:

(d) It is a requirement to sign in on arrival.

Very typically, such a sentence will be telling the addressee to carry out the mentioned action. If to is replaced by that, by contrast, this would not be the case:

(e) It is a requirement that dogs are kept on a lead.

Similarly, the first sentence below refers to an action by the speaker, while the second does not:

(f) It is a relief to have completed the task.

(g) It is a relief that the bank have received payment.

Two alternatives to to and that are -ing and question words. Replacing to with -ing seems possible after “good/bad” nouns. In sentence (f), for example, to have could easily be the rare auxiliary gerund having.

The choice between to and -ing in such situations depends on how the action is viewed (what grammarians call “aspect”): to… presents actions as brief, while -ing presents them as extended – the same contrast that is possible after some adjectives outside it sentences ( see 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it), and after some verbs (see 148. Infinitive Verbs without “to”, #2).

Replacement of that by a question word (how, when, who etc.) is sometimes necessary when the noun before is a question-implying one like a puzzle (see 88. Exotic Grammar Structures 1, #8):

(h) It is a puzzle why nobody is around.

For more on such sentences, see 219. Wording next to Indirect Questions, #2.

317. Tricky Word Contrasts 13

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Some word pairs are easily confused because of close similarities in spelling and/or meaning

THE PROBLEM OF TRICKY WORD CONTRASTS

Most users of English have encountered vocabulary items that are easily confused because they resemble each other in spelling and/or meaning. A well-known example – often explained in English language coursebooks – is later (= happening in subsequent time) versus latter (= second of two just-mentioned ideas). The problem is that such pairs are numerous in English, and many are rarely highlighted so that they are likely to remain unrecognised, or at least not fully differentiated.

It is these rarely-considered confusion sources, especially ones likely to occur in professional writing, that are the focus of the present post, just as they are of various others with a similar title (there is a complete list on the page in this blog entitled Posts on Specific Words). Further posts about vocabulary confusions include 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words,  44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs,  94. Essay Instruction Words,  211. General Words for People and 240. Nouns that End with “-ing”.

For some grammar contrasts, see 100. What is a Grammar Error?, 133 Confusions of Similar Structures 1 and 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1. For some pronunciation ones, see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly.

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LIST OF CONTRASTS

1. Eager(ness) – Willing(ness)

The adjective willing and related noun willingness are obviously both derived from the word will. However, their meaning differs in a subtle enough way to make them unsuitable for expressing the idea of will in adjective or noun form.

The most familiar use of will is as an auxiliary verb, as in …will happen. Its typical suggestion is, of course, the idea of “future”, but this is usually alongside a secondary meaning like “promise” or “prediction” (see 147. Types of Future Meaning). In rare cases, for example when will is spoken with emphasis or used after if, the secondary idea is of wanting something (see 316. Future Verbs without “Will” or “Shall”, #4).

This idea of wanting something becomes the main meaning of will when it is used as an ordinary rather than auxiliary verb:

(a) Everyone was willing the initiative to succeed.

The underlined words here are a past continuous form of the verb WILL, not BE before the adjective willing. This is clear from the subsequent wording: object + to verb (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive, #5), replacing that…should…. The idea of wanting something is also present in the noun will, whether used countably (= inheritance document) or uncountably (= wish).

The frequency of the idea of wanting in will is logical grounds for seeing the same idea in willing and willingness. However, the logic is misleading: these words both indicate agreement to do something without indicating how much it is wanted. An action that someone is willing to perform might be a totally hated one, like eating disgusting food, the agreement to perform it being based on a very different stimulus from the attraction of the food, such a desire to avoid offending someone. One close synonym is prepared(ness).

Suitable alternatives for expressing the idea of wanting are the adjective-noun pairs eager(ness) and keen(ness). Like willing(ness), both can be followed directly by a to verb.

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2.  AGREE – ACCEPT

AGREE is usable with either a that statement or a to (infinitive) verb (as well as with various prepositions – see 44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs, #1). Before that, it typically means “concur”:

(b) Caesar agreed that he / the journey was taking too long.

(c) Caesar agreed that he / troops would make the journey.

These suggest Caesar, the subject of agreed, had heard the opinion of someone else about the journey, and had decided that it either matched or should match his own opinion. The focus of (b) is an existing situation, that of (c) a future action. The subject of the verb after that may be either the same as that of AGREE (he above) or different (troops/the journey).

Sometimes, an additional suggestion with an agreed future action is of steps being taken to bring it about – the idea of consent as well as of concurrence. It is only possible if the subjects of AGREE and the verb after it are different, and if the subject of AGREE is understood to have the power to arrange the relevant event. In sentence (c), Caesar and he meet these conditions.

With a directly-following infinitive, by contrast, the idea of consent is the main meaning of AGREE. The subject of the infinitive can only be the same as that of AGREE.

ACCEPT is an object-dropping verb with the fundamental meaning of “choose to keep”. With an explicit or implicit noun or pronoun object representing a gift or offer, the choosing is implied to be gracious; but with one representing something undesirable, such as poverty or discomfort, there is an implication of resignation, stoicism or heroic suffering. Neither of these implications, though, is present with other objects. All noun objects refer to a past or existing situation, not a future one.

An alternative kind of ACCEPT object is a that statement. This allows only the implication of resignation etc. Unlike noun objects, that statements can refer to a future situation (…that mistakes would be made), as well as a past or present one. However, they still indication resignation, not consent.

The most common confusion of AGREE and ACCEPT is in the giving of consent to a future action. Only AGREE can express this meaning: agree to do for one’s own future action, agree that X will for someone else’s. ACCEPT with a following infinitive (*accept to do) is ungrammatical, while ACCEPT that … will indicates resignation rather than consent.

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3. Proposal – Proposition

These two countable nouns – both derived from the verb PROPOSE – may express either the action of that verb or its outcome (see 280. Alternative Meanings of Action Nouns).

Both words reflect the fundamental “suggest” meaning of PROPOSE, but differ in the type of suggestion that they indicate. Proposals are suggested plans or actions, propositions suggested ideas:

(d) Ali’s proposal is to store all the data in one place.

(e) The project will explore the proposition that productive workers are the happiest.

Note the infinitive verb after proposal and the that statement after proposition. That… is also possible after proposal, but infinitives are unlikely after proposition. Because proposal is future-referring, it allows the option of putting the verb after that into the “subjunctive” form (see 316. Future Verbs without “Will” or “Shall”, #5).

Propositions are especially likely in Law, Mathematics and Philosophy, where they are presented as possible truths, often in preparation for their systematic analysis. Elsewhere, they may mean “challenges”. In romantic situations, a proposition is an invitation to engage in sexual activity, whereas a proposal is a request for marriage.

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4. Suspect – Suspicious

Although suspect can be a verb, noun or adjective, it is the last of these that I wish to concentrate on because of the exclusively adjective nature of suspicious. The adjective suspect is, like the noun but unlike the verb, pronounced with stress on sus-, causing the “u” vowel to be pronounced fully as /ʌ/ rather than weakly as /Ə/ (see 125. Stress and Emphasis).

Suspect usually indicates the existence of a hidden problem within what it is describing, leading to a negative impact on people’s trust in it. It mostly describes objects, substances or abstract ideas. For example, a bridge might be described as suspect if it moved unexpectedly when in use, and an argument could be called suspect if unconvincing. If a living thing is called suspect, it is similarly believed likely to possess a hidden weakness, such as an inability to cope with pressure.

Suspicious too can say its noun idea is mistrusted by its observers. However, the noun idea is more likely to be behaviour by a living being than a physical quality in an object. An example of suspicious behaviour might be somebody on a low income regularly purchasing expensive luxuries.

Suspicious can also describe an observer of suspicious behaviour, its meaning then being “having suspicion” rather than “causing suspicion”. A car owner, for example, might be suspicious after their newly-serviced car still performed poorly. The person causing the suspicion can be named in an of phrase after suspicious (e.g. suspicious of the garage).

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5. In a Position – In Position

It is surprising how often in English just including or excluding a(n) or the within a fixed phrase can make a significant meaning difference. For numerous examples with the, see 235. Special Uses of “the”, #9.

The two expressions above usually precede a to (infinitive) verb. In a position is a formal way of saying “able”:

(f) Our organization is in a (good) position to offer its help.

Without a, by contrast, the meaning is “in a/the correct place”, and the context is likely to be sporting:

(g) The goalkeeper was in position to stop the shot.

Note, though, that an adjective added before this latter use of position needs to be accompanied by a or the, e.g. …was in a suitable (or the right) position to….

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6. At/On/In the Scene

The noun the scene changes its meaning according to the preposition used before it. After on, it refers to a particular area of activity, such as politics, sport or education. For example, a politician mentioning new people appearing on the scene would probably mean people newly entering politics.

After at, the scene refers to a place where something has recently happened or is still happening. Crime and disaster locations are especially likely to be involved. Newspaper reports, for example, will often say at the scene of the theft.

After in, the scene usually refers to a shortish segment of a book, play or film, usually involving a single event or location. As an example, one might hear that a film director made a brief appearance in the fight scene.

For more about nouns after a predictable preposition, see 252. Descriptive Wording after Nouns 1, #2.

315. Ways of Using SEE

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The grammar and meanings of SEE are extremely varied

THE COMPLEXITY OF see

Small common verbs tend in any language to have an extensive variety of meanings and uses that makes them difficult to master quickly. Here, the variety of the verb SEE is given detailed consideration, with especial attention paid to usage that is idiomatic and/or very capable of occurring in formal writing. Although this is unlikely to provide instant mastery of the verb (see 202. Some Strategies for Learning English, “Practice Strategies”), it may reduce the time taken.

Of course, dictionaries too provide extensive information about small common verbs. My thinking in doing the same here is that dictionaries’ need to save space can make their explanations and illustrations frustratingly brief and therefore harder to appreciate and remember. In these pages, there is the benefit of not just extra space, but also the potential to link to further explanation elsewhere. Sometimes, there may even be an insight that dictionaries have overlooked.

Other small verbs that are similarly analysed in this blog are HAVE,  MAKE,  GO,  DO,  GIVE,  TAKE and COME.

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USAGE WITH JUST A SUBJECT

It is not common for SEE to be used in the active voice without an object. Where this is possible, the meaning is usually either the fundamental “perceive with the eyes” or its metaphorical derivative “understand” (see 7. Metaphorical Meanings).

SEE with the first meaning still mainly requires a mention of what the eyes see – the object of the perception. As with most object-indicating verbs in English, this requirement exists even when the nature of the object is obvious from the preceding words or the speech situation. In such cases, the object will normally be a pronoun like them or something:

(a) Searching for micro-organisms, Pasteur eventually saw them.

An absent object after SEE with the basic eye-perception meaning is most likely when the additional meaning of ability is present. In such cases, can is often present too:

(b) I (can) see but I don’t hear.

Even here, however, an object can often be added after SEE, for example things. This suggests that SEE used as in (b) is a kind of verb that I have elsewhere called “object-dropping” (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors). Note that not all noun expressions after it are objects: some, such as a short distance or some way, have an adverb function instead.

SEE meaning “understand” seems slightly more able to be used without an object. As such, it usually seems to involve the further meaning of “accept” or “recognise”. For a special use after as, see 293. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 4, #4. SEE meaning “understand” without an object is again probably object-dropping rather than truly object-less (“intransitive”).

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USAGE WITH AN OBJECT

The perception and understanding meanings remain common when SEE has an object. There are various object types, each tending to suggest a particular additional meaning. Common extended meanings are:

1. Appreciate

Here, “understand” combines with “recognise the importance of”. A writer might say they see the problem. A typical conversational use is:

(c) I see what you are saying.

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2. Refer to/Consult

The extra suggestion here is of transferring attention, usually temporarily, from a primary object of interest to a secondary one, often in order to increase understanding of the former, or credence in it. SEE with this meaning is often in the imperative form (see 128. Imperative Verbs in Formal Writing, #4).

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3. Imagine/Visualise

Here, the object of SEE is clearly understood not to currently exist. It might be a fantasy, a fear, a desire, or a prediction (like objects of FORESEE). Sometimes, before or after the object, one hears the phrase in my (or similar, e.g. their) mind’s eye.

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4. Interpret

To interpret is to extract meaning from something perceived, such as a sight, sound, utterance, idea or situation. SEE with this meaning is often accompanied by an adverbial manner expression. Someone might say How do you see it? or X sees it differently. An adverbial as… before …X sees it is a common way of signalling that X’s interpretation follows next (see 293. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 4, #4).

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5. Subjectively Perceive

If somebody says they see problems in a plan, they leave open the possibility that no problems really exist at all – that the observation is just an opinion. A verb suggesting perception of something that more definitely exists is RECOGNISE.

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6. Recognise

SEE may acquire this meaning if its object has the (or other particularizing word) instead of a(n) or a “zero” article. Someone looking at a crowd photo, for example, might say they see their brother. There may sometimes be difficulty separating “recognition” from the “appreciate” meaning above (#1).

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7. Experience

With this meaning, the object of SEE is typically an event, often expressed as an “action” noun (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns), e.g.:

(d) The country has seen exceptional growth.

Here, SEE resembles EXPERIENCE in expressing the passive-like meaning of being affected by the action of the object (see 21. Active Verbs with Non-Active Meanings, penultimate section). Literal perception could be involved, but it could also be absent, leaving a more metaphorical use.

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8. Witness

The object of SEE with this meaning is likely to be an occurrence worth reporting to other people, such as a crime or solar eclipse. There is a similarity to the “experience” meaning above, but more neutrality about whether or not the occurrence actually affected the reporter. More emphasis, in other words, is placed on the perception element.

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9. Meet

Both accidental and arranged encounters – mostly of the one-to-one kind – can be represented by SEE. The latter also tend to involve the idea of “consult”. Typical statements might be that someone saw a friend or has seen a doctor.

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10. Other

In everyday usage, SEE with a visual entertainment object like a film means “watch in full”, and in continuous tenses with a human object means “meet regularly to pursue romance”.

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OTHER USAGE

11. + Object + “as” or “to be”

SEE here means “believe” or “consider” but, unlike with the “subjectively perceive” meaning (#5 above), the belief is carried by the as or to be part rather than the object:

(e) Some language teachers see targeted production practice as (or to be) a waste of time.

Grammatically speaking, an as phrase in such sentences is an “object complement”. As seems freely replaceable by to be, just as it is when introducing an object complement of many (but not all) other belief verbs (see 92. Verbs with an Object + “as”).

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12. + “that”

An object of SEE is sometimes a statement starting with a conjunction use of that. SEE varies in meaning according to what follows that. With a simple sight or factual observation after that, SEE means “observe”:

(f) The company saw that sales were falling.

This kind of meaning probably exists within the conjunction seeing that, an introducer of an accepted point (see 230. Multi-Word Conjunctions, #1).

By contrast, with information of a less physically visible kind after that, SEE is a “thought” verb meaning “recognise”:

(g) The company sees that more funding is required.

In the right context, both (f) and (g) could be understood as reported speech.

A very different meaning of SEE that… is “ensure”:

(h) Anticipating a long campaign, Caesar saw that his troops had plenty of supplies.

Here, the object of SEE represents a subsequent result of the seeing rather than anything simultaneous. The use is especially likely within instructions (see 128. Imperative verbs in Formal Writing, #3).

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13. + Object + “-ing”

This is another combination with strikingly different meanings. A statement that economists see prices rising means either that they observe prices to be rising, or that they predict it. Only context can show which is meant.

The “observe” meaning of SEE before an object + -ing closely resembles the “observe” meaning of SEE before that, as in sentence (f). If there is a difference, it is perhaps that that… suggests the observation as a fact worth noting, rather than just a simple occurrence.

For more about the “predict” meaning, see 316. Future Verbs without “Will” or “Shall”, #2.

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14. + Object + “Bare” Infinitive

SEE is one of various perception verbs whose object can be followed by a base-form verb – actually an infinitive (to verb) without the to (see 148. Infinitive Verbs without “to”, #2). The base form after an object makes a meaning contrast with the -ing form there that is described in #13: whereas -ing suggests the verb’s occurrence is ongoing, base forms present it as completed. For the special use of see … be versus see … being, see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1, #6.

The above contrast is also possible with the passive form of SEE (with the object as subject). Usually, however, the infinitive then needs to (prices are seen to rise).

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15. + Indirect Question

Verbs before an indirect question word (if, whether, how, who etc.) are usually “asking”, “explaining” or “knowing” (see 150. Verb Choices with Reported Speech, #2). SEE is commonly an “asking” verb meaning “investigate”:

(i) Use litmus paper to see if the liquid is acidic.

However, sometimes SEE is more “explaining” than “asking”, with the meaning of “observe”. This can happen before any of the question words except if and whether, with how being particularly likely:

(j) See how demand jumps during the summer.

Using how draws attention to something already visible, rather as with NOTE and NOTICE (see 271. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 3, #5).

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16. + Object + Directional Preposition

Movement-suggesting prepositions – to, into, from, out of, through etc. – tend, when following an object of SEE, to make SEE mean “escort”. Thus, seeing someone out of a building means accompanying them as far as the exit.

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17. In Multi-Word Verbs

Some verb-preposition combinations work so closely together that they are best considered single object-requiring “prepositional” verbs (see 44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs). Common SEE examples include SEE ABOUT… (= deal with), SEE INTO the future (= predict), SEE TO… (= attend to) and SEE THROUGH… (= recognise deception in).

Similar to prepositional verbs are “phrasal” ones, where the verb accompanies a preposition-like adverb (see 139. Phrasal Verbs), sometimes with no object. Common SEE ones are SEE … IN/OUT (= escort inside/outside), SEE … THROUGH (= manage till the end) and SEE … OFF (= successfully resist or help to depart).

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18. In Other Fixed Expressions

The following are common:

Seeing is believing (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”, #2)
Let me see = …think about it
See red = become very angry (see 278. Colours, #4).
See the back of = end of
see-through = transparent

314. Words with Complicated Grammar 4

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Some words are usable in multiple (and often confusing) grammatical ways

THE PROBLEM OF COMPLICATED GRAMMAR

A major concern of this blog is the kind of grammar that is found not in “grammars”, but in dictionaries. Grammars focus on wide-ranging features like verb tense usage; dictionaries on word-specific requirements like the complexities of whole. Traditionally, these respective kinds of grammatical description tended to be called “grammar” and “usage”; my preferred terms are “broad grammar” and “narrow grammar” (see the rationale for my grammar practice book).

Narrow English grammar has various features that can make it difficult to learn. One is words that behave differently from what might be expected from the behaviour of words like them (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1 and 250. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar). Another is words whose grammatical possibilities are so diverse as to be easily confused.

It is this second source of difficulty that the present post is concerned with. As the title indicates, other parts of this blog deal with it too (for a list, see 201. Words with Complicated Grammar 1). The approach is the same: in-depth consideration of the grammatical properties of a small number of problem words. This is a different kind of analysis from that in various Guinlist posts entitled Tricky Word Contrasts, where the focus is on meaning rather than grammar.

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PROBLEM WORDS

1. FACE

The verb FACE is mostly transitive (object-requiring). As such, it can express various meanings, of which the main ones might be illustrated and explained as follows:

(a) The cinema faces the hotel.

The message here is that the front of the cinema is directly opposite the nearby front of the hotel with nothing in between. FACE with this meaning is very unlikely to have the passive form: as with MARRY (see 201. Words with Complicated Grammar 1, #4) and ACCOMPANY, there is no problem keeping the verb active if the subject and object change places.

The expression of a permanent location is fairly typical of this use, but temporary ones are possible too, especially with a living subject, as in …turned and faced the crowd or …stand facing their headquarters.

(b) The economy faces an uphill struggle.

In this use, the object (an uphill struggle) represents a difficult future (see 316. Future Verbs without “Will” or “Shall”, #1). Faces might be paraphrased as “is going to suffer”. Surprisingly, this meaning of FACE is often able to be expressed as well with the passive form as with the active. However, the passive must be followed by with, not by: …is faced with an uphill struggle above (see 21. Active Verbs with Non-Active Meanings, #4).

(c) Unpleasant truths must be faced eventually.

Again, the object of FACE (here expressed as the subject of its passive form) refers to something unwelcome. FACE means “no longer avoid”, thereby conveying recognition and confrontation.

(d) Speakers will face detailed questioning.

The meaning here is close to “endure”. Other typical objects are severe consequences, a crisis, difficulties, opposition, problems and threats. Note also face the music, where the music metaphorically represents angry censure for having behaved in a proscribed way (see 241. Some Common Figurative Phrases).

In addition to these transitive uses, FACE has one notable intransitive one, usually in combination with towards…:

(e) The house faces towards the sea.

Towards suggests a large separating distance. Indeed, the noun after it may represent something too far away to be seen. If this noun represents a compass point, like (the) west, towards may be dropped, e.g. …faces (the) west. In this situation, including the makes FACE transitive again, but without it FACE remains intransitive: west alone is not an object but a directional adverb (see 151. Ways of Using Compass Words).

Finally, there is the phrasal-prepositional verb FACE UP TO. Its meaning is close to that of FACE in (c), but perhaps implies greater determination.

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2. FAIL

This verb sometimes means “not do”, sometimes “do unsuccessfully”. It also suggests that the doing is desired, so should not be used just as an alternative to not. It may go directly before a noun (an object), or a to verb (an infinitive), or be alone with nothing after:

(f) Failing an exam is not always a disaster.

(g) Hard work may fail to gain a reward.

(h) When persuasion failed, force was necessary.

A familiar object type after FAIL is a test of one kind or another, like an exam in (f). In such cases, FAIL means “do unsuccessfully”. In a related use, an examiner can fail someone by giving them a “fail” grade. Outside of testing contexts, however, a person who is failing someone is themself the unsuccessful one, their failure being to act at an expected level.

In one other object-requiring use, FAIL has a personal quality or ability as its subject and a human object, and it indicates non-achievement of the former by the latter. For example, Words failed X means X could not find suitable words to use. This possibility is the only object-using one that cannot be passive.

FAIL before an infinitive – to gain in (g) – normally means “not do (despite trying)”. The infinitive looks like an object of FAIL, but is arguably not one because of the tendency of FAIL with noun objects to mean “do unsuccessfully” rather than “not do” (see 302. Verbs with a Partner Infinitive).

FAIL used alone, as in (h), often seems to imply either an object or an infinitive, both identifiable from the surrounding words or the speech situation. In (h), for example, an infinitive like to motivate is implied. When an object is implied, FAIL might be classified as what I have elsewhere called “object-dropping” (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors). When an infinitive is implied, FAIL might be called “infinitive-dropping”.

Infinitive-dropping verbs seem to be a subset of verbs that can combine with an infinitive, just as object-dropping ones are a subset of object-taking verbs. Consider this:

(i) Rain failed to fall in summer.

The fact that the infinitive to fall here can be dropped after failed further marks FAIL as infinitive-dropping. However, if tended replaces failed, dropping to fall would be ungrammatical, which suggests TEND is not infinitive-dropping. The same logic excludes LIKE, NEED and SEEM as infinitive-dropping and includes CEASE, CONTINUE, START, THREATEN and TRY.

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3. “Average”

This word may be a verb, noun or adjective. The verb AVERAGE is transitive (object-needing), its object often a number expression. If such an object follows a number-implying subject (figure, temperature, time etc.), as in the temperature averages 20 degrees, the verb cannot be passive, just like other measurement verbs (COST, LAST, MEASURE, WEIGH etc: see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive). However, with other subjects, as in the following, the passive becomes possible:

(j) Walkers average 6 km/hour.

A further verb meaning is “find the average of”. The subject is likely to be a human or robotic calculator, the object a number-implying word:

(k) The software averages the values found.

The noun average often has a following of phrase specifying either the average (e.g. an average of 20 km) or its possessor (the average of the distances). Alternatively, the noun may follow the preposition on within a phrase typically located at the start of a sentence as a sentence-spanning adverbial:

(l) On average, humans live for 72 years.

The adjective average often accompanies a number-implying noun (the average speed, average temperatures). Where it does not, it is likely to mean “ordinary”:

(m) The service was average.

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4. “Instruction”

This noun has three main meanings: “teaching”, “command” and “direction”. The “teaching” use is uncountable – usable without special words before it, and not normally combined with an or -s. It generally means the same as the related -ing verb instructing, so that it can be considered an “action” noun (see 14. Action Outcomes):

(n) Instruction takes place in the mornings.

As with most action nouns, the recipients of instruction in this sense can be indicated with of, e.g. instruction of the trainees… (see 31. Prepositions after Action Nouns 1). The content of the instruction is typically shown with in (…in safety procedures).

By contrast, instruction meaning “command” is always countable. The recipient is usually indicated with to, e.g. instructions to visitors…, while the instructed action is likely to be expressed with a verb in the to (infinitive) form (…to register their name).

The “direction” use of instruction is also countable. Directions are information about how to do something (see 128. Imperative Verbs in Formal Writing, #1). Instructions in this sense are not obeyed like the “command” kind, but rather followed. The recipient (often not indicated) can be shown with to or for, e.g. instructions to/for applicants…, while the target of the instruction is likely to follow for (…for completing the form).

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5. ADVISE

This verb is probably most familiar as a near-synonym of RECOMMEND (see 187. Advising and Recommending). The advice itself can take various forms:

– a directly-following that statement (…that action is taken)

– a directly-following -ing verb (…doing something)

– an “action” noun (…action)

– an object (representing the advisee) + infinitive (…you to do something: see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive, #3).

In all of these except that statements, negative advice can be shown by adding against (the infinitive in the last example becoming an -ing verb instead: …advise you against doing anything). In that statements after ADVISE, the verb can optionally be in the “subjunctive” mood (be taken above), just as verbs can after various other future-referring speech words (see 269. Exotic Grammar Structures 7, #7).

An alternative meaning of ADVISE is “inform”. This usually has the information receiver as its object, followed by either that (+ statement) or of (+ noun expression):

(o) We wish to advise passengers that service disruptions are likely next week (or of likely service disruptions next week).

309. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 5

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Sometimes two grammar structures are hard to distinguish because of similar forms and/or meanings

TRICKY CONTRASTS IN ENGLISH

As in most languages, it is quite common in English to find two items, of either vocabulary or grammar, whose meanings are not easy to differentiate. Although a few pairs of this kind are covered by most English coursebooks, and are as a result well-known, many are overlooked.

In this blog, posts with the above title consider rarely-explained meaning differences between grammatical structures that seem to say the same. For a list of all the posts, see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1. These structures are to be distinguished from similar-seeming ones that often cause grammar errors – separately considered under the heading Confusions of Similar Structures. For differences between confusingly similar vocabulary items, there are numerous posts entitled “Tricky Word Contrasts”. For a full list, plus an alphabetical list of all of the words in them, click here.

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EXPLANATIONS OF SIMILAR STRUCTURES

1. “The Xs…” versus “Xs such as…”

One of the many combinations that can be made by placing a noun (or noun-like expression) in front of one or more others is a plural class name, such as colours, followed without a comma by one or more names of members of the class, such as brown and grey. There are associated grammatical requirements which differ according to whether the member names represent some or all of the class members.

The simplest means of indicating the idea of “some” is a suitable expression added directly after the class name, such as like, such as or including:

(a) Colours like brown and grey can be depressing.

This links can be depressing with not just brown and grey but also colours of a similar kind (a category the reader is assumed to be able to recognise). For a full list of possible linking expressions, see 1. Simple Example-Giving.

By contrast, the simplest way to show that one or more nouns after a class name are naming all of the class members that the whole statement is about (i.e. that brown and grey above are all, or the only, colours that can be depressing), is to avoid special wording after the class name, and instead add the before it:

(b) The colours brown and grey can be depressing.

For a full description of this usage, see 117. Restating Generalizations more Specifically, #3.

A complication arises when the class name refers to a specific identified group rather than a general class, a meaning that also requires the. Sentences like (a) can accommodate this just by adding the at the start, but in sentences like (b), where the is already present, there is a need to do something like naming the class member(s) before the class name:

(c) The brown and grey colours can be depressing.

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2. Text-Describing Present Perfect Tense

Both the present perfect tense (with has/have) and the past simple (with -ed) enable mention to be made of an earlier part of a text where they are used. The difference between them is similar to that in their everyday use, where the present perfect typically refers to times of a more recent and still-relevant nature. Thus, to talk correctly about an earlier part of a text, there is a need to recognise what in texts is considered “recent”.

One useful distinction in this respect involves chapters or sections. If the indicated earlier part of the text is in a chapter before the indication, the past simple is the more likely choice; otherwise, the present perfect is preferred:

(d) The last chapter presented definitions; the current one has described relevant procedures.

Obviously, the fact that the relevant procedures are earlier in the current chapter means the verb in the present perfect tense is probably at the end (at the start, it would be describes or will describe). In fact, this use of the present perfect tense is so likely to be near the end of a chapter that it can be considered a kind of end-marking signpost language (see the end of #2 in 186. Language in Oral Presentations).

Yet the present perfect tense is not always the right choice for referring back to something in the same chapter or section. There are certain past-referring adverb expressions that necessitate, or at least allow, the past simple, similarly to expressions in everyday usage like last night or ago. Examples are at the start (colouring the start as long ago), a few paragraphs back and earlier.

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3. “The” between BE and a Comparative Adjective

A familiar use of comparative adjectives is after the noun they are describing, with a link verb like BE or SEEM in between:

(e) Driving is quicker than cycling, but cycling is cheaper.

Here, the comparative adjective quicker is describing the earlier noun driving, and cheaper is describing cycling.

What is notable about this usage is that the is sometimes possible before the comparative. Sentence (e) could end …is the cheaper. Adding the requires an absent than… after the comparative. For that to be possible, the idea that would normally follow than – indicating what the comparison is with – must already be obvious from either the situation where the sentence is uttered or previous words. In (e), of course, it is the previous word driving that indicates what cycling is being compared with.

Where the is possible, it is not compulsory, and creates only a slight meaning difference. It seems just to emphasise that the meaning of the unmentioned than part is already available.

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4. “South of” versus “to the South of”

These expressions (and their equivalents with the other compass words, such as east and north-west) may each express either static location or movement. To appreciate the difference made by to the to the static meaning, consider the following:

(f) Zambia is south of Tanzania.

This indicates that Zambia is geographically beyond the southern border of Tanzania, but not how far. Adding to the, on the other hand, would say that Zambia is next to this border (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #7).

By contrast, the movement meaning without to the is illustrated in sentences with a travel verb like went:

(g) Livingstone went south of Tanganyika.

This means Livingstone made a journey across the southern border of Tanganyika. Adding to the, on the other hand, would say that Livingstone made a journey into the southern part of Tanganyika, probably from somewhere in the same country.

For more about words like south, see 151. Ways of Using Compass Words.

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5. “Cannot decide” versus “Cannot make a decision”

Various reasons for preferring MAKE A DECISION to the simpler DECIDE are identified earlier in this blog in 39. “Decide” or “Make a Decision”?. An important one is that the frequent need of DECIDE to precede an object or to verb can be a problem if there is a good reason not to have one of these, such as a wish not to state the obvious.

What happens, though, if DECIDE does not need an object, as in the following?

(h) The committee is deciding tomorrow.

Used like this, DECIDE is likely to mean not just “find a solution” but “make a selection from multiple options”. The options are likely to be equally attractive or unattractive, and to be already known, perhaps because they have just been mentioned. The usage is probably “object-dropping” rather than “intransitive” (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors). MAKE A DECISION remains an alternative, but would be vague about the number and visibility of the options.

A stronger difference arises when cannot is included. Cannot decide implies that difficulty of selection is the reason why, whereas cannot make a decision, in less strongly suggesting selection, is more likely to indicate a different reason for the absence of a decision, such as illness.

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6. “Know to” versus “Know how to”

Somebody who knows how to do something knows the way it can or should be done. How introduces an indirect question within which the relevant action is expressed with a to (infinitive) verb (see 105. Questions with a “to” Verb).

On the other hand, knowing to do something is knowing that it is the right thing to do, as in this example:

(i) Lions know to keep clear of elephants.

The meaning here is that lions know keeping clear of elephants is the way to behave. The infinitive is a kind of object of know, and hence in a closer grammatical relationship (see 302. Verbs with a Partner Infinitive, #1). One other verb usable in the same two ways is LEARN.

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7. “that is to say” versus “that is”

These are both synonyms of in other words, commonly used for rephrasing a just-mentioned idea (see 286. Repeating in Different Words, #4 and #6). They are often presented as interchangeable, when in fact they sometimes have to be punctuated differently.

The rephrased wording next to each expression may be located in the same sentence as the original wording, or in a new sentence directly after it. In the first case, the usage is preposition-like; in the second, both expressions are connectors – a dual capability also possessed by for example (see 226. Words with Complicated Grammar 2, #4).

With new-sentence rephrasing, the punctuation of the two expressions is also the same, namely a full stop before and a comma directly after:

(j) Heart disease is linked to a sedentary lifestyle. That is (to say), it becomes more likely if exercise is rare.

When the rephrasing is not in a new sentence, a comma is needed before both expressions and another one, or a full stop, is needed at the end of the rephrasing, thus forming a parenthesis (see 294. Parentheses):

(k) Anticyclones, that is to say high pressure areas, bring quiet weather.

A difference in this situation, however, is that that is always seems to need a further comma directly after it, whereas that is to say is only likely to have one there if the explanation is long.

One reason for the more frequent comma usage after that is may be the possibility of other meanings being understandable when a comma is absent, such as the relative pronoun use of that. A problem with this comma need, though, is that it can bring unwelcome high comma densities – three within 6 words in (k) (Anticyclones, that is, high pressure areas, …). This may be a reason why the longer that is to say is often preferred.

308. Complexities of “Whole”

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“Whole” can be confusing because of its similarity to “all” and its variable noun/adjective status

TOPIC OVERVIEW

Whole is a familiar word with surprising complexities, some of which cause error among inexperienced users of English. As it is also common in professional writing, I wish here to examine it in detail. Key points include its pronunciation, grammatical class variation, meaning subtleties, usage after a(n) and the, usage before of, and its occurrence within fixed phrases. The post finishes with a practice exercise.

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PRONUNCIATION AND BASIC MEANING

I expect most readers will know that the “w” at the start of whole is not pronounced (see 155. Silent Consonants, #8). Perhaps less well known is the closeness of the pronunciation of whole to that of all. Apart from the /h/ at the start of whole, both have a similar-sounding vowel before a final /l/. In Southern British English, the vowel in whole is variably pronounced /ɒ/ or /əυ/, while that in all is /ɔ/ – a difference mainly of length.

This pronunciation similarity can be a particular problem for speakers of languages, such as French, that do not usually allow the /h/ sound at the start of words. In listening especially, the /h/ of whole is not likely to be very noticeable, leaving similarities of pronunciation that, combined with the meaning similarity, may easily cause whole and all to be confused. One common resultant error is a belief that *the all is possible (instead of all the), this having been the way the whole was interpreted in listening (see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly).

Meaning-wise, whole carries, of course, the idea of completeness or totality. On top of that, and distinguishing it from all (see 169. “All”, “Each” and “Every”), it usually conveys one of three possible messages. One is a very strong indication that all rather than some of something is being talked about:

(a) The whole enterprise took three days.

This very clearly associates three days with all of the enterprise rather than any part of it. Quite often, there will be preceding information about some or all of the parts (for example, a description of the first day’s activity above), so that whole is making a contrast with it, and hence even more clearly indicating a change of focus.

Whole could be called “emphatic” in this use because the same meaning would actually be still understandable without it. However, in speech, whole would not normally be pronounced in an emphatic way.

The second main use of whole is to suggest in an emphatic way the idea of “more than expected”:

(b) The awful noise went on for a whole day.

This says that a day was a very long time to suffer from the awful noise. Normally in such sentences, the pronunciation of both whole and its partner noun (day above) would be emphatic (see 125. Stress and Emphasis).

Thirdly, whole can mean “over-arching” or “covering all other possibilities”. Used like this, it typically goes between the… and, most often, either idea (= proposal), plan, point, purpose or reason. There is often a suggestion that the addressee has failed to recognise the idea (etc.) as the key one (But that’s the whole idea!).

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GRAMMATICAL FEATURES

1. Word Class Variation

Whole is mostly used as a noun or adjective. It is a noun when not directly followed by a noun or noun phrase e.g.:

(c) A whole is often greater than its parts.

By far the most common noun use is before of, e.g. the whole of the world.

As an adjective, whole usually describes a directly-following noun or noun phrase (e.g. the whole world, a whole new science), or the pronoun one (a whole one), or a noun located before and separated by a link verb like BE (e.g. the fossil was whole).

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2. Combination with a Following Noun

Most noun types can follow the whole of:

*SINGULAR COUNTABLE WITH a(n): the whole of an afternoon
*SINGULAR COUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the afternoon
*PLURAL COUNTABLE: the whole of afternoons
*PLURAL COUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the afternoons
PROPER: the whole of France
*PROPER WITH the: the whole of the United States
UNCOUNTABLE TYPE A: the whole of childhood
UNCOUNTABLE TYPE B: all luggage
*UNCOUNTABLE WITH the: the whole of the childhood/luggage

For information about which proper nouns usually follow the, see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns.

Uncountable nouns that I call “type A” seem usually to represent something with a fairly clear boundary. Childhood, for example, is bounded by a quite definite number of years. “Type B” nouns lack this feature. This difference is important above only where uncountable nouns lack the (through having “generic” meaning), since it leads to type B nouns typically following all rather than the whole of.

Other examples of type A uncountable nouns – easily usable like childhood after the whole of – are humanity and business. Other examples of type B uncountable nouns are love and air. Practice in recognising the two types of uncountable noun, and hence where the whole of is possible, is offered in an exercise below.

The combinations marked * above can alternatively drop the whole of and place just whole directly before the final noun:

the whole of an afternoon → a whole afternoon
the whole of the afternoon → the whole afternoon
the whole of afternoons → whole afternoons
the whole of the afternoons → the whole afternoons
the whole of the United States → the whole United States
the whole of the luggage → the whole luggage

Note the absence from this list of proper nouns that normally lack the, such as France.  They must keep the whole of. Usage with just the whole (e.g. *the whole France) is a common error. One other noun with this requirement is humanity – *the whole humanity should be avoided.

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FIXED EXPRESSIONS AND DERIVATIVES

Two important preposition phrases are on the whole and as a whole. Each is unusual in not allowing a choice between adverbial and adjectival use (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #2). On the whole is always adverbial. It might be expected to mean “wholly” (see 85. Preposition Phrases and Corresponding Adverbs), but it in fact means “generally”. As a whole is purely adjectival, needing a noun just before it to link with:

(d) Fuel price changes affect economies as a whole.

Elsewhere, whole has special meanings associated with one or more particular expressions. In whole milk and wholemeal, it suggests that nothing has been removed from a commodity that very often does have something removed from it: fat in the former case, wheat germ in the latter. In the whole story, where the meaning of story is “explanation” rather than “narrative”, whole suggests inclusion of everything regardless of inconvenience, so that not the whole story implies omission of information, often in order to deceive.

A whole before various singular “collective” nouns (suggesting multiplicity), such as collection, crowd, group, myriad, range, variety and informal lot, makes the multiplicity sound greater. These nouns are often followed by of – e.g. a whole range of objections – while a whole lot is also possible before comparative adjectives or adverbs, e.g. a whole lot better, a whole lot more quickly (see 194 Adverbs that Say How Much, #4).

Another common combination is the whole (of the) time used to show that an extended event or situation is happening throughout the occurrence of another one (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence, #3). It may or may not be combined with a following subject + verb linked by a visible or understood when:

(e) Solar panels produce electricity the whole time (when) the sun is shining.

Also notable is a whole new before a noun to emphasise that the noun idea is not just a replacement of an old one but also completely different from it. Common partner nouns include approach, ball game (= situation), meaning, method, set, understanding and way.

Finally, whole occurs within a small number of compound words like wholemeal above. Food described as wholesome is health-promoting. Whole-hearted describing a person or behaviour suggests total, unreserved belief or commitment. Wholesale is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb referring to goods sold in large quantities to other sellers, usually very cheaply.

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PRACTICE USING “the whole of”

Some of the uncountable nouns in the list below can follow the whole of and some cannot (usually needing all instead). Can you separate the two groups? Answers are given after.

destruction, freedom, health, history, humanity, information, justice, life, logic, love, manufacturing, nature, paper, politics, research, science, silence, society, storage, suffering, time, truth, vegetation, water, work, yesterday.

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Answers

Nouns allowing the whole of are underlined:

destruction, freedom, health, history, humanity, information, justice, life, logic, love, manufacturing, nature, paper, politics, research, science, silence, society, storage, suffering, time, truth, vegetation, water, work, yesterday.

Note that logic after the whole of refers to the subject known as logic, not logic itself; while nature means “the natural world”, not “type”.

302. Verbs with a Partner Infinitive

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Verbs that can link with a following “to” verb are grammatically quite varied

THE PROBLEM OF PARTNER INFINITIVES

Every English verb allows a limited choice of grammatical possibilities after its active form. The possibilities of an individual verb will sometimes match those of another verb, but often will not. The total number of possibilities across the full range of verbs is at least 12 (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive). No verb has all of them, and most have far fewer.

A grammatical possibility that is possessed by relatively many active verbs is a directly-following non-purpose to (infinitive) verb. This “partner” verb must be a non-purpose one because purpose infinitives, as in works to survive, are not a verb-dependent possibility – they can follow practically any verb as an adverbial component of the sentence as a whole.

Some verbs that allow a partner infinitive, such as NEED, PROMISE and SEEM, are easy to identify because they are so familiar. However, many others are not so obvious. The problem is that verbs with another verb after them often require it to have a different form than a simple infinitive – and discovering which verbs require which form is not easy. After the active form of ENJOY, for example, partner verbs need -ing (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1, #b), while ENABLE requires a noun in front of any following infinitive.

It is this problem of identifying verbs allowing a partner infinitive that I wish to consider here. Because there seems to be no single characteristic of these verbs that might ensure their recognition, listing as many of them as possible seems worthwhile. However, to make the reading of such a list less onerous, I also offer a classification of it into some rather interesting subgroups.

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FEATURES OF PARTNER INFINITIVES

Partner infinitives need to be distinguished from various other post-verb infinitives besides purpose-naming ones. These include (i) infinitives separated from the verb by its object (e.g. enables someone to act); (ii) infinitives that identify or specify the subject of a verb like BE or MEAN (e.g. To see means to believe); (iii) infinitives corresponding to an it subject of their verb (e. g. It helps to exercise); and (iv) infinitives after a passive verb (e.g. were seen to prosper).

Verbs that need a noun (or equivalent) between themselves and a following infinitive are considered in this blog in 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive.

Infinitives that identify after BE – #(ii) above – are of numerous kinds (see 119. BE before a “to” Verb). However, they do not comprise every infinitive after BE. Two types that perhaps qualify as partner infinitives of BE express arrangement and destiny in the past (#4 and #10 in the above post), respectively illustrated as follows:

(a) A meeting of finance ministers is to be held in Brussels.

(b) Alexander was to die soon after.

In both cases, going could be added before the infinitive.

In sentences like It helps to exercise – #(iii) above – the infinitive to exercise equates to it, the subject of helps (see 103. Representing a Later Statement with “it”), so is not linked to the main verb in a relevant way. This kind of infinitive use requires the verb just before it to be “intransitive” – usable without an object noun or similar after its active form. Other verbs like helps include hurts, pays and suffices.

The exclusion of infinitives after passive verbs – #(iv) above – is simply because this post is about active verbs that allow a partner infinitive. Moreover, it is noticeable that many passive verbs are derived from active ones that, like ENABLE in # (i) above, need a noun before any following infinitive (see 299. Infinitives after a Passive Verb).

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TYPES OF PARTNER INFINITIVE

Partner infinitives do not all relate in the same way to the verb before them. The relation depends on the preceding verb’s wider grammatical properties. The main relation types are as follows.

1. Object-like

In the combination promised to act, the infinitive to act names a promised behaviour, just as would an object noun like assistance or payment. The object-like nature of to act is further shown by the fact that its meaning is equally well expressed by its related “action noun” action (see 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can”, #2).

Common verbs after which an infinitive is object-like are ACCEPT, ARRANGE, ATTEMPT, CEASE, CLAIM, DECLINE (= refuse), DEMAND, DESERVE, DESIRE, DETERMINE (= decide), ELECT (= choose), EXPECT, HAVE, HELP, KNOW, LEARN, MEAN (= intend), NEED, PLAN, PLEDGE, PREPARE, PROFESS, PROMISE, PROPOSE (= plan), SEEK, THREATEN, UNDERTAKE, WANT, WISH (= desire) and WOULD LIKE. See also the special verbs listed in #2 and #5 below.

With some of these verbs, the objects that an infinitive can replace are restricted. Almost the only possible noun object after MEAN (= intend) is business, a figurative way of indicating determined action (see 241. Some Common Figurative Phrases, #2).

Infinitives after ACCEPT are rare. The most common ways of adding a verb after it are with -ing (representing an existing situation) or that… (representing a past, present or future one). Infinitives only represent accepted futures, but English often prefers to express those with AGREE instead of ACCEPT.

KNOW to… is different from KNOW HOW to…, indicating knowledge of a necessary action, rather than the way to perform it (see 309. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 5, #6). LEARN allows the same contrast.

EXCLUDED VERBS

There are some verbs whose absence above may surprise:

STOP and FINISH (unlike CEASE) combine only with purpose infinitives (see 250. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar 1, #2).

REQUIRE is not a recommended substitute for NEED before a partner infinitive (see 292. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar 2, #5).

TRY (unlike ATTEMPT) cannot paraphrase a following infinitive with a noun: a following noun gives it the different meaning of “select as a strategy” instead of “attempt”. As a result, TRY meaning “attempt” is classified under #4 below.

FAIL perhaps fits better under #4 too because its “not do” meaning before an infinitive often becomes “do unsuccessfully” before an object noun (see 314. Words with Complicated Grammar 4, #2).

REFUSE is similar: its pre-infinitive meaning “choose not to comply” becomes “choose not to receive” before a noun.

ALLOW, ENABLE, PERMIT and other cause verbs, plus FORBID, always need a noun before any following infinitive (see 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can”, #1).

LOOK FORWARD has the preposition to after it, not the to of infinitive verbs. Like all prepositions, this to requires any following verb to have -ing (see 35. Words followed by “to -ing”).

ANTICIPATE and ENVISAGE differ from their synonym EXPECT in requiring -ing instead of to with any directly-following verb, just as they do when there is a noun before a following infinitive (see 242. Words with Unexpected Grammar 3, #d).

GUARANTEE, unlike PLEDGE, PROMISE, UNDERTAKE and VOW, has to be passive for any following verb to need the infinitive form. After its active form, a that construction is the only possibility (see 281. Words with Unexpected Grammar 4, #f).

Other verbs whose partner verb cannot have the infinitive form include AVOID, ENDURE, ENJOY, DENY, KEEP, PROHIBIT, RECOMMEND and REJECT.

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2. Object-like with an “-ing” Alternative

A few verbs that allow an object-like partner infinitive also allow a partner -ing verb (a “gerund”), usually with changed meaning. Typical is LIKE:

(e) Children like to learn (or learning) through play.

An infinitive after LIKE focuses on its action as a whole, whereas a gerund focuses on the experience of it happening. This is the same contrast that is possible after certain verbs used before an object + infinitive (see 232. Verbs with an Object + “-ing”, #3). Indeed, some of the verbs are the same.

Other verbs that allow the same kind of following to and -ing choice include DISLIKE, HATE and LOVE (but not APPRECIATE. ENJOY, WELCOME, DETEST and LOATH, which all require -ing), plus BEGIN, CEASE, CONTINUE and START.

After FORGET and REMEMBER, to shows a future action, -ing a past one.

After FEAR and PREFER, to indicates a specific-time action, -ing one at any time.

CHOOSE to means “decide” but CHOOSE -ing means “select”.

After NEGLECT and OMIT, to suggests failure, ing choice.

REGRET to expresses pain about saying something. The to verb is usually a speech one like to announce, to inform you or to say (see 238. Using a Verb to Perform its Action). REGRET -ing expresses unhappiness about previous personal behaviour.

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3. Complement-like

Complements are nouns or adjectives that are shown by a suitable verb to be identifying or describing the meaning of a noun before them (see 220. Features of Complements). The verb SEEM is a typical complement-taking verb

(c) Wealth seems desirable.

Here, desirable is an adjective complement describing the earlier noun wealth.

Partner infinitives can act like a complement of some but not all complement-taking verbs. In (c), for example, desirable could be replaced by to change people. The main verbs like SEEM are APPEAR, BE, GROW, LOOK, PROVE, SEEM and SOUND. As mentioned above, only some infinitives after BE can be its “partner”, namely those expressing an arrangement or destiny in the past, as in sentences (a) and (b).

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4. Adverb-like

This description applies to partner infinitives whose preceding verb allows neither an object nor a complement, as in this HOPE example:

(d)  Scott hoped to reach the South Pole first.

A partner infinitive of HOPE specifies the hope. Although this can also be done with a noun after for (e.g. hoped for success), the for implies the prepositional verb HOPE FOR, not the intransitive verb HOPE.

Some other verbs that allow an adverb-like partner infinitive similarly allow a preposition + noun instead. In the following list, their preposition is given alongside: AGREE (= cooperatively decide) (on), AIM (at), ASK (for), BEG (for), COME, DARE, DECIDE (on), FAIL (= not do), HAPPEN (= be influenced by chance), HOPE (for), INTEND, OPT (for), LONG (for), PLEAD (for), PRAY, PREPARE (for), REFUSE (= not co-operate), STRUGGLE (for), TRY (= attempt), WAIT (for), WISH (= desire), WISH (for = state a wish to make it happen), VOW and YEARN (for).

For details of COME + infinitive, see 290. Ways of Using COME, #16. For advice on REFUSE, see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs, #6.

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5. In Idiomatic Combinations

Occasionally, an infinitive gives a special meaning to a familiar preceding verb. One such verb is going (see 176. Ways of Using “Go”, #7). Another is SAY:

(f) Doctors say to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.

Say here reports not just speaking, but speaking of a particular kind: advising (see 187. Advising and Recommending). The infinitive is paraphrasable with that…should…. Elsewhere, SAY might report commanding (= that…must…).

Similarly, THINK to… means not just “think of” (= “conceive”) but also “consider carrying out the conceived action”. The infinitive is paraphrasable with that…might….

LOOK to… can mean either “appear” (cf. #3 above) or “seek”. MAKE to means “initiate -ing without continuing” (see 141. Ways of Using MAKE, #8). REMAIN mostly appears in the fixed expression remains to be seen (= is not established).

300. Adjective Indicators of Indirect Speech

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Indirect speech can often be indicated with an adjective instead of a verb or noun

THE VARIABILITY OF INDIRECT SPEECH

Indirect speech rarely occupies a sentence by itself. Usually, its status as indirect speech will be indicated by an accompanying word expressing some kind of speaking or thinking (see 127. When to Use Indirect Speech).

The commonest type of such word is a verb (e.g. Experts agree …; We believe…), but there are other possibilities too. Nouns are common, reflecting the frequent ability of verbs in general to be paraphrased with a noun (see 287. Speech and Thought Nouns). Less common, but still worth knowing about, are adjectives. Here I wish to show how adjectives can indicate indirect speech and which ones are available.

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A SPECIAL FORM OF INDIRECT SPEECH

First, however, I wish to highlight a kind of indirect speech that is rarely mentioned in standard descriptions. Consider this example of the commonly-mentioned kind:

(a) Galileo believed (that) the earth circled the sun.

Here, an indirect statement (underlined) is linked by that to a thought verb believed. Even if that was not visible in the sentence, its presence would still be understood. It is necessary because the indirect statement also contains a verb (moved), the rule being that two verbs cannot exist in the same sentence unless accompanied by a “joining” device (see 30. When to Write a Full Stop). That here is a joining device of the conjunction kind (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”, #1).

Other joining devices are found with other kinds of indirect speech. Common ones are question words (whether, why, who etc.) in indirect questions, and special verb forms within the indirect speech that remove the need for any separate joining word, such as -ing after MENTION + noun (…mentions water dripping…) and to infinitives after command verbs like TELL + noun (…told everyone to…). Like that, these are all commonly-described features of indirect speech (see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs).

Yet not all indirect speech contains a verb. Indirect statements after some speech verbs – CRITICISE, DEFINE, DISMISS and DESCRIBE, for example – have as instead of BE:

(b) Jones dismisses the project as unnecessary.

A few verbs, such as CALL, even disallow as (…calls the project unnecessary above: see 92. Verbs with an Object + “as”).

In some other cases, verb-less indirect speech follows a preposition. For example, …believed that the earth moved… in sentence (a) above could be paraphrased as …believed in the movement of the earth…. Changing that to in becomes necessary when a verb like moved is replaced by its equivalent noun movement. The preposition has to be in because that is the “typical” one after BELIEVE (see 111. Words with a Typical Preposition).

Replacing an indirect-speech verb with a noun like this, however, is probably not the primary use of prepositions before indirect speech. Instead, what they seem particularly suited to is enabling abbreviation of indirect speech down to just one of its nouns. Consider this indirect question:

(c) Many asked when the project would begin.

A possible abbreviation here would be just the noun the project. To link this with asked, the preposition about would be needed (…asked about the project). Other verbs like ASK (about) include ARGUE (about/ for/ against), ASSURE SOMEONE (of), KNOW (about), PRAY (for), SPEAK (about) (equating to SAY THAT) and WARN (about).

However, the majority of verbs before a lone indirect speech noun do not need a facilitating preposition – it is mainly speech / thought nouns and adjectives that do. Most verbs simply have the noun as their object. For example, an abbreviation of sentence (b) above would be …dismisses the project. Other verbs like DISMISS include CLARIFY, CONSIDER, CRITICISE, EXPLAIN and ILLUSTRATE.

A few verbs allow no abbreviation at all of indirect speech. Common ones are CLAIM (= assert), SAY and THINK (= believe).

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IDENTIFYING SPEECH AND THOUGHT ADJECTIVES

Some adjectives are more easily classified than others as introducers of indirect speech. The most obvious ones imply communication in their meaning. For example, agreed (derived from the speech verb AGREE), divided and unanimous imply multiple people talking to each other about the associated idea, while insistent (derived from INSIST), unequivocal (= explicit or unambiguous) and non-committal (= avoiding definiteness) all indicate a manner of communication.

It may seem surprising that agreed and divided are included in the adjective examples above given that they are often considered to be the verb forms known as participles. However, it is quite common for many English participle forms to be used slightly differently as adjectives. For advice on recognising their adjective usage, see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending.

Thought adjectives are harder to recognise as introducing indirect speech because, of course, they can describe unspoken thoughts as well as spoken ones. It can help to recognise sub-categories. The most likely kind to introduce indirect speech is perhaps what I call “fact-related”: adjectives like aware, certain, convinced, dismissive and doubtful. Slightly less likely, perhaps, are ”will” adjectives, such as adamant, interested, keen and willing. Least likely are probably “emotion” adjectives, such as frustrated, happy, satisfied, surprised and upset (see 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it, #2).

With all thought adjectives, the absence of a speech clue within their meaning is often compensated for by an external one, such as a source reference:

(d) Chung (2021, p. 54) is certain/frustrated that handwriting will become a lost art.

The academic reference after Chung here makes it clear that a feeling was expressed in a statement of which the end of the sentence must be an indirect form.

Other examples of indirect speech introduced by an adjective are:

(e) Einstein was unsure (about) why weight changes in elevators.

(f) I am aware that change is necessary.

The indirect speech in (e) here is a reported question, while that in (f) is a non-reported statement.

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USING SPEECH & THOUGHT ADJECTIVES

Like all adjectives, speech / thought ones usually describe a noun – typically one naming the source of the indirect speech being expressed. They cannot go directly before this noun; most follow it with a link verb like BE in between, as in sentence (d), but a few occupy an alternative adjective position (see 283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives, #2).

Like verbs and nouns of speech and thought, adjectives do not all link in the same way with indirect speech. The main possibilities and common adjectives associated with each are as follows.

1. With that or a Preposition

This is a property of certain (= convinced) in (d) above. To be classified as usable with that, an adjective must allow it more widely than just in sentences starting it is… (see 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it, “Expansion with that”).

Possible prepositions after certain are about and of (see 226. Words with Complicated Grammar 2, #2). Each may introduce either a complete indirect statement (containing an -ing verb) or an abbreviated one comprising just a noun, e.g. …about handwriting in (d).

About is the main or only possible preposition with many but not all adjectives that also allow that…. The possibilities are:

ABOUT
adamant, clear (= not confused), correct, definite, doubtful (= doubting), explicit (= plain), optimistic, perplexed, persuasive, positive (= convinced), puzzled, sceptical, sympathetic, unambiguous, unanimous, unequivocal, vociferous

ABOUT OR ANOTHER PREPOSITION
agreed (on), certain (of), confident (of), convinced (of), hopeful (of), sure (of), suspicious (of), uncompromising (on)

ANOTHER PREPOSITION
afraid (of), (un)aware (of), agreeable (to), desirous (of), insistent (on), proud (of), thankful (for)

After certain and hopeful, of and about usually express slightly different meanings. Certain of X indicates certainty that X exists, while certain about X may indicate certainty relating to some aspect of X, taking X’s existence for granted. This is the same contrast that of / about expresses after nouns like knowledge and news (see 134. Words with a Variable Preposition, #2).

After adamant and insistent (plus desperate, determined, eager, keen and willing), a future-referring that statement may contain a verb in the “subjunctive” form (see 269. Exotic Grammar Structures 7, #7).

Most of the above adjectives can precede indirect questions as well as statements, but still usually need their preposition, e.g. certain about why… (see 219. Wording next to Indirect Questions, #3). After doubtful and sceptical, the difference between that… and about whether… is unusually small (see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1, #7).

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2. Only with a Preposition

Adjectives that link in this way can again introduce indirect questions as well as statements. They rarely allow a choice of prepositions. Common ones are:

ABOUT
ambiguous, curious, eloquent (also on), helpful (also on), ignorant (also of), inquisitive, non-committal (also on), relaxed, vague

OF
accepting, appreciative, critical, demanding dismissive, indicative, questioning, suggestive, (un)supportive

TO
attracted, opposed, resigned, sympathetic

OTHER
baffled by, bewildered by, divided over, eloquent on (also about), familiar with, intent on, interested in, interesting on

Note that curious sometimes replaces about with to discover, to know, to see or similar.

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3. With that or a to Verb

An adjective of this kind is keen:

(f) Gomez (2019, p. 5) is keen that nothing changes.

Keen can be followed by that here because the subject of the later verb changes (= nothing) is different from the subject of is (= Gomez). The infinitive form to change would also be possible in this situation, provided that is replaced by for (…keen for nothing to change).

By contrast, if the two verb subjects are the same, keen normally needs a directly-following infinitive:

(g) Gomez (2019, p. 5) is keen to keep things unchanged.

A further particular property of keen is ability to replace both that and to with the preposition on: keen on nothing changing in (f) and keen on keeping… in (g).

Other adjectives like keen (possible prepositions shown in brackets) include desperate (for), determined, eager (for), happy (with, about), impatient (for), reluctant (about) and (un)willing (see 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb, #2).

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4. With Just a Question Word

The normal requirement for a preposition between an adjective and an indirect question (see #1 above) disappears when the adjective follows it is:

(h) It is interesting where insects go in winter.

In sentences like this, the adjective describes the indirect speech rather than the speaker, and the question is not a reported one. For further details, see 88. Exotic Grammar Structures 1, #8.

Where a question is reported as someone else’s, a few negative adjectives allow but do not compel the preposition to be dropped before it:

(d) Einstein was unsure (about / as to) why weight changes in elevators.

Similar adjectives include mystified, pessimistic, uncertain and unclear (= uncertain), plus their positive equivalents after not. The optional preposition is always about or as to, and always becomes compulsory if the question is abbreviated or its question word is paraphrased with a noun (e.g. unsure about the reason why… above).

299. Infinitives after a Passive Verb

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Some passive verbs allow a non-purposive “to” verb after them, but many do not

OCCURRENCE OF POST-PASSIVE INFINITIVES

Infinitive verbs (with to) are very often usable directly after the passive form of another verb, like this:

(a) Taxes may be increased TO CONTROL inflation.

(b) Life is known TO HAVE ORIGINATED in the ocean.

These two uses are not the same: the infinitive in (a) expresses a purpose (see 60. Purpose Sentences with “For”), whereas that in (b) does not. Infinitives that express a purpose are the more widely-usable kind directly after a passive verb. Most passive verbs allow one unless they are of the type, like BE PUT and BE SITUATED, that are grammatically incomplete without a directly-following adverb expression like outside or in town (these verbs still allow a following purpose infinitive, but not directly after them).

Non-purpose infinitives, by contrast, are not so freely usable after passive verbs. They tend to be possible only after a small number of passive verb types. It is these verb types and the verbs within each that I wish to consider here, my belief being that awareness of these may increase general facility in using non-purpose infinitives after a passive verb.

It is important here to have a true understanding of passive verbs. The problem is that adding -ed (or irregular equivalent) to the base form of a verb, either alone or combined with BE, does not always create the participle form that characterises passive verbs: it is also a way of making adjectives.

Common adjectives made in this way include advanced, confused, inclined, interested, married, pleased and satisfied. The ways they differ from identically-spelt participles are considered in depth in this blog in 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending. Passive-like adjectives of this kind are excluded from the following discussion. For the ways they combine with infinitives, see 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb.

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TYPES OF POST-PASSIVE INFINITIVE

1. Still Usable when the Passive Verb is Active

An example of this type is:

(c) Passengers are advised to wear a seatbelt.

If the passive are advised here is used in its active form (e.g. We advise…), passengers must be its object, and the infinitive to wear… remains possible, positioned after passengers.

Not all passive verbs before an infinitive can be changed into the active voice in this way. For example, sentence (c) beginning Passengers are said to… could not become *We say passengers to…. The active voice of the verb SAY generally disallows a following object + infinitive.

Verbs that can, like ADVISE, go before an infinitive regardless of whether they are active or passive generally correspond to the ones listed in this blog in 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive. However, the correspondence is not exact. There are 12 meaning categories listed in that post. The verbs in all except one are mostly similar to ADVISE. Examples are:

“commanding” (e.g. ORDER, INSTRUCT, TELL)
“requesting” (e.g. ASK and INVITE but not WOULD LIKE)
“persuading” (e.g. CONVINCE, URGE)
“needing” (e.g. COUNT ON, TRUST)
“anticipating” (e.g. EXPECT and TIP, but not FOR verbs like WAIT FOR)
“causing” (e.g. ALLOW, ENABLE, INDUCE)
“recruiting” (e.g. APPOINT, CHOOSE, NAME)
“believing” (e.g. BELIEVE, CONSIDER, SUGGEST: see #2 below)
“establishing” (e.g. DECLARE, IMPLY, PAINT but not DEFINE, IDENTIFY)
“teaching” (e.g. COACH, HELP)
“sensing” (e.g. FEEL, OBSERVE, SEE but not WATCH, LISTEN TO)

The one meaning category among the 12 that seems less able to be expressed in the passive voice before an infinitive is “desiring” (e.g. DESIRE, PREFER). For example, is preferred to go… seems unlikely.

Most verb types outside those listed above need any verb after their object to be in a form other than the infinitive. For example, KEEP requires a verb with -ing instead (see 232. Verbs with an Object + “-ing”). After the passive of such verbs, the same alternative to an infinitive is often necessary, but with some exceptions, as indicated below.

There are even some verbs in the above meaning categories that cannot have an infinitive after either their active or passive form, for example the command verbs DECREE and DEMAND, and the request verb PRAY. The anticipation verbs ANTICIPATE, FORECAST, and FORESEE are unusual in that their passive form requires any following verb to be an infinitive (X was anticipated to fall), but their active requires it to have -ing or follow that (…anticipated X falling).

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2. Within an Indirect Statement

Consider this:

(d) People say (that) films influence behaviour.

Because many writers dislike having this very general use of people as the subject of a verb, there is a tendency to avoid it by making the verb passive. However, the normal way of doing so – making the verb’s object into its subject – is also unattractive when the object starts with that since most English users have a general reluctance to give verbs a long subject of the kind typified by that statements.

A common solution to this problem is to start with it (It is said that…: see 103. Representing a Later Statement with “it”). However, many speech and thought verbs like SAY offer the alternative of starting with the subject of the that statement, in this case films:

(e) Films are said to influence behaviour.

It will be seen that starting in this way requires the verb of the indirect statement to become an infinitive after the passive are said. Mixing up that and to can be a problem for some inexperienced English users (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #6).

These two different ways of linking an indirect statement with a passive verb prompt the question of when each might be preferable. I think that, as with most seemingly synonymous structures, a difference does exist. Having the subject of the indirect statement at the start of the sentence instead of it, as in (e), commonly marks it as the less informative part of that statement, thus making the other part (influence behaviour) the focus of the sentence. For a fuller discussion of word order determining informational prominence, see 156. Mentioning What the Reader Knows Already.

English speech and thought verbs are very numerous (see 150. Verb Choices with Reported Speech). However, not all of them are usable like SAY in (e). Usability seems to require a parallel ability to introduce indirect speech with that. There are plenty of speech and thought verbs – CRITICISE, DEFINE and PRAISE, for example – that lack this ability (see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs), and none of them seem able when passive be followed by an infinitive.

Available that verbs include ACKNOWLEDGE, *AGREE, *ARGUE, ASSERT, ASSUME, BELIEVE, *CLAIM, CONSIDER, EXPECT, FEEL, GUARANTEE, HOLD, IMPLY, *INDICATE, KNOW, *NOTE, OBSERVE, PREDICT, *SAY, SEE, *SPECULATE, *STATE, *SUGGEST, SUPPOSE, SUSPECT, THINK and UNDERSTAND. For an example of ARGUE in the passive before an infinitive see 312. Grammar Command Test 3, #f.

Note that the tendency of passive + infinitive reporting verbs to be alternatively usable with that does not mean that all that-allowing verbs have both uses. Two common exceptions are EXPLAIN and MENTION. It may be significant that the verbs listed above tend to be opinion-implying (see 107. The Language of Opinions).

Many verbs listed above are also usable in the active voice with a following object + infinitive, so that they additionally belong to the first category described above (exceptions are marked *). However, the infinitives that they can accompany when active will usually, it seems, be just to be or to have.

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3. Omissible or Replaceable by “As”

Sometimes, to be after a passive verb can be dropped or replaced by as. Consider this:

(f) A nod is … a sign of consent.

Different passive verbs have different possibilities. After judged in (f), the possible continuation is either to be a sign or simply a sign (see 192. When BE can be Omitted, #2). After acknowledged, the continuation is either to be a sign or as a sign. And after argued, only to be a sign is possible.

Common verbs in each of these categories are as follows:

VERBS LIKE JUDGED: considered (= believed), declared, found, thought. In addition, appointed, elected, named (= nominated) and nominated allow a following to be not just to be added or dropped, but also to be replaced by as (see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #2). Assumed and believed sometimes drop to be before an adjective (e.g. is believed dead).

VERBS LIKE ACKNOWLEDGED: chosen, depicted, established, estimated, evaluated, identified, intended, perceived, pictured, portrayed, rated, recognised, regarded, seen, suggested, trained, understood, visualised.

VERBS LIKE ARGUED: asserted, claimed, demonstrated (= proved), expected, felt, found, held, imagined (= believed), known (= proven), maintained (= argued), predicted, said, shown, suggested (= implied), suspected, taken (= assumed), understood (= believed).

A seeming complication in this area is the existence of verbs whose passive form allows a following as but not to be. Common ones are categorised, defined, described, criticised, highlighted, imagined (= pictured), known (= perceived), named (= identified), suggested (= proposed), taken (= used), thought of, treated, understood (= interpreted) and viewed (see 92. Verbs with an Object + “as”). However, few of these are that-allowing, so their inability to be followed by any kind of infinitive is not really surprising.

A more real complication is that some verbs allow either as or to be after their passive form, but with different meanings. They include:

Considered: see 48. Tricky Word Contrasts 1, #3
Imagined + as = visualised; + to be = believed
Known: see 92. Verbs with an Object + “As”, examples #h and #i
Suggested + as = proposed; + to be = implied
Taken: see 264. Variations in the Use of TAKE, #17
Understood + as = interpreted; + to be = believed

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4. Following “Supposed”

The meaning of BE SUPPOSED can be confusing (see 81. Tricky Word Contrasts 2, #3). A verb of French origin (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary), it only sometimes has the “believed” meaning of its French counterpart. It could be understood in this way if, for example, supposed replaced said in sentence (e) above. When meaning “be believed”, BE SUPPOSED fits into both the first of the categories described above (usable in the active voice with an object + infinitive) and the second (facilitating an indirect statement).

However, BE SUPPOSED TO can also mean “have the non-fulfilled function of…”. If used, for example, in sentence (f), it could indicate that a nod does not always function as a sign of consent. What is special about BE SUPPOSED with this use is that it fits into none of the above categories. It is not usable in the active voice (this being reserved exclusively for the “believed” meaning); it cannot facilitate indirect speech because it is not a speech or thought verb; and it cannot be used with as instead of to.